What is the name of the organization responsible for standardizing green building and house floor plans? The LEED® Green Building Rating System (TM) implements the national standard for building commercial and residential green house floor plans. THE LEED® rating system also certifies house plans according to the following criterion:

• Sustainable site
• Innovation & Design
• Energy and Atmosphere
• Water Efficiency
• Material and Resources
• Indoor Environmental Quality

What are examples of the types of components building a green house floor plan? Around the home, a myriad of appliances and utilities exemplify energy savings and efficiency, ultimately reducing the carbon footprint. For instance, light-hued siding designed to diminish heat retention would have to meet LEED certification.

Aside from LEED certification, are there any other methods for architecting a green home? The REAL model home is also an ENERGY STAR®-rated home. The house floor plan consists of a precisely appointed selection of appliances, fixtures, and products aimed at maximizing the home’s natural resources (energy, water).

In the bathroom, dual-flush toilets conserve on water. A gray water system recycles bath and laundry water to flush toilets. A geothermal heating and cooling system is another example of efficiency. Additionally, ENERGY STAR®-rated appliances such as a dishwasher, ceiling fans and even compact fluorescent bulbs are other household products available in the REAL model home. 

If a homebuilder, who is already certified with LEED, designs my home– how can I be sure that my home is being developed accordingly? Throughout the development process of your green house floor plan, LEED built homes have to pass inspections to ensure that your home is being built according to the standards established

 Please click on “Building Green” house floors plan” to learn more about LEED certification.

The construction of the modular house floor plan adheres to the same guidelines as stick-built homes.

Modular house floor plans are structures, which are manufactured off site in a factory and then transported in one or more sections. 

Modular homes must be architected, meeting the guidelines of the Federal Manufactured Construction and Safety Standards and  be labeled accordingly.

As long as the modular home construction is completed within 30 to 60 calendar days, the borrower may seek a lender, who can use a line of credit in conjunction with the FHA-insured home loan.

In order for the modular house floor plan to qualify for an FHA mortgage insurance, it must be in compliance with the proceeding regulations:

• Occupy a minimum of 400 square feet
• Follow the construction in conformance the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards.
• Be manufactured as a place of residence, built according to FHA codes and include a permanent foundation.

To read more about the requirements for building a modular home floor plan, review the Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing (PFGMH), by cutting and pasting the following URL: www.huduser.org/publications/destech/permfound.html.

Also, House Plans and More includes a comprehensive library of  modular floor plans, builders, checklists, decorating ideas and more.

Resource: //www.nls.gov/offices/pih/ih/homeownership/184/processing/chap4.htm

-    Colonial
-    European
-    Mediterranean
-    Modular Homes
-    Traditional
-    Victorian

In quest of more than guest suites, media rooms, cabanas, Best House floor Plan went searching on the Internet for luxury mansion floor plans, highlighting green qualities or eco-friendly characteristics. The criteria consisted of solar panels, eco-windows, skylights and anything proving to be energy efficient and environmentally conducive. Here are the reports of our findings:

Imagine closets the depth and width of an average-sized bedroom. Watch television from a media room, which closely resembles a movie theatre. In the sunken great room, far-reaching cathedral ceilings are punctuated by fireplace layered in stonemasonry. This is what we found with mansion house floor plan #592-001D.

At HousePlansandMore.com, we were captivated by the magnitude of this Green Home Floor Plan. With 4958 square feet of living space, the upscale arts and crafts home plan is divided between two floors, five bedrooms, and a three-car garage. The green interior boasts an A-list of amazing features. Outside of the entryway, maintained between an angular roof, affixed with skylights, stately pillars are constructed of river stone. A recycled glass countertop serves as a sustainable alternative to granite, marble and other types of kitchen work surfaces.

At this luxury mansion home floor plans, the see-through fireplace and solarium evoked covetous feelings. During the winter months, a solarium offset, by a u-shaped staircase depicts a warmth and picturesque view. On the main floor, a see through fireplace offers heat and warmth throughout the hearth and dining rooms.

But with so many mansion home floor plans to dream about, one must see the homes at HouseFloorPlansandMore.com.

Meanwhile, be sure to check back in several weeks, when we deconstruct hearth rooms.

Related Articles:

Build It Green

Green House Floor Plan: Build An Energy Efficient Home

Inside an Eco-Friendly Million Dollar Mansion

Fallacy #1: Modular homes require almost a year to build.
On the contrary and depending on the size of the modular home, the factory built domicile has an assembly time of three to five days. Once the modular home is transported to the construction site, it requires only two to three months of construction time, compared to the conventional home, which requires nine months to a year for completion.

Fallacy#2: Modular homes are more expensive to build.
According to national averages reported by architects, modular homes are 10 to 20 percent more cost effective than the standard built home.

Fallacy #3: Since, modular homes have to be transported from point “A” to its final site location, the factory built home is not green.Actually, many factory built homes are developed in accordance to a rating system, mandated by the U.S. Green Building Council. An example is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). These pre-constructed homes are by far more energy efficient to live in.

Fallacy#4: The home built by module has only one insipid home style.
Contrary to popular belief, modular homes are architected into a myriad of style options:

Colonial
Contemporary
Contemporary
Dutch colonial
Georgian
Mediterranean
Victorian

Fallacy #5: The building green concept is a marketing ploy used to promote the modular home building industry.
Several years before going green or being eco-friendly was popularized, modular manufactures analyzed the amount of waste and its effect on the environment. The findings showed that significantly more building materials end up in landfills during standard home builds than the pre-fabricated home.

Moreover, the home floor plan, erected by module is green because it offers three redeeming qualities:

-    It is environmentally conducive for the occupant, as well as the planet
-    Decreases homeowner’s operational costs on energy
-    Has a substantially smaller carbon footprint

In summation, modular homes are not only eco-friendly, but exude highly stylized characteristics, often indistinguishable to the traditional constructed home.

Read more on Modular Home Design.

Related Articles:

What is a Modular home?

How Modular Homes and Manufactured Homes Differ

Building a Modular Home

Why Build Modular?

Prefab homes sprout green designs, improve affordability

Prefab Homes Green and Energy Efficient