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Review the articles below to pick up useful information for any project, large or small.

Plug & Play Architecture

Costly Mistakes to Avoid

Site Considerations

Sick Buildings

Do-It-Yourself Design

 

Plug’n Play Architecture

In today’s business community, connectivity is a huge issue. Office complexes in particular, but also single and multi-family dwellings are perceived as more valuable and attractive when a flexible and powerful connectivity solution is incorporated into the design.

 

 

Costly Mistakes to Avoid

  1. Designing for today. Try to envision what’s in your long-term future and design to accommodate them now so you don’t have to pay excessive costs later. Are you going to work out of your house some day? How many children will you have? Are there health issues with family members that may impact your daily life?
  2. Getting your wires crossed. Technology is becoming a bigger part of everyone’s life everyday. What kind of wired connections do you need in your house to accommodate Internet use, gaming, entertainment and perhaps even e-commerce?
  3. Buying cheap windows. Energy costs continue to soar and good quality windows will significantly reduce your utility bills for years to come.
  4. Designing by committee. Everyone has an opinion, but too many opinions can confuse the process and cause you to lose focus on priority items. It can also cause multiple changes that drive design costs needlessly higher.
  5. Scrimping on the foundation. Be sure your foundation has drain tile on both the inside and outside of the footing. It’s a very inexpensive and effective way to give your house additional protection against moisture.
  6. Raising ceilings without considering staircases. A 9’ ceiling is a cost-efficient way to creative the illusion of more space, but be careful – it adds two risers to your stair case. That means your stair case will consume more floor space that might crowd the lower landing and interfere with door swings and traffic flow.

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Site Considerations

  1. Avoid a flat site with little drainage, especially if a finished basement is desired. Sloped sites offer better drainage and more protection from water entering a basement.
  2. Avoid having large glassed-in areas facing North or Northeast due to cold Winter North winds.
  3. Avoid placing driveways on the North side of the house unless you enjoy the exercise you get from shoveling snow. Allow the sun to melt as much snow as possible.
  4. Take advantage of solar heating in winter where possible by placing glass and appropriate living space behind it.
  5. In summer, overhangs can shield the sun from intense heat that is undesirable. In general, orient the house with its long axis in an East-West direction to optimize nature’s ability for heating and cooling.
  6. Consider where future construction will take place when placing your windows. A good view of the lake today could turn into a good view of the newest strip mall.

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Sick Buildings

Currently the most common risk facing the integrity and longevity of a home is the damage caused by water and water vapor. This also includes the mold growth within buildings which has brought about the term “sick building.” The mold can actually become air-born and make people sick. It is a very serious and costly problem for any homeowner. With proper site planning and careful selection of building materials, you can give yourself a good start on reducing the risk factors.

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Do-It-Yourself Home Design

I knew a guy (a pretty smart guy) who tried to design his own house. 700 hours later he was ready to give his plans to his builder. The builder’s response was somewhat deflating. He pointed out that his roof would probably collapse with the first snowfall. The foundation was overly complex and would drive the price up considerably. The room sizes were such that they would waste materials excessively, driving costs up even more.

The builder explained that even though he (the builder) had 30 years experience in home building, he always involved an architect. As a result his homes looked better, built easier, and sold faster.

Still convinced he had a good house plan, this guy took them to an architect (not me), thinking a few minor adjustments would make his problems go away. After about 15 minutes, the architect showed him how he was wasting space and could ad two whole rooms without increasing the overall square footage. He improved traffic flow, made it more beautiful, and showed him numerous ways to cut his cost even more.

By the time this man finished his home, he had spent 18 months designing it. During that time, inflation added another $10,000 to the cost of his home. He spent $1,000 having a draftsperson help him with the first floor plans, and another $1,000 having the architect fix everything for him.

There are literally thousands of items and decisions that go into a home design. It’s a huge undertaking, and without years of experience and training, something is bound to get missed. Unfortunately most do-it-yourselfers don’t discover the problems until they are living with them.

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