Todd Hawkins
Dec 29
|09:34
As unlikely as it seems, housing is beginning a renaissance because of the Great Recession and blow up of the housing market. Companies are innovating all aspects of design, construction and product manufacture, trying to stand out, thrive or simply survive.
BuilderFish’s mission is teaching and helping people improve their houses into Lifetime Homes, that your house should seamlessly adapt to you as life progresses and changes.
What we do can be applied to any style of house in any area of the country whether building new or retrofitting, and includes proactive attention to every detail from the door knobs to home automation. There’s a new dawn for all of it, and your home should include if you want to live comfortably and conveniently no matter what happens to you and your family (even pets!).
Our residential housing stock is old, nearly obsolete with a median year built of 1974, and there’s a glut of beat up foreclosures (shadow inventory of well over a million units) not yet on the market. While some perceive housing is newer following our recent construction boom, the demographic fact is most of our nation’s houses were built
in the decades immediately following WWII. So the picture below is typical of the vast majority of our homes. Imagine inside the lay-out, user friendliness and efficiency of that house.
The good news, a bulldozer isn’t the cure. What’s required is modernization, improved air sealing/quality, water proofing, energy efficient systems and interior redesign accentuating ease. We describe as “custom new within old walls” emphasizing BOTH energy and personal effort efficiency. “Green” building gets all the attention but accessibility and easiness are just as important and apply to every area of the property including the yard.
As we head into 2012, think about your home and what you could do to make it livable for a lifetime, or where you plan to go if you don’t.
Todd Hawkins
Dec 23
|08:27
Next year one of our clients hopes to generate electricity from prevailing winds at their property so we’re currently determining the quality of their seemingly constant, blustery conditions. One misconception, just because it’s always windy, doesn’t mean you have enough to practically and/or cost effectively generate power.
One resource we’ll lean upon is nearby. Did you know that James Madison University is a leader in wind power research and development?
JMU’s Virginia Center for Wind Energy hosts information and resources, including a state wind map and wind energy calculator, for anyone interested in learning about the potential for wind power at their property.
This is a fun part of our job and I’ll share what we’re learning and doing.
Todd Hawkins
Dec 20
|09:16
All you need to remember: build a tight house and mechanically draw in fresh air. And I don’t mean “fresh” from an attic, crawl space or garage, bring in from the Great Outdoors. Think airplane, but NOT a tight house without fresh air circulation, that would be like living in a coal mine. If you live in a tight house without fresh air, you’re farming dust and allergens.
Old school builders espouse that you don’t want to make a house too tight. My favorite rebuttal is from an architect teammate, Charles Hendricks who typically replies, “Which window do you want me to leave out?” (By the way, Charles is an expert in indoor air quality.)
Green building is the “in” thing right now and we’re all for energy (and social!) sustainability and maximum efficiency. Folks, this is simply smart construction with newer, better products and all soon to be code.
(graphic courtesy TerraChoice)
However, there are plenty of dubious designations, certifications and unsubstantiated claims (even by the government! Imagine that?) resulting in “green washing” (i.e. all that’s “green” is not gold). Attorneys call it something else, making their cash register ring with LEED-igation (lawsuits over unsubstantiated performance claims). I’m not damning any particular designation or measurement, I’m not a scientist, but undeniably there’s Bovine Scatology in unverifiable claims of utility savings and conservation, the modern day snake oil within the housing industry.
Martin Holladay of Green Building Advisor wrote one of my favorite posts weeding some of the green junk claims by our government and others in A Plague of Bad Energy-Saving Tips. One example, running ceiling fans during the winter (which I admit I believed). Does ZIP to lower your heating bill, actually raises your electricity bill if you’re unnecessarily running fans, only reason to do it is circulating air so you’re not dust farming.
So ’tis indeed a good thing that owners and housing professionals are concerned about energy efficiency and sustainability. But back to my main point, tighten your house, suck in fresh air from outside the walls and skip the green baloney.
Todd Hawkins
Dec 14
|15:40
How do you eliminate exterior steps to an entrance? Shortest answer assuming new construction, site work in combination with moving the house up or down. For retrofits, you’re limited mostly to moving dirt or finding an alternative entrance (like through a garage, carport, etc).
The lay of the land determines your options and, in either case, you simply need to plan. If you’re dealing with more than a three foot rise, then it’s going to be tough but not necessarily impossible.
Otherwise, you grade for a gentle slope to the door, which might include a switch-back and/or retaining wall (think pavers for landscaping), not less than a 1:20 ratio (i.e. maximum slope of 1 inch rise per 20 inches) over the pathway, known as a “walking ramp” or earth berm because it doesn’t require railing or curbs. (The slope of literal ramps shouldn’t be less than a 1:12 ratio.) But higher the ratio the better assuming the lot isn’t ideally flat.
Sometimes it’s instructive to describe what’s typically done and visualize the opposite. So let’s pretend a house built atop a full basement. Typically the builder digs a hole, pours a basement, plunks the floor joists atop the basement walls, constructs the house and builds steps up to the front door.
Same scenario except plan for a zero step and flush threshold entry, we gently grade, flatter the better, to the door. One method of “lowering the house” is using an inset rim atop the foundation walls, which only amounts to pouring an extra course of concrete, and placing the floor joists WITHIN the basement walls atop the inset rim.
Finally, every situation has its own problems to solve but we’re not talking rocket science. Simply slapping up steps everywhere is lazy design and construction and can be avoided in support of maximum convenience and safety if the designer and contractor merely pull on their thinking caps.
Todd Hawkins
Dec 9
|15:35
Look at this new house. Notice the flat lot? I’ll add the entire lot to the street is flat, and the house is built on a slab. So why that ONE step to the front door?
Ever wonder why steps are necessary on a flat or gently sloping lot? Maybe it’s necessary when a house is built atop a crawl space or basement? Nope. For water or bug proofing? Nope. Expense? Nope (Should it cost MORE to build LESS? Actually might if your builder is headstrong.)
The answer? Ta-Da….Exterior steps to many entrances are unnecessary. Architects design and contractors build out of habit, speed to completion, or it’s just the way it’s always been done, no real reason.
Certainly is NOT because steps are convenient! Who prefers carrying groceries, boxes or furniture up steps? Or pulling a baby stroller backwards or, back hunched, lowering one step at a time? Or lugging golf clubs and luggage up/down (especially after a family “vacation”)?
Steps are unavoidable only if there’s a steep grade that cannot be overcome, otherwise there are alternatives which require only proactive thought and standard construction skills but nothing fancy. Any architect or builder who insists otherwise is preach’in Bovine Scatology.
