Donna and Jeff Zariczny, the owners of Inscale are always looking for new ideas and construction methods to test.  For their home, they chose an insulated pool for its ease of construction and energy efficiency.  This type of pool system has actually been in use since the 80's in Australia, but didn't make it to the US until 1999.

Conventional concrete pool construction has almost no insulation (R-value).  70% of the energy lost in a heated pool is through the walls and floor, while only 30% is lost at the surface of the water.  An 8" concrete wall has an R-value of R-0.68,  the kit used at the Zariczny's has an R-value of R-20. The pool walls are constructed of Expanded Polystyrene Styrofoam (EPS) panels.  The panels are set up and glued together, then coated with plaster on each side to give the foam walls structural stability.  With the walls in place, the pool floor was sprayed with 1" of 2lb density closed cell polyurethane spray foam insulation, to provide a thermal break at the floor.  Then concrete is poured for the floor and perimeter beam.  Finally the pool is coated with an elastomeric variable membrane.

With all things considered, this environmentally friendly pool is 70-80% more energy efficient than a conventional pool.  If you're interested in one of these pools, contact us.  You can also visit their website here.  Check back soon, we will be updating this with new photos.

The Youngsville Borough project has moved to the next step.  We've completed our drawings, and the project is now in the construction phase.  On May 10, Jeff joined representatives from the Borough of Youngsville, the Youngsville Police Department, the Department of Public Works and others at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the new building, see the Times Observer article here.  We will be posting construction photos as soon as we can, check back soon!

On May 6, officials from Harrisburg, Warren County, and the City of Warren joined Donna and representatives from the Warren Development Group, GRO-Warren, PA Alliance and others at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Allegheny Center for the Arts project.  We are in the process of finishing the drawings, and the project will be out to bid within a month.  This project was featured in both the Times Observer (click here for article) and on WICU 12 (click here for article and video).

In 2006, the North Warren Elementary School, built in 1913 was demolished.  The truest form of green building practices is the reuse of materials, it saves the material from going to a waste facility, and eliminates the need for new material.  Jeff reclaimed the existing hard maple flooring and stored it in the Inscale woodshop for later use.  He has been sanding and machining the floorboards to create his own version of parquet flooring.  The recycled maple has been cut and glued to make manageable pieces of parquet.  The floor will also feature cherry accent squares, and will be surfaced screwed with cherry plugs.  The cherry will darken with age and create a unique look.

Check back soon, we'll be updating this project as it progesses.