Aitkin FSC Home

Status: Sold

Virtual Tour:

First Floor (976 kb)

Staircase & Great Room (1.1 MB)

Project Description:

This demonstration home is a new construction project located on a heavily wooded plot of land in Aitkin, Minnesota.  Aitkin County is a community that is economically supported by the lumber and paper industry, and was among the first in the nation to have its forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The home demonstrates FSC-certified lumber, focusing on local forest products and participating local vendors. The shell was constructed from locally-manufactured prefabricated panels. The home also features in-floor radiant heating, natural lighting, and other energy-efficient building practices to ensure it will be inexpensive to operate.

The FSC-demonstration home is 1,300 square feet, and one and a half stories. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and was aimed at being affordable for someone in the local community to purchase. 

Project Goals:

• Demonstrate the use of green, “affordable” housing as an economic development tool.

• Demonstrate the use of a variety of local FSC-certified wood products.

• Provide education on green building to the community.
• Utilize as many local vendors as possible in order to provide education on green building practices for their future use, and also to give them an edge in their rural building market.
• Use as many local products and materials as possible, especially FSC-certified lumber, to support the community economically, pave new avenues for suppliers to get their product out there, and minimize material transportation costs.
• Manage project so that it may be easily replicated locally.

Green Design Elements:

FSC-certified lumber and materials

Locally sourced materials

Local vendors

In-floor radiant heating

Low-VOC paints and adhesives

Prefabricated panels instead of stick frame

Passive solar heating/cooling

Existing trees left on site

Energy-efficient appliances

Low-flow water fixtures

Project Contacts:

• Alison Lindburg, Program Director, Dovetail Partners, 612-333-0430, info@dovetailinc.org
• Ross Wagner, Aitkin County Economic Development, 218-927-7305, rwagner@co.aitkin.mn.us
• Eric Hovland, Hovland Lumber, 320-679-2800, ahovland@nsatel.net
• Greg Nolan, Snowy Pines Reforestation, 320-594-6317, snowpine@rea-alp.com
• Neil Stecker, Custom Creations, 218-426-4067, neile@sytekcom.com
• Robert Krause, Headwaters Forestry Cooperative, 320-732-3664