Archive for April, 2010

Small Home Designs Coming

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

New Small Home Designs Are on the Way

Rand Soellner HOME ARCHITECTSTM, are creating a brand new series of small home designs.  Merry Soellner calls them the CARDINAL CAMP COTTAGE series.  They are focused on bringing the best features from all of Soellner’s residential designs; large, medium and small into affordable, compact, upscale quality new small home designs.

Features contained in these small designs are comparable with features seen in much larger houses.  Including features such as multiple fireplaces, large kitchens, gracious master suites, outdoor living porches, and large open plan spaces. (more…)

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Sustainable Home Design

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Sustainable Design for your Home and Buildings is a Growing Concern

Sustainable home design and building analyses are the focus of the latest  studies devoted to reducing the carbon footprint on our planet.   Related issues involve energy efficiency and Life Cycle Analysis of the items and materials in our homes and buildings.

Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB is currently taking a series of continuing education units and many of them have to do with sustainable design (or SD), one of the requirements of the American Institute of Architects.  Some of the CEU courses review expected subject matter, like appliances.   Any review of sustainable home design would not be complete without some discussion of appliances. (more…)

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Springtime Architect Home Tips

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Springtime is here and you are enjoying the weather and eager to go places and do interesting things.  In the process, you may want to think about these tips from a home architect.  They will keep your house safer, healthier, and more energy efficient during the rest of this year.

Architect Home Tips for the Spring:

Architect Home Tips for this Season Include these 7 Things:

1. CLEARING DEBRIS AND EARTH FROM POST AND WALLS: Take a walk around your home, carefully inspecting the level of the ground around wooden posts and around your foundation walls.  Make sure that no earth is directly contacting any wood on your house.  Even normal pressure-treated wood isn’t prepared to deal with termite and other damaging effects of having organic materials, like dirt, contacting it for long periods of time.  (more…)

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Springtime Home Plans

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

It’s Spring!  Time to Develop your Home Plans

Remember last Fall when you were all gung-ho about getting your new home plans designed?  Well, it is now Spring and it’s time to get going again.  Your home plans are a necessary part of what it takes to establish the design, size, location, and features that your builder uses to construct your next house.

It Takes a Lot More to Build a House than just Home Plans:

Some people may believe that “plans” just means the floor plans.  While floor plans are a vital part, that is not all that goes into a set of “home plans.”  There are roof plans, building sections, exterior building elevations, structural framing for your floors and roof, wall sections, details of vertical and plan conditions, structural engineering drawings, specifications for architectural mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and structural systems, and more.  (more…)

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