Thinking about building an energy efficient home? Want luxury living? They can easily be combined. Green design does not set a particular style, size, or aesthetic, it simply requires an understanding of building science. Here are more pictures of this incredible project built by Trost Custom Homes.
Here are the other updates
It all started so innocently, we became a car based society and wanted to protect our investments. So we went from parking our cars in a driveway to parking them in the carriage house at the end of the driveway. Then came the carport – an attached to your home open air structure that protected the car from rain and snow. Then someone, probably an architect, said, lets build walls around this structure and make it part of the house. That is where our troubles started.
Yes, the attached garage is a convenience that most people in our area enjoy on cold and wet days, but there are problems lurking. It is impossible to completely separate them from your living spaces. This leads to indoor-air-quality issues in your home. As wind blows against your garage door, the space become pressurized pushing fumes and chemicals into your house. After all, where do you keep all those pesticides, gas cans, old paints if not in your attached garage?
So what is the solution? A detached garage not directly connected to your home. It can be connected via a covered walkway or screen porch. This detached structure is completely separated from your living space protecting your indoor-air-quality. Interesting that the google web definition is a garage not attached to a home, usually found in older homes. We have found that many of our clients want a healthy home. To create this you have to make the thermal envelope very tight which makes the indoor-air-quality contaminant prevention even more important.
Thinking of building a custom home? Know the steps so you can control the process. The next step in our series is just after you sign the contract with a contractor – what happens?
Catch up on this series “Custom Home – How to Get Started” with the following links:
Part one – Part two – Part three – Part four – Part five – Part six – Part seven
Custom Home – Albemarle County
So you have signed a contract with a contractor and you are ready for the work to start. The next step is for the contractor to apply for a permit. This could happen prior to signing the contract depending on your approach in the previous steps. The permit review process usually takes a couple of weeks, even up to a month. The local official who has jurisdiction has to review your plans for compliance with the local building codes. This code review process is important to make sure you don’t have any issues after construction has started, but is not an exhaustive review to make sure things are right. They are simply looking for code compliance. The process usually goes very smooth if you have a complete set of plans developed by an architect.
The contractor also needs to sign his contracts with sub-contractors that are going to perform parts of the work. This may include the plumber, electrician, site excavator, framer… and all things in between. Once the contracts are signed and a permit is issued, the digging is scheduled and work begins. Important steps not to overlook include the surveyor showing up to mark the corners and making sure erosion control measures are being installed.
The average American spends a large amount of their time indoors in our current society (according to an EPA survey, 90% of our time is inside). This makes the Indoor Environmental Quality of your built environment critical. This is the air that you breathe, the type of light, the sounds, and the comfort you feel.
Indoor air quality is impacted by carbon monoxide, radon, VOC’s, particulates, mold, bacteria, and smoke. I just had a meeting in my office this week where those visiting came in just as the lawyer upstairs went out with his pipe lit and no respect for others. If your HVAC system is not designed to provide ventilation all the products and their associated chemicals you bring into your space off-gas and have nowhere to go. In turn your lungs become the filter for these chemicals.
The type of lighting you use for a space is critical for your comfort. It does not matter is you use LED or incandescent, using it in the correct way is more important for comfort. Of course, bringing in natural daylight into a space has been shown in many studies to be the best for your health. This may not apply depending on the task you are performing – ever try to see a computer screen that faces a window? Of course you can create appropriate lighting in spaces through design.
In our office it seems that headphones are the way to go, but I remember back when I started we simply played a radio in the background. The level and type of noise in a space can have a huge impact on your environmental quality. Living near a heavily used road, airport, or nightclub impacts how your able to rest and recharge. I know I rarely go to the restaurant across the street from my office because the music is always so loud – yes I realize that this makes me old. You can control the noise in a space through design.
Solarize Harrisonburg is moving forward and big news was announced this past week. The RFP was issued. The advantage to being involved in Solarize Harrisonburg is the potential for your solar system being 30% off the traditional cost. Let us know what you think of the solarize movement in the comments below.
Some key dates moving forward are as follows:
1. RFP Issue Date: August 19, 2014
2. Proposals Due: September 11th, 2014 by 4:59pm
3. Selection Committee Meeting: Week of September 15, 2014
4. Notice of Intent to Award: September 22, 2014
5. Contract Negotiations Completed: September 24. 2014
6. Deadline for new participants to sign up: October 31, 2014
7. Deadline for all site visits to be completed: November 14, 2104
8. Deadline for all proposals to be provided to participants: November 21, 2014
9. Deadline for all signed contracts: December 12, 2014
Catch up on this series “Custom Home – How to Get Started” with the following links:
Part one – Part two – Part three – Part four – Part five – Part six – Part seven
Now that the design process has kicked off there are a series of steps that will take place. You have hired an architect, who is an expert at this process. Trust them. Personally I have had a building that I designed, have emotional attachment to, and a professional duty to make sure it is done right under construction continuously for the last 11 years. Trust me, I know the process.
There are three phases of design: schematic design, design development, and construction documents. Each phase will deliver a different level of detail and information and each phase requires certain questions and answers. Your architect is your guide to help you build your custom home with comfort and confidence.
The schematic design phase sets the program for the project. The conclusion of this phase will see the creation of sketches of spaces showing connections and relationships, square footage estimates, basic section, renderings, and a general idea of the overall aesthetic of the project.
The second stage, design development, identifies the materials, window and door locations, room sizes, as well as solidifying the plans and elevations. The structural design for the project will be largely figured out during this phase as well as dimensions of all spaces. This is the last phase where major design elements evolve and most questions are answered at the conclusion of this time.
The last stage of the design process is the creation of construction documents. This stage develops the drawings needed for construction. Details are created, final selections are confirmed, notes are added for specific elements of the project and the structural system is finalized. The contractor can solidify a price for construction and the contract will be based on these drawings.