Advertisement. Advertise with us

JOSH EDMONDS’ 45 DELAWARE

He’s Built The Future

Cooperstown House 

Efficient, Affordable

Josh Edmonds, right, a partner in the Simple Integrity construction company, pauses with members of his team, Norm Farwell, Morris, left, and Tanner Ray, Edmeston, in front of 45 Delaware St., Cooperstown. Edmonds expects the structure, now completed, to be certified by the Passive House Institute. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

Josh Edmonds has ideas and, at 31, time to implement them.

COOPERSTOWN – Josh Edmonds has built the future at 45 Delaware St.

• POINT ONE: A partner in the Simple Integrity construction firm, Edmonds has been paying $4,000 a year to heat his home in Springfield Center.  The 2,600-square-foot house he’s just finished building at 45 Delaware will cost $254 a year to heat.

“That’s a pretty substantial difference,” Edmonds said in a recent interview: $4,000 vs. $254.

A home like the one he’s just completed – it’s on target to be certified by the Passive House Institute, the international gold standard – costs 3 percent more to build than a standard house.

The savings on energy alone will erase that difference in just four years, he said.

• POINT TWO: He doesn’t expect to do any maintenance for 25-30 years, and then, just a bit of painting.

• POINT THREE: The house will be at a comfortable, even temperature 365 days a year, even if you stroll by one of the high-performance windows when it’s 5-below.

“We build a box that’s air-tight,” the builder said, “and put a roof on it.

Josh and wife Jaime opted for an open floor plan, except for one room she’ll be using for her crafts business. Simple Integrity plans an open house later this year to familiarize the public with the workings of a “Passive House.”

• POINT FOUR: You may have noticed sizeable south-facing windows, and just a couple of small ones on the north side.  Edmonds estimates, if the heat goes off, the interior will never get colder than 49 degrees.

“We catch a fair amount of heat from these windows,” he said, walking by the larger ones during a tour of the house. “And the building doesn’t lose heat.  It has such a great envelope.”

Most people in the village have been aware of Josh Edmonds for years, first as part of Dr. Lee Edmonds’ clan of ribbon-winning long-distance runners.

At age 14, Edmonds, now 31, began working for Simple Integrity co-founder Jon Edgington, and continued to do so through high school and summers, joining him fulltime after graduating from Liberty University.

At Liberty, Josh met his wife, Jaime – she’s also a runner, setting high-school records in her native Michigan that still stand today.  The couple has two boys, Ezekiel, 2, and Asher, 4.

Edmonds’ approach – at 45 Delaware, and an earlier redo of 8 Walnut St. – is based on five principles advocated by the Passive House Institute, which was founded in 1996 by Dr. Wolfgang Feist.  Feist built his first pilot home in 1990 in Darmstadt, Germany.

The institute certifies passive houses, but builders like Simple Integrity have to meet five criteria: 1) eliminate “thermal bridging”; 2) use continuous insulation; 3) make structure air-tight; 4) use triple-paned high-performance windows and doors; 5) use HRV, heat-recovery ventilation.

tight seal on all the windows and doors.

Edmonds is a man with more than just an idea:  Simple Integrity’s already created a half-dozen “high-performance houses” in Greater Cooperstown. You may have seen one going up on Norton Cross Road, Town of Middlefield.  The next is under construction in Pierstown.

“Every house we’ve built since 2014” – about a half-dozen – “has been a ‘high-performance’ house,” he said.

Most significant for society at large – and locally, of course – these super-efficient homes can be affordable: 1,200 square feet, three bedroom, for less than $300,000.

“I have a lot of ideas,” he said. And at 31, plenty of time to implement them.

His next idea surfaced at last week’s Village Board meeting: a 12-unit apartment building at 10 Chestnut St., applying many of the same principles put in practice at 45 Delaware.

Edmonds plans to price the apartment, utilities included, in the $1,350 range, within the 30-percent housing-cost parameters for a family with a $54,000 income.

“I grew up in the village.  I love the village,” he said, adding, “You need population base for the village to be what it is, for people to work here and live here.”

The two parcels, slight less than an acre, are zoned R-2, limited to single-family homes.  But Edmonds is seeking a Planned Development District, similar to what the Bank of Cooperstown got to allow its parking lot and New York Pizza is seeking to demolish the former Triple A building.

The Village Board’s Housing Committee has been looking to create new opportunities for housing in Cooperstown, and is meeting at 10:30 a.m. next Monday, June 10, to finalize its proposal.

“I’m excited to see what the village comes up with,” he said.  “Right now, it’s hard to do too much in the village.”

 

Posted

1 Comment

  1. Hi! Our daughter and husband own a farm in Mt. Vision and we would like to buy a townhouse near them.
    We like Cooperstown and I cannot get an answer if such properties exist. We would not rent it out during baseball season and will remain where our main home is, in Greenville, SC. Thank you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Articles

SCOLINOS: It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide

COLUMN VIEW FROM THE GAME It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide Editor’s Note:  Tim Mead, incoming Baseball Hall of Fame president, cited John Scolinos, baseball coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, as a lifelong inspiration, particularly Scolinos’ famous speech “17 Inches.” Chris Sperry, who published sperrybaseballlife.com, heard Scolinos deliver a version in 1996 at the American Baseball Coaches Association in Nashville, and wrote this reminiscence in 1916 in his “Baseball Thoughts” column. By CHRIS SPERRY • from www.sperrybaseballlife.com In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching…

Piper Seamon Scores 1,000th point

1,000 THANKS! Piper Seamon 5th CCS Girl To Hit High Mark The Cooperstown Central student section erupts as Piper Seamon scores her 1,000th career point in the Hawkeyes’ 57-39 win over Waterville at home last evening. Seamon becomes the fifth girl and only the 14th player in school history overall to score 1,000 points.  Inset at right, Pipershares a hug with teammate Meagan Schuermann after the game was stopped to acknowledge her achievement. Seamon will play basketball next year at Hamilton College. (Cheryl Clough/AllOTSEGO.com)  …

Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told

CLICK HERE FOR MEMO TO SCHOOLS Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told COOPERSTOWN – In a memo released Friday evening, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond advised local school superintendents that sports can resume as early as Monday. “Effective Feb. 1, participants in higher-risk sports may participate in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training,” Bond wrote, “…including competitions and tournaments, if permitted by local health authorities.”…