Two Sisters area homes featured in green tour

Two homes on Cloverdale Road are featured in the 2010 Green and Solar Home Tour on Saturday, October 2.

One, at 67775 Cloverdale Rd., is an old-world timber frame, Platinum-rated Earth Advantage home featuring an open floor plan of 2,850 square feet of living space. Doug and Leanne Smith are the owner/builder and Davis Frame Company is the designer.

Passive solar design and solar electric power along with solar thermal for radiant heating and domestic hot water makes it totally off-grid. Low-VOC paints, citrus tongue oil finishes, and formaldehyde-free barn wood for the cabinets enhance indoor air quality.

They used durable, long-lasting materials such as travertine floors, granite and metal counter tops and exterior stone and concrete decks. The Gerard recycled/recyclable metal roof has a natural clay tile appearance to complement the xeriscape landscaping and permeable gravel driveway.

Murray Perkins designed and built the second Cloverdale home, at 67700 Cloverdale Rd.

The 1,635-square-foot two-level, two-bedroom, two-bathroom home is situated on 52 acres.

"The house is long on the west-east axis," Perkins told The Nugget. "So it has a lot of south wall."

The southern exposure with lots of glass transfers warmth, which is captured by a concrete floor built with air channels to capture and release the sun's warmth.

"Basically, on any day that the sun comes up for most of the day, the house will heat itself," Perkins said.

The tightly built, well-insulated home and passive solar design contributes to a heat load reduction of 70 to 80 percent versus a code-built home.

The tour is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 2. For more information visit http://cascadiagbc.org/branches/or/high-desert-branch/welcome-to-the-2010-green-and-solar-home-tour.