Durable Materials Enhance This High Elevation Home

Ron Jones, owner of VISION House Mariposa Meadows, gives the lowdown on the products that went into constructing an ironclad building envelope.

Ron Jones, the owner of Mariposa Meadows and co-founder and president of Green Builder Media, has spent the last eight years building his passion project–VISION House Mariposa Meadows. Jones specifically selected each product to play a role in the overall sustainability equation. The goal is to display the most forward thinking and impactful products that ultimately lead to a net zero construction of three homes 13 miles away from the nearest electric hookup.

Mariposa Meadows overhead

This video is the first in a series dedicated to the unique and innovative products at VISION House Mariposa Meadows. As the structures are nearing completion, Jones eagerly shares his thoughts on the standout products that made this project possible.

 

At an elevation of 10,400 feet, the building envelope has to be super efficient.  “The most essential part of a successful strategy for building anywhere centers around the building envelope. So, for the Mariposa project, we selected best-in-class systems,” Jones acknowledges.

Jones chose Nudura’s insulated concrete forms (ICFs) for the foundation. Nudura’s product “gives us a tremendous energy advantage and helps to reduce the amount of concrete that we have to put in place,” he says. 

Jones worked with the Structural Insulated Panel Association (SIPA) to specify SIPs for the walls and roofs for the three structures at Mariposa Meadows, primarily because SIPs have inherently high insulative properties. The panels are made by sandwiching solid foam between two boards of OSB. The prefabricated product cuts down on construction site waste and results in a structurally sound building.

The 8 ¼ inch panels for the walls result in roughly an R-40, and the roof panels are 12 inches and are approaching an R-value of 60. “It provides us with an incredible effect in terms of thermal insulation, sound insulation and quality surface everywhere,” Jones boasts. “In the coldest winters here at over 10,00 feet, I have never seen any of the building space interiors under mid-40s.”

The temperature control is also in part due to the high-performance window package from Euroline. The triple-glazed panels “have a U-value of 0.15, which is almost unheard of, and the insulative value is in the R-10 range,” Jones says with enthusiasm.

Similarly, all exterior doors at VISION House Mariposa Meadows are insulated steel doors from Assa Abloy. Jones was drawn to the doors’ three-hour fire rating, especially given that the structures are located in the middle of a national forest amid rising wildfire conditions. 

To tightly wrap and protect the building envelope, Jones specified DuPont’s Tyvek housewrap and suite of weatherization products to do the job right. The DuPont products “give us the ability to control air flow, water flow and the flow of energy via temperature change is just astonishing.” 

“Everything operates in a way that avoids condensation, protects the components of the structure, and it makes it possible for us to have the highest quality living space that we can,” Jones concludes.

Follow along for more videos as Jones explains the intricate product selection process for VISION House Mariposa Meadows.