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There’s no such thing as “the average household.” Now, more than ever, homeowners are designing homes that support long-term goals and overall well-being. These are some of the ways this trend is emerging.

Focus on the home, and feeling content in our homes, has never been more pronounced. An impressive 96 percent of homeowners say it’s important to feel happy in their homes and that their homes enable them to feel comfortable and relaxed, according to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Marvin. This sheds light on another important focus at the forefront: well-being. Creative solutions are emerging where the home and well-being converge—in everything from lifestyle to home design to the structure of living environments. 
 
Well-being manifests itself in many ways within the home, from thoughtfully designed spaces for accessibility to residences meant to be forever homes for multiple generations. The following projects highlight creative solutions being embraced by homeowners to support well-being—whatever that means for them. 

A Home for Aging in Place 

This modern home in Minnesota balances an aging-in-place agenda with beautiful design. It’s built with maintenance-free materials, including brick, stone, and stucco, with Marvin Modern windows that promise low maintenance and high performance. The homeowners opted for double-pane glass to further improve thermal efficiency in the Minnesota climate.

The home’s living room, dining room, and kitchen comprise an expansive and open floor plan, with views of the lake the home resides on. And a stainless-steel elevator, with a style to match the modern aesthetic, enables easy access between floors if stairs ever become a challenge. The beauty of the lake and the verdant scenery deeply resonated with the homeowners. As they thought about aging in place and creating a home that would enable happier, healthier living over the coming years, an inspiring view of nature was a big part of their plan. The home faces west and offers a front-row seat to gorgeous lakefront sunsets every night.

The Multigenerational Home  

The vision for this home in Denver was to encourage multigenerational families to reconnect with the natural world and to foster an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Features of the home include a large airy living room intended for multiple uses for all family members, openness between indoors and out to maximize natural light and fresh air, and a thoughtfully designed kitchen with warm decor.

In addition to these multigenerational elements, this house also comes complete with a boomer suite, which has its own bedroom, living space, kitchen, and private outdoor space accessible by a Marvin Ultimate Swinging French Door. The suite provides privacy while still encouraging a family to remain close and connected. 

The Accessible Home 

When envisioning the perfect home for their family, this home’s couple agreed that accessibility was paramount—access to the outdoors, and access for their daughters who have special needs and rely on wheelchairs to get around. Working with their architect, they designed a home adapted to fit their family’s lifestyle over the years, providing lifelong health and happiness.

The floor plan includes many long corridors with expansive windows that line three internal courtyards. These corridors were designed to be wheelchair accessible and, with ample views out the windows, intended to create what the architect calls “a contemplative experience, rather than just a distance to be traversed.”  
 
Given that the home is so permeable to the outdoors, choice of windows was key. Equally important was placement of windows, such that the couple’s daughters, who spend a lot of time on their backs because they can’t sit up naturally, always have a view of nature when they look up.

A Home Designed for Self Care 

This home in Atlanta was meticulously designed to inspire healthy living, a happy outlook, and a respite from the chaos of life. Physical, mental, and social well-being take a front seat and are realized in creative ways, from a kitchen engineered to inspire healthy eating and a no-excuses fitness space, to open areas that inspire conversation and family gatherings.

The living room offers opportunities to take in the view and connect with nature, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows and an expansive Marvin Ultimate Bi-Fold door.  Meanwhile, the office lets light fuel productivity with a unique configuration of floor-to-ceiling Modern Direct Glaze windows.  

All of these homes reveal one evolving universal truth: well-being in the home is here to stay. There are countless ways that well-being can be interpreted, though patterns emerge across homes, with attention to ample light, fresh air, and inspiring views of nature. With more time spent in the home than ever before, we can’t wait to see how well-being continues to manifest in the home in creative ways.

This article originally appeared on the Inspired by Marvin blog.

Brought to you by Marvin

Failing windows and doors will not only make your favorite spaces less comfortable, they may also have a negative effect on your health. Here’s how to know when it’s time for replacement.

As time goes by, the performance of your windows and doors will diminish. Weather-stripping gets damaged, seals fail, components get brittle and break. How do you know when it’s time to replace them? There are some obvious signs like cracked glass, drafty rooms, or that they’re hard to open and close, but some signs are more subtle. This handy guide will help you discover when it’s time for an upgrade.

Signs It’s Time to Replace Your Windows and Doors

Even Your Dog Needs a Blanket

Let’s start with the most obvious sign you need new windows and doors: comfort. Your home is your sanctuary, your retreat. There should be no space more comfortable than your home. If your favorite rooms never seem to warm up in the winter or stay cool in the summer, your windows and doors are likely substantial contributors to your, and your pet’s, discomfort. Most modern windows are better engineered, made with more effective materials, and today’s glass outperforms glass of days gone by in nearly every category, which all translates into more comfortable rooms.

High Energy Bills

It only makes sense that if your windows and doors are underperforming, your energy bills will be higher than they should be. Even if you can afford the extra money, heating and cooling the outdoors is wasteful and consumes more natural resources than is necessary. If you’re not sure what your fuel and electricity bills should be, ask your neighbors what they pay. If their house is built like yours and their family is a similar size, their bills should be roughly the same. Just make sure to explain why you’re asking, or might be pegged the neighborhood busybody.

Ghostly Curtains

If your curtains are moving around even when the window is closed, the cause could be the restless spirit of a departed soul, but a drafty window is more likely the culprit. There are a couple reasons why windows become susceptible to air infiltration. It might be that the window’s seals and gaskets have outlived their usefulness, or maybe the window was improperly installed in the first place, and the draft is not coming through the window itself but from the area between the window and the wall. If that’s the case, you may want to opt for new full replacement windows instead of inserts so the installer can properly insulate around your new windows.

You Can See the Light

Beautiful views of the outdoors can be a great thing, unless those views are being seen between a door panel and the door jamb. You should see no light around the perimeter of your door panel. If you can, your door is either out of alignment or the weather-stripping has worn out or is missing altogether. Water infiltration, which can lead to rot and mold, is also a concern with inadequately sealed doors.

Foggy Glass

For over 40 years, most windows have been made with dual pane glass, that is, two panes of glass separated by a small space. To improve insulation values, glass manufactures fill the space between the two panes with an inert gas like argon. Eventually, the seal keeping the gas in place fails, and the gas escapes, at which point the glass surfaces in the middle are prone to condensation. And when that condensation dries, it can leave behind an irritating foggy film which can’t be reached to be cleaned off. In addition to obscuring your view, a broken seal will negatively affect a window’s performance.

Musty Smells

Poor performing and improperly installed windows and doors can lose their ability to prevent water from entering a home. And where there’s water, you’ll often find mold, which can be a real health concern, especially for those with mold allergies. Sometimes you can see the mold, but it could be growing inside your walls and the only sign might be a musty/moldy smell. Using tools like moisture meters and infrared cameras, a window and door professional can evaluate the situation and let you know if your windows and doors maybe contributing to the problem.

They Won’t Budge

Do you need a crowbar to open your sliding glass door or bedroom double hung window? If you do, you’re ready for new windows and doors. A stubborn window or door is not just inconvenient, it can be dangerous. If there’s a fire or other emergency, a stuck window or door could mean the difference between a safe outcome and disaster.

Bugs and Critters

Like teenagers, unwelcome pests are constantly on the lookout for food and shelter, and if they find access to them in your home, they won’t wait for an invitation. Bugs and critters will attack the weakest areas first, like gaps in caulking, missing gaskets, worn-out weather-stripping, and the insulation around a window. New windows and doors and modern insulation methods do a better job of staving off the assault of cold, hungry pests on the move.

You Yell A Lot

Maybe you’ve heard the news? There are more people in the world than there used to be. If your once tranquil boulevard has become a bustling thoroughfare, you’ve certainly heard all about it. In fact, you’re probably hearing a delivery van rumbling by right now. New windows and doors can be fitted with three panes of glass and special laminations that will help prevent outdoor noises from making it necessary to yell to be heard.

They’re Really Old

If your windows and doors, or the trim around them, were installed prior to 1978, there’s a good chance that they have been painted with lead-based paint. Lead is highly toxic when ingested, and children are particularly at risk. If you suspect that your windows and doors have been painted with lead paint, have the surfaces tested, and form an abatement plan if necessary.

Chipping Paint

If your windows and doors no longer hold a coat of paint, it’s probably time for an upgrade. What’s likely happening is that water is finding its way past seals and gaskets and into the painted components, causing the paint to fail from the inside out.

A Hurricane is Heading Your Way

If you live near a coast that is subject to tropical storms and hurricanes, you may want to step up your window and door game. Your windows and doors may have been code compliant thirty years ago, but codes have changed, and that’s because we now have the technology to create amazingly strong impact-resistant products, which are tested by hurdling 2x4s at it at speeds near 35 mph and small steel balls at near 90 mph. And when the storm winds do blow, it’s important to have windows and doors you can rely on, because if the glass, sash, or frame on just one unit should fail, a house in a hurricane can become pressurized, which could cause the walls to be pushed out and the entire roof to be blown off the house.

Your Windows and Doors are Just Plain Ugly

They say that beauty lives in the details. If you’re not seeing the beauty living in the details of your current windows and doors, it might be time for an upgrade. Every Marvin window and door is made with expert craftsmanship and achieves architectural precision across every style, shape, and size. Thoughtful design, industry-leading performance, and innovative features, inspired by how people live, come together to bring a feeling of luxury, comfort, and security into every room.

This article originally appeared on the Inspired by Marvin blog.

Content taken from Webinar with Ann Edminster (Zero-energy/emissions consultant, educator, author).

The zero net energy (ZNE) home development movement began in the ‘70s and ‘80s out of the wake of the energy crises in the U.S. The movement was based on work by the Rocky Mountain Institute and Amory Lovins. 

A Habitat for Humanity chapter in the metro Denver area developed the first home documented to operate at zero net energy in 2006. This year, 2021, marks the 15^th year that formal ZNE building techniques are being used to achieve this ambitious goal. As of mid-2019, there were about 22,000 documented ZNE homes in the U.S. and Canada. That number has since risen to roughly 28,000. 

As the trend continues, let’s look at some of the benefits of ZNE homes. 

Affordability – There is a misconception from the outside that ZNE homes are strictly for the wealthy. ZNE in multi-family units is a trend that is on the rise, and a large fraction are affordable units. And as mentioned above, Habitat for Humanity has been an early driving force in ZNE home construction.

Increase in Battery Storage – ZNE developers are seeing a heavier interest in being all electric ready, even where that’s not quite the case yet. There’s a trend with zero net efficiency homes to ensure that all areas of the home are playing well with the grid. This can help to bring solar energy usage and production into alignment in ways that weren’t previously possible. 

Incentives Increase Opportunity – California has been an early pioneer in the ZNE movement. There are more than 40 local governments statewide that are incentivizing or requiring all electric in their new construction. These new incentives will drive what the market looks like in the near future. As more people buy ZNE homes costs will go down. 

The 6 Critical Factors of a ZNE Home

These aren’t the only benefits of ZNE construction. The construction process opens up unique benefits because of the distinct differences from traditional construction. 

Let’s look deeper at six critical factors for building a ZNE home: 

• The roof
• The form 
• The plan 
• The enclosure
• The windows
• The documentation

The Roof – Figuring out the solar production goal has been made easier with websites that can help you to determine this number, based on your local climate. Based on this number, you can determine the square footage of panels needed. But it’s important not to forget that in most areas, the fire code needs clearance around the panels. Contractors can also help precisely determine this number. 

The Form – The form of the home must neatly fit into the ZNE goals. You can have an elegant looking home where the design is difficult to heat, cool, insulate or air seal. That will add problems that detract from ZNE homes. These practical necessities must be factored into the form of a ZNE home. When these considerations are made early in the design process, the result is an end product that’s more efficient. 

The Plan – It’s critically important to consider HVAC, plumbing, and other integrated systems early in the planning.  Short duct runs and careful planning can put less stress on your HVAC system, resulting in a higher energy efficiency. The same principle applies to the plumbing throughout the house, and water usage. The shorter the run, the easier it is to deliver hot water. 

Enclosures – This is where many begin thinking about energy efficiency. The framing, insulation and barriers all have an impact on energy exposure. The air barrier, water barrier, and thermal barrier are all extremely important in ZNE construction. 

Windows – With ZNE homes, the number of windows, their size, location, orientation, and exposure are all important, and considered early in the process. Solar heat gain coefficient needs to be .24 or less. With ZNE homes, the home can be overheated with too high of a coefficient. The result is a well-ventilated home that’s able to produce a significant amount of natural energy.

Detailed Documentation – Much of what happens in the ZNE building process is not the same as a conventional home. There will be enhanced levels of documentation to ensure that all building goals are met, and documenting the steps completed in construction. This can help put the homeowner’s mind at ease that these steps were done right, the first time. 

The Many Benefits of ZNE

A ZNE home is wonderful for the environment, and can save homeowners on utility costs in the long run. It’s a growing trend that can benefit homeowners of all different financial statuses. It also offers some wonderful benefits to the homeowner that come from an enhanced planning process and considerations made along every step of the way. 

Wanting more ZNE information? Check out our article: Getting To Zero Net Energy (ZNE).

We produce frequent webinars. Register for future webinars or view past webinars HERE.

with Ann Edminster

What is ZNE and What Are the Benefits? 

ZNE, or Zero Net Energy, is a construction movement centered around optimizing the efficiency of a home, so that the owner’s energy demand is met, typically on-site. As the movement grows, it is sometimes referred to as Zero Net Electricity, or Zero Net Emissions, but it typically revolves around the same ideas. 

Both energy consumption and production are factored into the equation with ZNE homes. 

While the target is to come as close as possible to neutralizing energy consumption, ZNE isn’t always 100 percent achieved. But building with these concepts in mind still carries an environmental benefit and offers tremendous advantages to the homeowner. ZNE principles will bring builders, developers, and homeowners further than simply trying to create something that is energy efficient. 

The Principles of a ZNE Ready Home

ZNE ready homes revolve around four main components: 

• An efficient form and orientation 
• A high-performance enclosure
• Efficient mechanical systems 
• Best in class electrical devices

The construction process is important for implementing all of these components. It’s important to be attentive with each of these components to achieve ZNE. 

The Benefits of Energy Efficiency

Everybody loves efficiency, but it’s the benefits that it brings that truly register with homeowners. Lower energy use results in lower utility bills and increased comfort. Certain parts of the country, such as Northern California, may remain susceptible to public safety power shut offs. While this would be a problem for climate control in most homes, a ZNE home will have more mechanisms in place for maintaining a comfortable temperature. This is true during the winter or summer and makes it a valuable health and safety benefit. 

Let’s look at a more complete picture of the benefits stemming from reduced energy consumption:

• Better indoor air quality
• Quieter interiors
• Hot water arrives faster
• Protection from rising utility costs
• Fighting climate change

How Solar Power Helps ZNE 

Renewable energy production must meet the home’s total annual energy usage to qualify as a Zero Net Energy home. This includes all fuels. A solar energy system adds further benefits. Solar provides the homeowner with free (after the system is paid for) renewable energy any time the sun is shining. 

Batteries have become an increasingly popular part of the solar energy system to be able to continue to utilize that energy around the clock. This has become increasingly important as we have more people working from home, or going to school remotely, who can ill afford to lose power. 

Solar power systems have been shown to add about 4 percent to a home’s resale value, while using natural energy verses non-renewable fossil fuels. When a home receives all its energy from renewable energy, it becomes a zero emissions home and can offer the homeowner significant value. 

A Win for the Builder and Homeowner Alike

For the homeowner, a solar energy system may provide significant monthly savings in the form of reduced, or no utilities. This can add up to several hundred dollars per month, depending on the size of the home, and amount of energy consumed. 

When a builder includes a solar energy system, they may be able to recoup a small amount of that energy savings by increasing the monthly mortgage. The homeowner still sees their savings, and the builder sees profit. It’s a win for both parties. 

Zero Net Energy homes bring a more focused approach to creating energy efficient homes that benefit all parties involved while helping the environment.