Shepherdstown as the first phius design-certified passive house in the state | News, sports, jobs

Sean and Tracey Porters house are constructed in such a way that it will probably lead to it is a net zero house. Tabitha Johnston

Shepherdstown – Sean and Tracey Porter will move to their new home in the 312 W. German St. in Shepherdstown.

For several reasons, this house is something special for you, e.g. However, the most exciting thing about their new home is the fact that it is a passive house-a energy-efficient home that is built with comfort, affordability and necessity to keep an eye on a low CO2 footprint.

“The Porter residence is a great example of a passive house”, “ said the architect Richard Pedranti, who designed the project. “Passive houses are really still a boutique approach to design a house here in the USA in Europe.

Pedranti has designed passive houses in the past 12 years, although this will be one of the few in a historical city. The place feels particularly suitable so that a passive house is installed due to its deep German roots when the first passive house was built in Germany in 1991.

This connection between Germany and passive houses is indeed, which caused the carriers to build their own home.

The first passive house in West Virginia is built at Westdeutsche Straße 312 in Shepherdstown. Tabitha Johnston

“My mother is German. I was born in Germany and spent most of my summer in Germany as a child and young adult.” Said Sean. “I had an aunt there who lived in a house that was 600 or 700 years old.”

According to Sean, the strong building of this and many other houses in Germany conveyed a high standard for building the building.

“When I became a homeowner, I was confused about why shingles only last 20 years in a house and why these bladder windows have to be replaced every 20 years. I always compared everything to the German building.” Said Sean. “I didn't have to build a passive house, but I wanted to build a house with higher quality building materials. I looked around and it always seemed that the passive design standard was the way to achieve that.”

Before building the house, his design had to be approved by the Passive House Institute US (PHius) to ensure that it corresponds to passive house design standards. The house will be inspected again this summer after its completion so that it can become a PHius-certified passive house. Solar modules are added to the roof to further optimize the energy efficiency of the house.

According to Tracey, you and Sean await you that it is a net zero house what is producing as much energy as it consumes. In this way, the couple does not have to pay an electrical calculation and both have to be retired on a fixed income.

As it is to plan Tracey and Sean, after moving to Shepherdstown, to continue working longer than employees of the nurse and as employees of the environmental company.

“We have spent many vacation over the years to travel to Germany. We like the many walk -in communities there” Said Tracey. “We currently live in Western Pennsylvania and have to drive for at least half an hour to visit something. We have decided to bring our children through school that we would look for a walk -in community in which we could build a home.”

The couple found Shepherdstown the ideal walkable community and bought a property there before the Covid 19 pandemic. You paid for a few years to pay off the loan with which you had bought the property before contacting Pedranti's architectural firm to design the house.

“We fell in love with Shepherdstown”, “ Said Tracey. “It checks all the boxes.”