Revell Retrofit
Completion
Occupancy
Two-family.
First floor is rented, two bedrooms one bath, one adult and two children, empty during the weekdays.
Second and third floor is owner-occupied, three bedrooms, three baths, two adults and one child, including an office. Owners work from home, so unit is occupied most of the time.
Scope
Two-family home. Second floor unit is also used as an architecture office.
Entire building was renovated including basement. Third floor (roof and knee wall) was completely demolished and rebuilt.
| Type of Construction | Retrofit |
|---|---|
| Number of buildings | 2 |
| Bedrooms | 3 |
| Bathrooms | 3.0 |
| Stories | 3 |
| Conditioned Building Volume | 29,200 cu ft |
| Conditioned Floor Area | 3,600 sq ft |
| Semiconditioned Floor Area | 1,200 sq ft |
Location and Climate Details
two-family residence
| Address |
39 Revell Ave. Northampton, MA 01060
United States |
|---|---|
| Location Type | Suburaban |
| Climate Region | Zone 5 |
| Köppen Climate Type | Cfa |
| Lat. / Long. | POINT (-72.6374918 42.3083343) |
| Elevation | 160 ft |
| Solar Insolation | 3.72 (kWh/m2/day) |
| Annual CDD and Base Temp | 939 | 65 deg F |
| Annual HDD and Base Temp | 6978 | 65 deg F |
Site
Materials and Design Strategy
As a project for ourselves, we felt we could experiment a bit with materials. We used seconds from the mill of a new material, Boral's Truexterior, and milled it to a modern, square shiplap siding. The mill said they would not accept that job again, as the material is very hard to mill, but Boral is now producing siding profiles that do not need to be milled. Our project helped further this application!
We also used a new material for our front steps: Perennial Wood. It has been completely maintenance free and very stable for this high-impact weather location, but the density of the material also makes it quite slippery when wet. We added walk-off mats and grip strips to avoid slipping.
Our main approach was to superinsulate and air seal as much as possible. We also removed a staircase on the south side of the building to allow more south light into one of the units.
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