Green Building with Clark & Leatherwood

Waynesville firm earns HealthyBuilt Home Certification
Written by The Mountaineer
Sunday, 07 March 2010 17:02

Clark and Leatherwood, Inc., a local construction management company, received the highest certification ever awarded by North Carolina HealthyBuilt Homes for its construction of the home for Dave and Jean Walters with D & J Properties (owner and developer) at 4900 Preserve Road, Balsam Mountain Preserve in Sylva. The Waynesville firm earned a gold level certification from the North Carolina HealthyBuilt Homes program, which is sponsored by the N.C. Department of Energy and the N.C. Solar Center.

The North Carolina HealthyBuilt Homes program is a statewide ‘green’ building certification program supported by a number of organizations throughout the state. To qualify for the program, a firm must make a commitment to build a healthy, energy efficient and environmentally sustainable home. After committing to the program, Ron Leatherwood and Dave Walters of D & J Properties, attended orientation and training provided by the HealthyBuilt Homes program.

“We embraced ‘green building’ at Clark and Leatherwood, Inc. early in the movement and are certainly happy with the Gold Level Certification that we received,” said Leatherwood.

The Walters’ home, designed by New Energy Works of Farmington, N.Y., with site development designed by Broadbrooks and Associates of Asheville, is a unique timber framed designed home. “I was delighted to work with the green building team,” said Walters.

Among the “green” techniques present in the Walters’ home are solar water and power, geothermal heating and air conditioning, permeable surfaces for patios and driveways, drought resistant plants and storage and use of rainwater for irrigation. The requirements for a HealthyBuilt home include site and landscaping, water efficiency, building envelope, heating and cooling systems, appliances and lighting, indoor air quality and durable, local and recycled content materials.

To assure these requirements were met, Clark and Leatherwood, Inc. was required to engage a neutral, third-party inspector who made a minimum of four visits to the building site during various phases of the construction. The final inspection included an air quality performance test which provides substantiation of the overall goal of the HealthyBuilt Home initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of each house it certifies.

“We are pleased to participate in the ‘green’ building program and to receive this award. We feel that the training and experience that we gained through participation in the HealthyBuilt Home program will enhance our company’s ability to continue to meet our clients’ needs,” said Larry Clark of Clark & Leatherwood.

There are currently 372 certified HealthyBuilt homes and 398 ‘in progress’ HealthyBuilt homes in the Western North Carolina area.