Live Oak Estates proves eco-friendly can be ultraluxurious.
Less than five minutes from the hustle and bustle of downtown San Rafael is an idyllic sanctuary nestled into the hills of Marin. High above the city, a small enclave of estates is being built among 30 acres of wooded hillside. Despite their exquisite views of Mount Tamalpais and placement among majestic native oaks and madrones, what sets these homes apart isn’t their luxury (though they certainly don’t fall short in that category), it’s the way they’re being built. From the ground up, the homes within Live Oak Estates have been designed and are being produced with green practices in mind.
What does building green mean? A green building, also known as a sustainable building, is a structure that’s designed, built, renovated, operated or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green buildings are designed to meet certain objectives, such as protecting the inhabitants’ health, using energy, water and other resources more efficiently, and reducing overall impact on the environment. The Live Oak Design Group, orchestrated by Michael LeValley and Alan Roberts, states it “integrates superior quality and a conscious, responsible approach to creating comfortable, healthy environments where people can live, work and perform at their best.” It’s a California-based development company that specializes in high-quality, responsible approaches to design and building. It’s also a Certified Green Business that adheres to the highest standards of conscious, responsible business practices.
Structures, both residential and commercial, are a great strain on natural resources and the environment. According to the Worldwatch Institute, buildings account for one-sixth of the world’s fresh water withdrawals, one-quarter of its wood harvest and two-fifths of its material and energy flows. Building “green” is an opportunity to use our resources more efficiently while creating buildings that improve human health, build a better environment and provide cost savings.
The Live Oak Design Group had worked on commercial developments in the past, but in 2004, it was ready to venture into residential structures. LeValley found the Live Oak Estates property, a former rock quarry that had sat untouched for decades, with the help of realtors. Two-thirds of the land was already designated as a scenic easement, which ensured uncompromised views that would never be blocked. The families living in Live Oak Estates will forever live in open space, surrounded by the bucolic beauty of the foothills; it’s a place permanently protected from destruction that would be caused by further development.
With six estates in the pipeline, one of the first things LeValley and Roberts knew would contribute to being ecologically responsible was finding a way to manage the waste produced by each construction site (the average house produces 24 tons of construction by-products). Marin Sanitary, a leader in waste management recycling, has been recycling 70 to 80 percent of the building waste from the first home constructed on the property and will be able to do the same with the succeeding five estates. That means much of the leftover products won’t end up in a landfill as they would in traditional construction scenarios.
From the ground up
For the Live Oak Design Group, going green means not just using sustainable materials, but also practicing construction methods that maximize the homes’ efficiency. LeValley and Roberts started with Estate number two as the flagship dwelling, because the plans for this home were closest to being approved by the City of San Rafael. The other houses in the hamlet will be built in the same fashion. Starting at the bottom, the Live Oak Design Group chose to use “green” foundations and retaining walls made with concrete composed of 25 percent fly ash. (Fly ash, one of several coal combustible products, is the finely divided mineral reside resulting from the combustion of coal in electric generating plants.) It then found lumber that was from a Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forest.
For a company that sells wood products (such as lumber, paper, furniture and the like) to get certification, it must use procurement practices that include protection of sensitive forest values, thoughtful material selection and efficient use of products. One organization that offers certification is the FSC, which has an international system covering forest management practices as well as the tracking and labeling of certified products and paper products with recycled content. FSC management standards are the world’s strongest system for guiding forests toward sustainable outcomes. Like the forestry profession itself, the FSC system takes into account a diverse array of perspectives as far as what represents a well-managed and sustainable forest. Live Oak Estates used engineered wood products and FSC certified lumber.
Standard insulation is often comprised of fiberglass sheets of material laid out in the attic and between the walls; often there are many unfilled gaps. Knowing that good insulation would make heating and cooling the house much more efficient, insulation was blown into the walls and ceilings and held in place with netting to minimize gaps where cold air could find a way in during winter or cooled air could escape during summer. Double-paned, dual-glazed windows filled with argon gas also maximize insulation (because argon gas is so dense, it insulates better than air, and moves less between the glass panes, so less heat is lost).
A 5-kilowatt solar system was installed on the roof. And while the solar panels won’t supply all the power necessary to run everything in the 5,000-plus-square-feet of home, it will help keep the power bills reasonable. The solar power generated by the panels will ensure the houses don’t consume extra energy off of PG&E’s grid, which will keep power costs in the middle of the price range tier and not at the top, where consumers are charged a premium.
The street lights at Live Oak Estates are also solar powered and don’t require connection to any external energy source. They each have a battery pack that gets charged during the day by the sun. Extra energy is stored in the battery, meaning the lights will work even on nights when the preceding day has been gloomy and dark. These types of street lights are being installed more and more frequently at bus stops and on bike paths, but Live Oak Estates may be the first housing development to have completely solar-powered street lights. The lights emit a soft, moonlight-like glow, gently illuminating the street, which is in keeping with the natural feel of the project.
An inside look
Suzie Bucholtz, the alpha dog at Barking Dog Creative Services (yes, that’s what her business card reads) which represents Live Oak Estates, set up a tour for me, led by Roberts himself. After brief introductions, I donned a hard hat (green, of course) for a tour of Estate Two. The home was just about complete, sans some finishing touches and staging of art and furniture. The home had a majestic look but was painted in light colors that complemented the natural landscape. The hillside was perfectly carved away into a half bowl where the house was neatly tucked, leaving room in the back for a beautiful swimming pool and ample space for entertaining. Rock and clay from the earth was exposed, leaving a wall of rust- and copper-colored sheen surrounding the house. At sunset, the earth actually shimmered as the light bounced off the various exposed layers of rock, clay and soil.
Stepping inside the kitchen and family room, the first thing I noticed was the lack of smell. In most new homes, the smell of new paint and carpets can be almost overwhelming. Roberts explained that “new” smell is actually the offset of toxic gases. The kitchen had just been painted with low volatile organic compounds (VOC) paints in a soft, buttery yellow hue. (The whole house is painted with low-VOC paints.) The Brazilian hardwood floors, made from sustainable eco-timber, had just been completed with a water finish that was also low-VOC. Not a hint of the varnish’s smell lingered in the air. The 100 percent wool carpets had been installed over a thick padding that’s completely formaldehyde-free, also minimizing any off-gassing.
The appliances were all chosen because they’re all high on the Energy Star rating scale. The stainless steel stove, double-sided oversized refrigerator and front-loading washing machine (that saves electricity as well as water), might not be the fancy name brand appliances often associated with designer homes, but they certainly offer the same type of performance, luxury features and high-end good looks as their less energy efficient cousins.
Also chosen for high efficiency is the forced air heating and cooling system. And since being green is about more than just saving energy, this specialized system also has HEPA filters to improve indoor air quality. (Indoor air is often more contaminated than outdoor air, thanks to pollutants like gases and fine particles. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood and tobacco products; building materials and furnishings as diverse as deteriorated, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry and furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance and personal care, like air fresheners. Other particulates, such as dirt, enter the house on shoes or pets. In fact, one of the easiest ways to dramatically improve the air quality inside your home is to remove your shoes before walking around the house. This prevents pesticides, pollen, fungi, bacteria and other items from being deposited on the floor and ground into small particles that can become suspended in the air.)
The home has two master suites. One is upstairs, and the other is downstairs, adjacent to two large bedrooms (each with its own walk-in closet). Parents of young children could use the downstairs suite while their children are young, and eventually move upstairs and convert the lower-level suite into a guest room. Both suites are equipped with spa-quality bathrooms that, under ordinary circumstances, would use extraordinary amounts of water. But low-flow shower heads are only one measure used to conserve in these powder rooms. A dual-flush toilet, popular in Australia, can save 5 to 10 gallons of water a day. With two buttons, the user can choose whether to use 0.6 or 1.6 gallons per flush…you get the picture.
Using local products also helps conserve resources by saving gas and lowering emissions that would have been created by transporting materials to the site. Designer Kimberly Rider, an expert on creating beautiful and stylish eco-friendly designs for healthy living (she’s also an author and TV host), helped stage the home and introduced LeValley and Roberts to the makers of the fire clay tiles that are used throughout. Made of 65 percent recycled materials, the tiles are made in San Jose; their use on the walls and floor adds to the home’s high-quality, artisan look.
Of course, going green doesn’t just apply to the home’s interior. The centerpiece of the home’s backyard is a beautiful swimming pool. Tubing runs under the concrete surrounding the pool, and solar-heated hot water travels through the tubes to help keep it warm with minimal additional energy costs. The concrete was also tinted because the darker color would absorb the sun’s heat to increase water temperature.
The home has a Mediterranean look, and the landscaping complements those—not just for visual continuity, but because plants from that corner of the world don’t require a lot of water. Native, drought-resistant plants, such as toyons, are also used in abundance. The site’s many established wild oaks, madrones and bay trees are being left untouched (unless removal is absolutely necessary to build a home or for safety reasons), leaving the property with an untamed, natural feel. Five of the six planned homes will also have their own wells that will be used to provide water for landscaping.
You get what you pay for
Does going green come at a cost? Yes. But LeValley and Roberts believe that, in a high-end development such as Live Oak Estates (in December, estate number two debuted on MLS at close to $4.5 million), the cost difference won’t deter a buyer who really wants a healthier and more socially responsible home. Roberts says the cost for lumber is slightly higher, but some other products, such as paints, aren’t necessarily more expensive.
Not everyone can afford a luxury estate, nor can they shoulder the cost of such extreme building measures as walls made with straw bale bricks, using gray water runoff to supply a home’s horticultural scheme or implementing extensive solar technology to make a home self-sustainable. There are things, though, that every builder and homeowner can do, such as seeking out reasonably priced materials and technologies that can be used to make any home a little more eco-friendly.
LeValley and Roberts will continue to work with San Rafael’s building design and review board to see if they can make each house a little greener. Roberts says, “To the experts, building green also means building a better house that lasts longer.” He’s clearly concerned about the quality of the Live Oak homes from both a traditional standpoint and an ecological perspective. The bottom line is that sustainable design—or building “green”—is an opportunity to use our resources efficiently while creating healthier buildings. LeValley says of green building, “It’s our hope that eventually there’ll be no more ‘green’ building, but rather that all building will happen with sustainable and responsible practices, which will result in conservation of resources and healthier homes where families can thrive.”
Such a sea-change could also provide cost savings to all Californians through improved human health and productivity and resource efficiency, and moves us closer to a sustainable future—something everyone in Northern California seems to want.
