The Kala Experience
After years of dealing with maintenance issues, mold, and other typical house problems, the Hannaman family wanted to build a comfortable home that would last for generations. They turned to Kala to craft a custom build that provides a quiet, peaceful refuge, a consistent temperature in all rooms in every season, and unmatched durability and sustainability.
COMFORT
"Thunderstorms don't wake us up anymore. They certainly don't wake the kids up."
As with many old homes, the Hannaman residence had significant comfort issues. “We had a back room that the kids would use as their TV room, and in the summer, no matter what you did, it was 85 degrees back there,” Jason said. “In the winter, we had space heaters going.”
Their new Kala home maintains consistent comfort throughout. “There are no hot or cold spots,” Jason said. “It doesn't feel any different in the back room than it does in the bedroom, mudroom, or upstairs.” Even their children, who spend most of their free time in the basement, don't complain about seasonal temperature variations, which Blair notes is “pretty striking for teenagers.”
Continuous exterior insulation, Phius certified, passive house windows and doors from Alpen created a tranquil environment. “Sometimes it's raining, and we have no idea until we walk outside,” Blair said. “Thunderstorms don't wake us up anymore. They certainly don't wake the kids up. We're pretty insulated in the house, especially from sound.”
Jason appreciates the progression from their previous noisy days and nights in other homes and the current one before Kala retrofitted it: “We lived in a 1912 house on Southwest Trafficway and then moved here,” he said. “The first night we thought, ‘It's so quiet,’ but then heard lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Now it's quiet, which not only helps us sleep but also makes us feel calm.”
When they return home from trips, Kala comfort is immediately noticeable. “You park the car, start unloading things, and walk in, and it feels fresh, it's cool, and it's a comfortable temperature,” Jason said. “You've just spent four hours in a car with four children, and it feels good to be back home.”
HEALTH
“I sleep much better in this house than I have in other houses.”
Like many Kansas City homeowners, the Hannamans dealt with ill effects of water creeping into their walls and basement. “Our old house was full of mold,” Blair said, “and things liked to die in our basement.”
The contrast with their new Kala home is dramatic. “It feels fresher and healthier in here, and the air is cleaner,” Jason said. “There are no mice in our basement.”
Blair noticed the improvement in air quality immediately. “I can tell when Jason's had the windows open versus when he hasn't,” she said. “I'm much more comfortable with the filtered air in the house than I am with the pollen and whatever else is outside.”
The health benefits also extend to improved rest: “I sleep much better in this house than I have in other houses,” Blair said. “I feel less stuffy and less like I’m battling allergies all the time.”
DURABILITY
“Our house is well-built and is going to withstand the test of time.”
Before their Kala project, the Hannamans understood structural problems of shoddy construction all too well. “As we saw the excavator taking parts of that house down, we thought, ‘No wonder that corner in the basement had sunken in. No wonder the floor felt funny,’” Jason said.
Even relatively recent renovations in their old home showed poor durability. “We had the original part of the house from the 1930s, and they'd done a major remodel in the early 2000s,” Blair said. “All of the areas that had been remodeled had cracks in the walls, and sometimes doors wouldn’t lock or shut.”
The little details in the new home make a big difference - such as an airtight building envelope and a ventilated rainscreen that prevents water from intruding. “Moving into a house where the doors shut, are perfectly balanced, and always lock is something we’ve never had before,” Jason said.
Blair has faith that the underlying structure is built to last. “Our house is well-built and is going to withstand the test of time,” she said.
The high-quality construction was evident throughout the building process. “We had very skilled Kala craftsmen working on the build,” Blair said. “That put us at ease that everything was being done well and in the right way.”
SUSTAINABILITY
“Our furnace had run for just 19 hours in February and 12 in March.”
Before building with Kala, the Hannamans’ previous homes gave them firsthand experience with energy inefficiency. “We lived in houses that were built in 1912 and the late thirties,” Jason said. “In the summer, we had $400 electric bills, and in the winter, we had $400 gas bills.”
Their new Kala home merely sips energy. This is mainly due to the air control layer in the meticulously created wall assembly that delivered airtightness far exceeding the 3.0 ACH50 rating recommended by local building code. Kala incorporated continuous insulation that retains heat in winter and keeps the interior cool come summer. The design team oriented the Hannamans' home to harness the energy of winter sunshine through passive solar.
“When I got our energy usage statement, it said that our furnace had run for just 19 hours in February and 12 in March,” Jason said. “When comparing that to living in a leaky house, I laughed about it.”
The Hannamans chose to eliminate gas entirely from their new home, something that initially made them curious. “It blows people’s minds when I tell them we don't have natural gas,” Jason said. “Yes, you can handle a Kansas City winter just fine with a well-built, well-insulated home.”
Beyond immediate energy savings, the Hannamans appreciated Kala's thoughtful approach to building homes that will last. “We viewed sustainability not just from an energy efficiency perspective but also knew enough about building science to see that the average newly constructed house was not going to last 80 or 90 years,” Jason said. “The way that Kala builds homes saves energy and creates a home that will last a hundred years.”
