Modular Living, Green Living
When most folks think of modular homes, it’s almost a cinch that what pops into their minds is a gentle euphemism for aluminum-walled trailers, the cheap-as-dirt mainstays of semi-rural Midwest living. At best, one might think, a modular home is a double-wide with the wheels off, no safer or more aesthetically pleasing–or greener–than a dirty cardboard box.But it seems modular homes have grown up a bit, and joined the 21st century, and it is well past time to discard old prejudices.Even among the modular or pre-fabricated homes that were more than just a double-wide with the wheels knocked off, traction and market share was hard to come by. On the one hand, pre-fab home builders had a terrible time getting the word out about their product. The unions and corporations that made a living on site-built homes had no desire to lose out to factory-built homes and did what they could to stifle the competition. Advantages, such as not being exposed to the weather during construction, or being built on plumb, factory templates could not sway the average homebuyer and they languished as the less-well-regarded cousins of what we generally call mobile homes.But that’s slowly changing, in part because of the green sensibilities that pre-fab homes can bring to the table.For starters, the pre-fab home can take advantage of green building techniques not easy to include on the job site. More fragile–but higher efficiency–foam insulations, for example, can be easier to apply on the factory floor than elsewhere, and applications can be more regular and exacting. Likewise, “smart home” management systems are easier to install in factory conditions.In terms of “deep” green, pre-fab homes stand head-and-shoulders above all but the biggest home developments in that they’re able to provide a central location for delivery of materials, leaving the wasteful delivery to the construction site to a couple of trips with the pre-fab components, and a crane and crew to assemble them, generally little more than what a builder would need to attach roof joists to a half-completed home. Factory location also provides an ample opportunity for material recycling, dramatically reducing waste and improving a home’s overall green profile.While it’s unlikely that pre-fab homes will replace their stick-built brethren any time soon, it’s heartening to see them challenging in the green building arena, ready to take the lead should traditional methods fail.
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