Since my last post on “Final LEED Meeting,” a few things have come to light that have delayed our pending certification.  As a starting point, we were at 90 points, including the exemplary performance points for our irrigation system and efficient clothes washer.  Two points more than we needed for gold, and that was without any extra credit interpretation request for public awareness.

But….first and foremost, our LEED for Homes Provider, Pat, questioned where we came up with our square footage number–since it was such a round number, it seemed suspicious.  He was right; our number was wrong.  There are definitely different definitions of square footage, but LEED very specifically says to follow the calculation method laid out in ANSI Standard Z765 but include all directly conditioned square footage, whether finished or not, that meets building code requirements for living space.  That meant measuring to the exterior wall foundation (not interior) and including the basement but not the garage or mechanical room.

Unlike for-sale listings, we want this calculation to be small, so I was looking for every open space above a stairwell that did not need to be included in the square footage calculation.  But alas, after recalculating, the houseing size adjuster just threw our threshold to get to gold up to 91.5 points, from 88 points.  We need to find more points!  If we were at just 88, I may not care so much and just accept the silver rating.  But we are so close!

The other problem was that we actually lost a point on SS 3 Local Heat Island Effect, because my calculations were incorrect.  Turns out I cannot include hard aggregate in the permeable surface caluclation (I do get credit for it in SS4 Surface Water Management), so that alone brings the percentage of light colored materials within 50 feet of the home down to less than 50% required. Additionally, I had counted the gray concrete, which, in the first version of LEED for Homes, qualified is light colored.  In LEED for Homes’ clarifying “Errata” document, the gray concrete has to meet a minimum solar relectance index of 29.  So, I hunted down our gray paver suppliers, Hannover, and they had not tested this specific “gray.”  A similar gray, though, that they had tested, came in at 28  — which would not qualify for this point anyway.

So…we need to find 2.5 more points to get to gold, and fortunately, we found some opportunities.  First, because we used PEX plumbing, we get an additional 1/2 point in the Materials and Resources section.  Though I had missed this, Pat knew about that from the “Errata” document that added that in as an Environmentally Preferable Product.  PEX uses much less resources than copper, the traditional (and more expensive) plumbing pipe option.  I was also happy about this, because we did not get a point for insulating our hot water pipes — exactly because they were made from PEX and not copper.  So, this 1/2 point slightly makes up for it.

Second, we took another look at Indoor Water Efficiency — lavatory faucets in particular.   (See my post on this, which does show a bit of my frustration.)  For two points, we could add aerators to our sink faucets to lower the flow rate down to 1.5 gallons per minute.  Up until just last month, our faucet manufacturer did not supply an aerators, which mix air in with the water to maintain adequate pressure, but reduce the water flow rate.  I checked with our supplier again, and low and behold, they now offer these as add ons for just $20 a piece (typical aerator run more like $5-$10 a piece)!  I promptly ordered them and am installing them today.  That gives us the two additional points we need to get to 91.5.   (There is no need to put a low flow aerator on the kitchen sink, since it’s the volume of water that matters in the kitchen.)

Finally, I am in discussions with two local newspapers about publishing something about our home.  That may give us an extra point, which would be a nice cushion to throw in.  One article will not be published until March, though, and I am comfortable with where we are, so as soon as I put up verification that we have indeed installed those aerators, we will submit everything to the US Green Building Council for certification.  Hooray!