Building For the Future

When a homeowner was looking to build a custom home in Ames, Iowa, he had one goal in mind: longevity, but not in the way you would think. He pictured a home that would last generations while supporting the well-being of its occupants and the environment that surrounds it.  

Bringing this project to life requires experience and a strong commitment to green practices. That’s where Iowa Home Crafters and its sister company, Silent Rivers, stepped in. Both had a hand in the project – Silent Rivers designed the home and Iowa Home Crafters is building it. Both are owned by Chaden Halfhill and share 30 years of expertise in high-quality, environmentally conscious practices that made them well-suited to take on the “CyBear Lair” home.   

Rooted in Sustainability

Iowa Home Crafters’ environmental stewardship isn’t attributed to one single instance; instead, it comes from a collection of moments that framed their past and shaped their future. Today, their commitment to eco-friendly building practices and creative materials is evident. Instead of removing trees from project sites, they often repurpose them in their on-site mill to create custom home features like front doors and tables. They also carefully manage waste by sorting trash, compost, and recyclables, and prioritize recycling materials.  

“Sustainable building doesn’t have to be difficult,” says Andy Ostrem, Director of Sales and Business Development at Iowa Home Crafters. “You can do these small bits and pieces over the course of years and the course of projects, and they start to add up to create a bigger impact.”

Finding Green Guidance  

The Iowa Home Crafters team set out to find the right products with green building standards to fit the vision for CyBear Lair. “We look to our north star,” explains Ostrem. “Green building doesn’t really mean anything without any teeth behind it. What parameters, what checklists, what end goal are we shooting for?”    

Their search led them to Phius, an organization that focuses on creating energy efficient, comfortable homes, has a threshold for airtightness, continuous insulation, and careful solar radiation control. The goal is to use highly efficient mechanical heating and cooling, maintain indoor comfort with minimal energy use, and improve air quality. This was a perfect match for the homeowner’s vision for a high-performance, low-impact home.  

Iowa Home Crafters and Silent Rivers found their footing through these standards and decided to work toward Phius ZERO certification for CyBear Lair – the most strenuous program that seeks to achieve true net-zero emission builds. The project is trending in the right direction as well. The design of CyBear Lair achieved Phius certification in April of this year. 

A Home Within a Home 

CyBear Lair features a double-walled building envelope that serves as a high-performance barrier against energy loss. What the team describes as a true home within a home, the outer walls function as an environmental barrier, while the interior walls provide structural support. Continuous insulation is placed between the wall assemblies which significantly reduces the conditioned air from escaping while blocking outside air and moisture from entering.  

The roof assembly needed to check quite a few boxes for the greater vision of the home as well. The homeowner called for formaldehyde and petroleum-free materials to be used whenever possible. Coupled with maintaining Phius standards, meant the roof assembly would require the right design and the right products.  

The solution was a unique double-layered roof assembly featuring two layers of BCI® Joists. Laid perpendicularly, the closed web design of BCI joists allows ample space for insulation throughout both layers. 

“We looked at a lot of different configurations for how to build the envelope of this home,” Ostrem said. “BCI joists really worked well for us to achieve the insulation levels and ease of installation we wanted.” 

The result was a roof built to handle Iowa’s humid summers, frigid winters, and withstand heavy snow loads while keeping stable temperatures and moisture out of the home.  

Boise Cascade Versa-Lam® LVL beams and headers were used within the floor and wall assemblies throughout the home which helped simplify construction. As an example, their long spans and high load capacity allowed for a single 24” deep beam to span five windows and two doors on a wall. 

Build for Forever 

The home is generating some buzz in the Ames community. Recently, the Building Enclosures Council of Iowa hosted two sold-out tours to showcase its passive-building techniques, and Iowa State University’s design department and the City of Ames are eager to learn from the techniques and intentional decisions made during the construction of CyBear Lair.  

“You should be learning constantly, and this project was a college-level course in building energy efficient homes,” says Ostrem. “Comparing performance metrics for wall and roof systems was really instructive, it’s been a lot of fun.” 

In the Iowa Home Crafters offices, a quote from John Ruskin hangs on the wall, serving as a daily reminder of their mission: 

‘When we build, let us think that we build forever.’

With a winter 2025 completion goal for CyBear Lair and Phius ZERO certification in sight, Iowa Home Crafters and Silent Rivers are doing just that – building not just a home, but a lasting legacy.