Wardcraft High Performance Standards
Our high performance standards form the foundation of a highly energy-efficient home that exceeds even the most stringent regional building codes. Quality construction helps homeowners live comfortably while paying lower monthly energy bills. Our product choices were carefully selected for durability, low maintenance, optimum value and performance. Our standards include:
Enhanced Insulation Package, Formaldehyde-Free
BENEFIT: Properly installed, high R-value insulation requires less energy to heat and cool, resulting in lower utility bills and a quieter, more comfortable home.
This fiberglass insulation offers the thermal and acoustical performance that today’s homeowners demand—and it improves indoor air quality because it's made without formaldehyde. Why is that important? Because reducing overall formaldehyde levels in the home creates a healthier living environment. As far back as 1987, the EPA classified formaldehyde as a probable human carcinogen.
Standard 2" x 6" R-23 Exterior Walls. Johns Mansville Spider Fiber® blown fiberglass insulation is glued in place in 2" x 6" exterior walls. This product far outperforms fiberglass batt insulation and other blown insulation systems that introduce water into the building envelope and tend to settle over time. The glue used introduces less than 10% moisture into the home, as well as holding the insulation in place over the lifetime of the product, creating a much tighter installation and eliminating settling, gaps, voids and depressions, which improves energy efficiency and decreases sound transmission. The insulation is treated with an EPA-registered mold inhibitor to protect against mold. In addition, only fiberglass insulation made without formaldehyde—such as Spider Fiber® —can pass Environmental Specification 1350, the toughest indoor air quality test in North America, with no formaldehyde detected. During factory tours, we invite visitors to touch this unique product, which feels like cotton.
Standard R-49 Attic Insulation. Johns Mansville Climate Pro® formaldehyde-free blown-in loose-fill fiberglass is a premium alternative to fiberglass batt and cellulose insulation. You can be assured that your home is highly energy efficient with minimal heat loss. Unlike cellulose, it won’t decay or provide food for animals or microbes. It’s effective for the life of your home.
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| Standard. R-23 Exterior Walls |
Standard. R-49 Attic Insulation |
Tight Building Envelope and Air-Sealing Techniques
BENEFIT: High quality construction practices and air-sealing techniques reduce energy loss by keeping the heated or cooled air inside the home.
Standard Advanced Sealing Techniques. We caulk all exterior sheathing seams, tape all house wrap seams and seal the bottom plate of the wall to the subfloor. Our Full Box Construction® joins the walls to the floor system with 7/16" exterior wall sheathing, designed to maximize the shear wall strength and structural integrity of your home. Full-Box Construction® also eliminates air infiltration between the walls and floor system, an area where most homes leak a tremendous amount of air. All penetrations through the exterior envelope are sealed with foam. Windows are sealed in to the rough opening with foam and then flashing tape is applied.
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| Standard. Caulking all OSB seams on the exterior of your home reduces air infiltration, making a more comfortable living space. This is not required by most codes. |
Standard. Premium house wrap encases your home and creates a moisture management system. We tape every seam for additional protection on each home. This is not required by most codes. While taking a tour, ask to feel the thickness of this premium house wrap. |
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| Standard. All penetrations through exterior walls and floors are sealed with expanding foam to reduce air infiltration, reducing drafts in your home. | Standard. Window assemblies are subjected to wind-driven rain, which can find its way into a window and cause water damage. Flashing tape is a self-adhered flashing that helps protect the heads and jambs of windows against moisture infiltration. |
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| Standard. OSB sheathing is attached on the exterior of each home with low-VOC construction adhesive and heavy duty, adhesive coated construction staples. |
High Efficiency, Sealed Combustion HVAC,
Hot Water Heater & Low-Flow Faucets
BENEFIT: As much as half of the energy used in your home goes to heating and cooling. High efficiency, sealed combustion HVAC equipment and water heaters with a sealed combustion chamber eliminate carbon monoxide fumes and create a more comfortable home while using less energy. A MERV 8 pleated furnace filter helps to keeps the air cleaner. Low-flow faucets conserve water.
Standard 90%+ Furnace and 14 SEER A/C Equipment. Our standard far exceeds the 80% and 13 SEER minimums required by most codes. We use specialized software to design your duct system, ensuring proper sizing to maximize efficiency. This software takes into account the size and layout of the home, room sizes, window-to-wall ratio, insulation, windows and orientation of your home on the building site. Durable galvanized ductwork is standard for the air supply.
Standard Water Heater and Water-Saving Faucets. A high-efficiency 50 gallon water heater is standard and comes with an insulation blanket that helps retain more heat in the tank. Low-flow lavatory faucets are standard, with low-flow showerheads available at no additional charge. These conserve precious water.
Standard Energy-Efficient Pella® Impervia® Fiberglass Windows
BENEFIT: High quality windows with Low-E glazing and improved thermal performance helps retain heat during the winter, retain cool air during the summer and block damaging UV rays. Pella® Impervia® single-hung windows are standard.
Standard Low-E Coating. A microscopically thin, transparent metallic coating on the glass reduces radiant heat loss. Low-E can also act as a sun block by reducing the passage of UV rays to help prevent the fading of your furniture and carpet. This coating is standard on all of the windows we offer.
U-Factor Rating. This measures a windows ability to resist the transfer of heat. The lower the U-factor, the less heat is transferred, and the more energy-efficient the window. A U-factor of .35 is required by most codes. Our standard windows have an improved U-factor of .32, and optional windows have U-factors as low as .27.
Design Pressure (DP) Rating. This measures how resistant the window is to positive and negative air pressure, wind and rain. The higher the DP rating, the tighter the window assembly. A DP 20 is required by most codes, while our standard windows have an improved DP 30, and optional windows have DP ratings as high as 50.
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC). This number tells how effective the window is at blocking the sun’s radiant heat. The lower the SHGC, the less solar heat the window allows into your home.
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| Standard. Single hung Pella® Impervia energy-efficient windows with Low-E glass are standard. Made from patented Duracast® fiberglass composite, these windows are virtually impervious to extreme weather. They have the quality and look of painted wood without the maintenance. |
Standard. Pella® Impervia® windows are easy to clean. Venting windows include one or more tilt-in or removable sashes, so you can clean the interior and exterior glass from inside the home. |
U.S. Climate Zones
The climate in which your new home will be built is an important factor in deciding how your new home should be built. The harsher climates that we build in demand a tighter building envelope and higher insulation levels to ensure every dollar spent heating or cooling the home is used as efficiently as possible. It is also important to include windows, doors or skylights that are suited to the home's climate. No matter where we build your home, EVERY custom Wardcraft home is built to meet energy-efficiency standards for the harshest climate zone.
Although many areas have strict building codes, others have virtually unrestricted building codes. For instance, approximately 70% of Kansas has no building code. This means local builders can build very cheaply with subpar building materials and virtually no oversight. Choosing Wardcraft ensures stringent oversight and quality building materials in every state in which we build.
Standard Indoor Air Quality Features
BENEFIT: Reducing indoor pollutants affects the health of the entire family.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, most people spend 90% of their time indoors — and indoor air can be more harmful than outdoor air. In fact, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies show that indoor air pollution levels are often two to five times higher than outdoor levels. Our indoor air quality begins with a tight building envelope that keeps outdoor pollutants outside, and continues with products that contribute to a healthier indoor environment. Wardcraft homes come standard with a sealed combustion furnace that reduces the chance of dangerous fumes escaping into the home. Also standard are combination smoke/carbon monoxide detectors outside each sleeping area. We use formaldehyde-free insulation and low-VOC sealants and adhesives to reduce volatile organic compounds within the home. Mechanical ventilation is standard in each bathroom and kitchen. A passive radon standpipe is standard and may be connected on-site if radon venting is needed. As a family based business, we have designed our standards to provide a healthier living environment for all families. Our standards include:
• Combination smoke/carbon monoxide detectors by all sleeping areas
• High-efficiency sealed combustion HVAC equipment with MERV 8 pleated filter
• Formaldehyde-free Johns Manville fiberglass insulation made of 25% recycled content
• Low-VOC adhesives and sealants
• Low-VOC oriented strand board used in exterior sheathing, floor decking, roof decking
• Caulking of exterior sheathing and taping of exterior house wrap, reducing air infiltration
• American-made gypsum board, which eliminates the risk of toxic foreign drywall
• Mechanical ventilation to the exterior
• Passive radon standpipe
U.S. Radon Map (potential for elevated indoor radon levels)
The majority of the homes we build are located in areas with moderate to high levels of radon. Radon is the No. 2 cause of lung cancer in the U.S. We install a passive radon standpipe standard on every home (many areas do not require radon venting by code)*. If radon venting is needed, the standpipe is prepped for radon mitigation to be completed on-site. If further venting is required due to high levels of radon, an additional exhaust fan may be installed on-site by a radon mitigation specialist.
Standard Resource Conservation
In addition to the high-performance energy efficiency and indoor air quality features that form the backbone of our green building specifications, every Wardcraft home also includes these standard natural resource conservation features:
• Low-flow lavatory faucets, with low-flow showerheads available at no charge.
• SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) lumber ensures the lumber we build with comes from forests that are managed for sustainably.
• We use engineered roof trusses, floor trusses and I-joist floors, as well as oriented strand board panels used in exterior sheathing, roof sheathing, and floor decking using smaller pieces of wood instead of dimensional lumber cut from large trees. Dimensional lumber is used in all structural wall, roof and floor applications. Using engineered wood products wherever possible reduces the demand on old-growth forests, as well as providing superior structural strength.
• Recycled content, fire-resistant, durable components (such as fiber-cement siding) integrate wood fibers and cementitious materials with fly ash left over from coal production. Other standard products that feature recycled content include shingles, Johns Manville insulation, Pella® windows and porcelain tile.
Our systems building method incorporates conservation efforts that drastically reduce job site waste, trips to the landfill and the amount of fuel consumed while building each home. By bringing all the construction workers together under one roof and having them work on several homes at a time, we increase efficiencies while decreasing drive time and fuel consumption.
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| Standard. Resource conservation is built right in to your floor by using smaller pieces (middle section) of structurally sound dimensional lumber that would go to waste otherwise. These form the webbing of floor and roof trusses. |
Standard. The advantage of I-joists is they will not bow, crown, twist, cup or split as a dimensional piece of lumber would. Engineered I-joists have greater load-bearing capacity and lower moisture content than solid sawn lumber. |
