Their goal was to create a modern home that would perform as a demonstration project for Flynn's business, EcoDEEP. The house, which they called EcoDEEP Haus, would also showcase sustainable products and strategies to illustrate to other homeowners how simple, effective and livable they could be.

Working with a structural engineer, a contractor, and energy modelers, the couple stayed within the one-and-a-half-story house’s existing footprint, building up instead of out. In addition to designing within the original foundation of the house, they kept most of the first level. They removed the gable roof and expanded the second level, and added 620 square feet on the northwest side.

Half of the house's roof is covered with a 4-inch-deep mat of vegetation growing from a LiveRoof modular tray system. The other half is covered with a white reflective-cooling Firestone UltraPly TPO membrane. The sheathing and framing lumber is FSC certified. Flynn and Nelson clad the house's exterior in HardiePlank fiber-cement-board siding and corrugated metal siding. The cement and masonry are locally sourced Buckcrete, which contains 25 percent fly ash.

Closed-cell spray foam insulation (from Homeco Insulation) contributes an R-value of 54 in the roof cavity, while the rim joists and walls are insulated to R24 in existing walls, and new walls are R30+. The strategic placement of triple-glazed, Low-E argon windows allows natural light into the house and promotes passive heating in winter and cooling in summer. Fluorescent and LED light fixtures keep energy use to a minimum.

Inside the house are an Amana 92-percent-efficient forced-air furnace and energy-efficient appliances. Low-flow toilets, sinks, showers, dishwashers, and washing machines reduce water use by more than 60 percent. Sustainable finishes including low- or no-VOC paints and adhesives, recycled-glass terrazzo, recycled-paper countertops, and salvaged oak flooring.

“All of this is achieved,” they wrote on their blog, “while maintaining a simple, sexy, comfortably modern design aesthetic at the cost of less than $140 per square foot.”

10 Years On No Changes, Just Observations

“The house fulfilled our vision, and its performance is excellent,” Flynn says. “After ten years, we’re beginning to get a few minor maintenance issues, like repainting a wall or changing out a toilet, but nothing major.”

Would Flynn and Nelson have done anything differently? “Roxanne and I talked about that, and no, we really wouldn’t do change any of our decisions. But we do have some observations.”

The systems the couple incorporated, including insulation and windows, “all made sense,” Flynn says. “I’m a huge fan of triple-glazed windows [they selected Thermo-Tech]. We worked with the glazing folks to select the coatings depending on which direction the window was facing, so we fine-tuned the windows’ performance based on their directional orientation.”

The couple discovered, however, that they had more operable windows than they needed. “We like to catch breezes through the whole house,” Flynn explains, “and we found out which ones provide the best ventilation. I know it seems counterintuitive to decrease the number of operable windows, but in hindsight, we might change out several to fixed windows: One facing north, two on the east side, and one on the south side.”

While most new or remodeled houses now include a variety of automated features, from thermostats or alarms programmable with a smartphone to blinds that open close with a remote, Flynn believes “automation is a filter that removes you a little bit from your personal connection with the home.” 

“Walking around and pulling the blinds, turning off the lights, or programming the thermostat by hand keeps us connected to the house,” he adds. “The house is like a partner. We maintain the house so that it performs to the best of its ability. It just doesn’t clean itself! Which is too bad.”