Nov
14
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We’ve recently started a new home and here’s the first batch of pictures from it.
This house is for sale and among it’s unique features is that in addition to the two car garage, it also has a massive detached garage with 16′ ceilings, a loft area, extra-height garage door, and carport. This garage would make a great workshop and/or storage for your RV, boat, or extra vehicles.
Jun
4
There’s a problem with the way telephone and video cabling are traditionally run in your home. There is no expandability or configurability built into the system. Additionally, your typical new home is not pre-wired for networking the 1.5 computers in the average US household.
What can we do about it?
There is a concept growing in popularity among home builders of “structured media”. Using this method for communication wiring addresses the shortcomings inherent in old-style wiring.
By running television, telephone, and data cables to a central location, we allow the homeowner to easily configure the system as they see fit.
As you can see from the picture the house we have built at 412 Trevor Court is configured with a structured media system.
In other news, we’ve added more photos!
May
13
Mar
19
I added some new photos of the house under construction. At this point we nearly have the framing complete. Just a few days to go.
The weather this winter has added months to our construction schedule.
Mar
16
I’ve changed the method we host, view, and organize photos. This will allow better organization and more photos!
You can access all our photos here or by clicking the link at the top of every page.
Dec
21
We currently have a new home under construction at 412 Trevor Ct, in Desloge, MO. I’ll post more about some of the features of this house in a later post. The actual purpose of this post is to share some renderings I’ve done of the house using some of the modes available through the design software I use.
Apr
24
The house at 417 Trevor Ct. has been sold. Congratulations to the new owners.
To close out our postings on the subject, here’s some pics of the completed project.
We’ll be starting a new project at 412 Trevor Ct. shortly. Be on the lookout for some preliminary information soon.
Nov
26
Water is the number one thing to cause building systems to fail, yet few builders pay enough attention to managing the water that either forms upon, or falls upon your home.
Vinyl siding is a popular exterior wall finish in our area. Installed correctly it can look good at a reasonable price. However, vinyl siding is not a water barrier! It will slow water down, but H2O has little problems getting behind vinyl siding. This makes house wrap important.
House wrap serves dual purposes. For one thing it helps control air-infilitration, which makes your house more comfortable. Many builders don’t realize that it is also an excellent water barrier. Because of the way it is constructed, products like Tyvek will prevent drafts, while at the same time allowing wet lumber (which will inevitably happen) to breathe. It also prevents wind-driven water from penetrating through to the lumber. Many builders, either through lack of education, or for cost-saving measures, don’t apply house wrap to the gables of a house. Their reasoning is that there’s no reason to prevent air-infiltration through the attic, since you try to ventilate attic spaces very well. This totally discounts the water-blocking properties of house wrap and allows water to directly saturate the building under the vinyl siding.
Note our measures to control water on our buildings:
1. House wrap applied to all gables.
The follwing picture shows the job at 417 Trevor Ct under construction with housewrap applied to the gables:
2. Decks flashed to ensure proper water flow
Following are two pictures showing how we flash where decks attach to the home ensuring that water travels down the housewrap and over, instead of behind the deck structure. Notice also the bituthene (the black stuff) applied to the wall behind where the deck is attached to the building. This product helps seal around the holes formed by the bolts used to attach the deck to the building.
3. Properly flashed windows and doors
This is yet another area where your typical builder fails to protect the home. By applying housewrap to a building you are providing a plane for water to run down the house. If you then install windows and doors through this plane the water will go behind these obstacles into the walls. Typically, the builder applies the housewrap to the walls while the walls are lying on the floor. He will then make cuts in the housewrap and wrap it into any openings in the wall. After the walls are stood up, doors and windows are inserted into the wall. This is where most guys stop. However, for the housewrap to do any good, you have to then apply additional flashing around doors and windows.
Note again how in the second image we paid attention to the flow of water. The felt paper at the top of the window is inserted behind the housewrap above it. This ensures water does not penetrate the structure.
