Eco-Friendly – Fort Myers, Florida

This beautiful cottage home is a comfortable 3-Bed, 2-Bath, with 1,945 sq ft living area, built with ICF wall construction, by Shawn Harvey of GreenCastle, Inc.

The owners being very eco-friendly, were extremely careful in their selection process of both the builder and designer of their Florida retirement home. Everything had to be just right. They wanted a home that was highly efficient, sustainable, quiet and have premium indoor air quality. Choosing ICF exterior walls also made their home storm, fire, termite and mold resistant.

This cottage home lives large for its 1,575 sq. ft. size, a great room plan for the “footprint conscience” homeowner. Not short of amenities, this home is filled with up-grades such as 10-foot ceilings, generous guest bedrooms and a modest kitchen complete with a snack-bar island and convenient pantry. Even the Foyer accommodates a coat closet. The owners decided to add a wet-bar for good measure.

Part of the floor plan design was to create an extra large garage for kayak storage. The product selection inside the home was also eco-friendly, the tile flooring was a bamboo product. The walls were painted with low VOC paint. The kitchen appliances were all Energy Star rated.

The landscaping also had to be low maintenance, Xeriscaping allowed the owners a limited amount of irrigation and of course no lawn to mow!

Also being very concerned about the rising cost of energy they opted to purchase a 3KW (3,000 watts) solar array. It is currently operating at approximately 50% of total energy usage. The most recent energy bill was $51 which included a $19.90 monthly connection charge.

This home is actually a modified Windhym Plan #123 with a larger front porch and squared off Kitchen.