PROJECT OVERVIEW

Homeowners on Nantucket wanted to completely renovate an old home with a failed septic system. The home sits on a very small lot in a nitrogen sensitive area in close proximity to the shoreline. They needed a new system that could support two bedrooms, eliminate nitrogen, and preserve the fragile dune landscape.

Architects at Woodmeister designed the small home with bedrooms and bathrooms on opposite ends for privacy and speced in two Clivus composting systems to accommodate the split layout. Foam-flush toilets decrease total water usage and wastewater. All liquids from the composters are contained in a storage tank to be pumped by a septage hauler, thus eliminating nitrogen from the waste stream. The Nantucket Board of Health supported this design which allowed Bracken Engineering to install a soil absorption system that is 50% smaller and receives only greywater to utilize an allowable loading rate of 660 gpd/acre for a nitrogen sensitive area.

This project is the first National Green Building Standard GOLD certified home in Massachusetts.

Architect:
Matthew Moger of Moger Mehrhof Architects
Philadelphia, PA
Construction & Millwork:
Woodmeister Master Builders
Nantucket, MA
Engineering:
Bracken Engineering,
Bourne and Nantucket, MA