| | A view of LaHouse taken in April 2006. (Photo by Mark Claesgens) |
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| | An aerial view of LaHouse taken in April 2006. (Photo by Mark Claesgens) |
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| | Members of the LSU Board of Supervisors visited LaHouse in July 2006. Left to right are Ben Mount, Bill Richardson, Charlie Weems, Jerry Shea and Claudette Reichel. Richardson is the chancellor of the AgCenter, and Reichel is director of LaHouse. (Photo by Linda Foster Benedict) |
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It’s designed to stand up to hurricane-force winds, swarming insects and harmful humidity. It’s not an underground shelter, but a family-type home designed to showcase innovations in home construction for Louisiana’s sub-tropical climate.
The LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana House – Home and Landscape Resource Center provides a model for the public to learn about technological advances in housing. Better known as LaHouse, the center is located on a 7-acre site near the LSU Golf Course off the Nicholson Drive – Gourrier Ave. – Burbank Ave. intersection. Because of its location, the house has an architectural style that mirrors other campus buildings according to the LSU Master Plan. The goal of LaHouse is to educate homeowners, home builders and architects in the methods that can be used to make homes more user- and resource-friendly.
If you visit there, you will see that the house is still under construction. A completion date has not yet been set because so much of the construction depends on donations. Each Friday, except holidays, the LaHouse staff offers a Mid-construction Open House from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
LaHouse is an outgrowth of a statewide educational outreach program of the LSU AgCenter and its numerous partners, yet is rapidly expanding its reach throughout the Gulf Coast region. Since shortly after hurricanes Katrina and Rita brought our region such devastation, the LaHouse program has been educating homeowners, home builders, designers and others about a range of locally appropriate ways to make homes more storm resistant, energy-efficient and user-friendly.
A unique feature of LaHouse is that it is being built and furnished to look and feel like a comfortable and appealing home, but it will actually be an exhibit of numerous solutions. It will include cut-aways showing special construction components. It will include exhibits that will change periodically to feature many different elements of home construction such as insulation, roofing materials and moisture barriers. On-site staff will answer questions from visitors. As part of the AgCenter’s educational mission, LaHouse will include a high-tech teaching center where seminars and workshops will be held. The classroom will be in what appears to be the garage for the home.
Sustainable Housing
A focal point of the project is examining the issue of sustainability, which means meeting current needs without jeopardizing future generations. Sustainable housing and development must integrate and balance resource efficiency, durability and health with practicality and convenience to become integrated into home construction. To homeowners, sustainability must be affordable, aesthetically appealing and meet their needs and desires. To builders and architects, it means do-able, practical and marketable.
The LaHouse program and demonstration is chaired by Claudette Reichel, professor and extension housing specialist. “At this stage of construction, visitors can see immediately that LaHouse is not a one-way demonstration,” Reichel said. “It exhibits four different high-performance building systems – all fortified for high wind resistance – four alternative foundation systems for flood zones, three different high efficiency heating and air conditioning systems with ventilation and dehumidification for optimal air quality, and a wide variety of products and features that offer special benefits – all in the one house.”
This characteristic was and still is a challenge for the project team, including the architect and contractor of LaHouse. The design firm for the project is Remson-Haley-Herpin Architects and the general contractor is Wooden Creations.
“It’s been a learning process and I’m looking forward to its completion,” said Trula Remson, the architect. “So much of this information is not readily available to the architectural community. Our hot and humid climate presents unique challenges, and it will be extremely useful to have ideas and techniques that are applicable to the high humidity we experience in Louisiana.”
Builder Roy Domangue Jr. said the learning component of LaHouse will benefit builders and contractors who will see how to properly use the newer materials and the most-efficient technology.
“Our goal is to build it correctly and thus teach others the proper methods. We want to prevent needless repairs from improper installation of materials. Typically, the products do not fail. It is the misapplication or installation of the products that fail creating inefficient operation of the home,” Domangue said.
Other entities are playing critical roles in seeing the house through completion. As part of her job as LaHouse coordinator, Sandy Scallan is finalizing donor contributions ensuring that product deliveries are coordinated with the building schedule. Donations from private individuals such as Paula Manship and private corporations such as Entergy have helped move along the project. The Louisiana Home Builders Association, U.S. Borax, Osmose, and Louisiana Pacific made significant financial contributions, and the Roy O. Martin Lumber Company made both a financial commitment and donated a large quantity of materials that is being used in the construction of LaHouse. Another major contributor is Wooden Creations through the donation of its general contracting services.
Environmental Challenges
Elements of LaHouse are specifically designed to meet the environmental challenges to homes along the Gulf Coast. For hurricane protection, metal connectors, structural sheathing with blocking, special nails and spacing, and water barriers were used throughout the house and teaching center, which is in the garage. In addition, storm-safe rooms are exhibited – one commercial and built to FEMA storm shelter standards and a low-cost reinforcement of a walk-in closet for moderate impact resistance.
For protection from Formosan termites, there are three primary strategies being implemented in LaHouse – a wire-mesh barrier system, chemically treated wood, and a soil treatment underneath the concrete slab. The barrier system, called Termi-Mesh, is anchored along the perimeter of the foundation and clamped to plumbing pipes. The mesh is durable, and the openings are too small for termites to enter. The system works on the same principle as window screens.
LaHouse Lagniappe
- Landscaping at LaHouse will feature plants adapted to drought conditions to conserve water resources.
- The home will feature three heating, cooling, ventilation and dehumidification systems for comfort, efficiency and indoor air quality.
- Advanced, energy-efficient appliances, lighting controls and structured wiring will be used throughout the home.
- Three elevated foundation systems for flood zones, dry flood-proofing and wet flood-proofing will be demonstrated.
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LaHouse partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America program, FEMA, Institute of Business and Home Safety, Building Media Inc. and private industry sponsors to bring nationally prominent building scientists to six south Louisiana cities who conducted best building practice training for nearly 1,000 building professionals in the spring of 2006.
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LaHouse has already been featured in local and national media, including Coastal Contractor trade journal, Home Energy magazine, Automated Builder magazine, Builder-Architect, the Times Picayune of New Orleans.
(This AgCenter Lead was updated Nov. 1, 2006.)