Cooler Attics - Radiant Heat Barrier

These days there are many ways one can have a home that is more energy efficient. If you are building a new home in the south, one of the most efficient (as well as comfortable) things to is keep the heat out. There is a great product I found at a home shows a few years ago that I highly recommend. It is a product called Tech Shield. It comes in 4x8 sheets and is applied on top of the roof rafters of your home. The advantage of this product is that it has a thin layer of foil adhered to one side. This may not seem like much but test have shown that this thin layer of foil can cut your monthly energy consumption by 17%. The foil side faces toward the attic and acts as a radiant heat barrier. It is amazing how much heat it keeps out of your attic. When I have specified this product, contractors who are installing it for the first time have been amazed at the effectiveness of the thin layer of foil. In the middle of the summer, they are especially grateful for the coolness in the house. By keeping the heat out of the attic, the air conditioner gets a break, you save money and your home is more comfortable. Check out this great product by clicking on the link above.

Tech Shield remains a favorite product of mine, because it is such a simple, cost effective solution to saving energy.

Making a Scene - without getting arrested!!

In a prior post, "Light Layers - how to transform a space" I wrote about the need for layers of lighting.  Setting up lighting scenes is done by creatively mixing the 3 different layers of lights to create drama in your living environment.  If you are looking for a soft, intimate scene, the lighting level will be lower, emphasis will be on the accent lights and the ambient light will be dimmed.  Task lighting is not necessary for this type of scene.  Most electricians' solutions to lighting control have each room equipped with its own set of light switches, with each light group on a separate switch.   My preference is to link lights that serve the same function, i.e. all of the task lighting or all of the accent lights.  To take this even further, you can link accent lights with other accent lights located within visual range of the room you are located.  This creates a connected surrounding environment, thus making you more comfortable.  It is easiest to set up these scenes during the layout of the electrical plan.  Lighting control systems give us the opportunity to preset multiple lighting scenes that can be accessed at the push of a button. Otherwise, manipulating multiple switches will be required each time you want to set up a scene.  

In my opinion, creating lighting scenes is one of the most important elements of design.

Light Layers - How to transform a space

One of the key principles of lighting design is to have three layers of lighting.  Each layer has a specific role, and if one is left out, the space will end up as ordinary and uninteresting as most spaces that exist.  

• Task lighting provides us with enough lighting to accomplish what we set out to do, whether it be reading or doing a craft.  
• Ambient lighting emulates what naturally occurs during the day.  This light is what surrounds you and doesn't come from a single point source of light.   
• Accent lighting is considered the icing on the cake.  It adds drama and subtle elegance to a space.  This light is what is directed at art work and sculpture and serves only to highlight it's subject.

Having these three layers working in conjunction with each other will transform and ordinary space into one that is extraordinary.

Outdoor Accents ... Indoor Comfort

During the daylight hours, we are visually connected with the areas surrounding our homes.  But as the night sets in, the windows that connect us to the outside become massive black holes which only reflect the interior spaces.  Not being able to visually connect with one's surroundings causes a level of discomfort to occur.  This feeling is probably generated by our survival instinct.  If we look at the worst case scenario, imagine yourself in a dark room with no windows.  The feelings generated by such a space can actually drive you crazy.  The simplest solution to the problem is to provide accent lighting on landscape features that are in visual range of the interior spaces.  These lights need not be bright, they just need to provide enough contrast to the darkness to provide visual connection to the exterior.  

Being aware of what surrounds you increases your ability to relax.

Trim, the thick and thin of it all

These days we are bombarded with more options than we care to have to review when it comes to selecting what we wrap our window and door frames with, bump the vacuum into, or hide the sheetrock joint at the ceiling line.  These items fall into the category of interior trim.  When selecting trim, keeping the basic design of these three elements in the same family is key to keeping the hodgepodge to a minimum.  If a period style, such as Federal is being built, it would be architecturally incorrect to put anything other than moulding profiles that were common to that period of history. Consistency in design selections plays  a key role in the enhancement of spaces.  

In recent years, I have been pleased to see MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) being used for some of the trim components.  When this product first hit the market, may years ago, trim carpenters didn't care for it because when cut, it would chip and flake.  Since then, the products have become far superior and trim carpenters tend to prefer to use this product for crown.  Its most redeeming features are that it does not expand or contract like wood, and it takes paint really well.  With wood, when winter sets in, the low humidity often  causes cracks to form along the caulk joints of trim because of the amount of shrinking that takes place. What we have found that works best is to use MDF for the crown, and keep the casing and base as wood, most commonly Poplar.  This minimizes the cracking problem and puts easily repairable wood in places than can get damaged.  Not only is MDF more stable at varied moisture content, it also is less expensive than solid poplar,  and some manufacturers produce it as "green". What more you could you ask for of a product?

MDF used as crown moulding has become a great asset to residential architecture, combining workability, longevity, and cost savings into a single product.  I highly recommend its use.

Crawl Spaces - The pit of despair, or maybe not... Read on.

Back in the 50's North Carolina adopted a building code from Minnesota.  Not sure why, but they did.  One of the requirements of the code made it necessary to have the areas that we all know as crawl spaces be ventilated.  Come to find out, this code has probably caused countless numbers of health issues with the people living over these spaces.  

Here in NC, when the summers are hot with temperatures into the 90's and humidity also in the 90's, one could not ask for a better place to grow mold than in the average crawl space.  Not long after the hot, moist air enters the cool crawl space, the water is pulled out of the air and the environment becomes ripe for mold growth, and insect infestation.  The air in a house flows upward and it has been estimated that 20 percent of the air in the main level over a crawl space was recently in the crawl space.  

To combat this problem, we are sealing crawl spaces. A thick membrane is installed over the ground so that all moisture gets blocked from below.  Around the perimeter of the crawl space, a rigid insulation board is applied and all vents are sealed up.  The crawl space then becomes what is referred to as "Sealed".  For more detail on this technology I would suggest that you go to crawlspaces.org  This site is the result of an intensive research study concerning crawl spaces in our Southeastern climate.  

A vented crawlspace in the Southeast may very well be the worst code ever created.  I, for sure, will never specify another one.

Construction Administration - What's this about anyway?

The term "Construction Administration" typically references what an Architect does during the time the General Contractor is building a project. In a Commercial Project, this phase is rather mundane doing activities such as shop drawings reviews, site inspections, and draw requests. However, if the project is Custom Residential, construction administration becomes an entirely different task. Since design is a never ending process, it certainly does not stop when you start building.

Clients often have a hard time visualizing things until they start to come up out of the ground. On many occasions, I have worked to tweak specific design solutions during the process to make them better. Whether it's aligning panels on the cabinetry, finalizing the design of a fireplace surround, assisting with railing selections, or even figuring out a way to hide a TV behind a motorized panel - there is plenty of design to be done once the house is under construction.

I have heard that some builders say that there is no need for an Architect to be involved during construction. Those builders obviously don't understand design and continuity of a home. Yes, without an architect's involvement, you will end up with a roof over your head. But will the hinges on the exterior doors match the hinges on the interiors doors? Probably not.

If I had my way, I would change the name "Construction Administration" to "Design Enhancement".