It involves Energy and its waste or conservation, which relates directly to how much you pay on your power bill each month.  Other factors involve quality of light and how effectively it reflects off other surfaces in your house to yield a comfortable and effective illumination level.  Other issues have to do with the subjective “warmth” of light, which can actually be quantified.

Residential Lighting Trends for 2012

Residential Lighting in one of Soellner's projects. Sconce light can be seen on the wall over the windows. (C) Copyright 2004-2012 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB/LHI, is an experienced architect who designs residential projects for clients across the United States and has designed  projects overseas as well.  Soellner is a licensed architect in multiple states and also is nationally certified through the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.  He has been practicing residential and commercial architecture for decades on projects, small, medium and large.  He is also a Licensed Home Inspector.  He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in architecture from one of the leading universities in the USA.

Soellner recalls that many clients and architects used to use recessed “can” lights in almost every room of a house, as the main means of lighting.  During the years, it has become obvious to Soellner that this carries with it some drawbacks:
1.  ACCESSIBILITY: the ceilings in quite of few architectural designs are “volume” or “cathedral.”  This means that the ceiling surface is high off the floor, often exceeding 10′, possibly even greater than 20′ high.  While this creates a spacious feeling and should continue, the practice of plugging recessed lights into this high surface should be reconsidered.  How do homeowners change those lights?  Special grabbing and twisting tools from Lowes or Home Depot?  That might help, despite the cumbersome nature of such a replacement procedure.  There are other issues.  Off a very tall step ladder?  Or worse, trying to safely position an extension ladder (that could slip, resulting in a catastrophic fall for the homeowner)?

2.  HARSH SPOT LIGHTING/HIGH CONTRAST WITH CEILING: the actual lamp bottom (note: “lamp” is the illuminating engineer’s term for “light bulb”) brightly blares its undiffused light, blasting out of the ceiling light can.  This light is directed nearly straight down, and the surrounding ceiling surfaces are not washed effectively with this light, creating a harsh contrast, when you look up, of the extremely bright points of lamp (or “light bulb”) origination and the much darker ceiling.  This is uncomfortable on the eyes and the quality of light in a residential space is questionable, especially from such a high position.  Shadows are cast, creating a more commercial and severe lighting environment.

3.  PUNCHING HOLES INTO THE CEILING VAPOR BARRIER AND THROUGH THE CEILING/ATTIC INSULATION: this is likely one of the worst offenders of energy heat loss and gain.  When a recessed light can is located in an attic/ceiling that has a roof on its other side above, that recessed can is punching a hole through the vapor barrier and the insulation that is supposed to keep heated and moister air inside your house during the winter.  During the summer, those same holes allow humid super-heated air from your attic into your house.  You may even have a chimney effect where air from the inside of your house exhausts through all the can lights right up into your attic!  What an energy waste!  There are, of course, ways to use IC (for Insulation Contact) light fixtures that can be wrapped (technically called “tenting”) with insulation.  This insulation, unfortunately, is often taped into place with cloth-based duct tape, which will fail within just a few months, allowing gaps in the tenting over and around the recessed light fixtures.  Also, the amount of insulation will typically be much thinner and no where near the R-value of the main thermal barrier separating your interior ceiling and your attic.  Therefore, using recessed can lights in your ceilings with attics and roofs above them is sort of light creating a swiss cheese of your energy and vapor barrier envelope.  Not very effective and possibly more expensive than other lighting options due to the labor factor involved with placing them off of scaffolding and the special tenting (which is not likely to actually happen in most field conditions).  This punching of holes into your high ceilings results in heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer and leaks your inside air out.  This means that the monthly fee you pay your electrical company goes up to pay for the air that you paid to have warmed or cooled and allowed to leak out of your house through the recessed can light penetrations.  Soellner bets that you didn’t even know that was going on, did you?

Electrical lighting can amount to 20% of your monthly power bill, but that does Not include additional energy losses due to heating and cooling equipment having to run longer and harder to make up for treated air loss through recessed ceiling can lights.  One can only speculate that the monthly amount of your power bill is higher because of this issue, likely higher than the 20% just attributed to lighting alone, when you have recessed can lights in your high ceilings with attics on the other side of them.

Sconce Lighting as  Solution

Some of the sconce lighting fixtures selected by Merry Soellner in one of Soellner's residential projects.

So what’s to be done?  Well, Rand Soellner has experimented in houses he has designed for his own family and realized that one of the best all-round lighting fixtures for the main spaces of your house may very well be a Sconce Light.  What are the main spaces of most houses: Living Rooms, Dining areas, Kitchens, Stairs, Foyers and other spaces that might have tall ceilings with attics and roofs on their top sides.

Why Sconce Lights?  Sconce Lights are typically surface mounted on a side wall.  They are Not recessed.  Even their lighting connection box (usually mounted within a side wall) can have an air baffle mounted into the wall to minimize or eliminate any unwanted infiltration from that source.  Sconce light fixtures can have decorative diffusers of historic, modern or other aesthetic characteristics to suit almost any design style desired.  The light bulbs (“Lamps”) that you screw into the sconce fixture use the typical Edison base, even if the lamps are CFLs (Compact Fluorescent) or LEDs (Light Emitting Diode).  Soon, incandescent “light bulbs” will no longer be made anyway, as a result of the US Congress and Senate realizing that these older lamps waste too much energy.  So get used to the CFLs or LEDs.

Sconce light fixtures can direct the light from the lamps (light bulbs) up or down or both.  Soellner prefers the combination of Up and Down in most locations in tall residential spaces.  In this manner, light can be directed up and down, washing the walls on which the sconces are mounted with a warm glow of reflected light, as well as the ceilings above, to reflect back down and into the space.  Using multiple sconce lights around a room’s walls, at a height of between 7′ to 10′ can give a wonderfully warm and cozy lighting effect than most people can reach from a normal 6′ tall step ladder for lamp replacement.

It should be noted that the new CFL and LED lamps last a lot longer than the incandescent lamps (which will soon no longer be available).  Even so, Soellner doesn’t want his homeowners to have to pay an electrician to set up scaffolding to replace their light bulbs (lamps), whenever that may occur.

What is important to remember about the sconce lighting approach is that the lamps are shield from direct view by the sconce fixture itself, so you don’t get the harsh blast one does from a recessed ceiling light fixture.  Also, the surfaces of the house (walls, ceilings, even the floors) are receiving “bounce” light that illuminates these surfaces, functionally and psychologically brightening the spaces of the house.  Soellner’s experience in his own houses attest to a high quality of lighting that have been featured in books and magazines worldwide.

To contact Rand Soellner Architect, click here: —> Contact Residential Architect

Light Warmth

Some people may question CFL or LED subjective visual “warmth.”  Actually, there are various “Kelvin Temperatures” which you can purchase for your CFL and LED lamps.  Here is a link to a previous post about CFLs: –> Free CFLs . There is a lot of information there about this subject.   For instance, 2700K (Kelvin) CFL light to 3000K is roughly equivalent to a warm white or soft white standard incandescent lamp (bulb).  3500K to 4100K CFLs are what most people might call “Cool white”, or “Neutral white.”  5000K to 6500K CFL is considered to be “Natural” or “Daylight”.  And yes, these various K “temperatures” should be available in these new types of lamps from your local building supply warehouse.  Personally, Soellner has been using the 2700K and sees no appreciable difference between an incandescent lamp directly adjacent to a CFL or LED.  Here’s a link to a “Bulb Purchasing Guide” published by EnergyStar —> Bulb Purchasing Guide.

Soellner’s Approach

Rand Soellner Architect always looks at the unique characteristics of each design and arrives at solutions that work best for each.  For instance, with a 2nd floor over a kitchen space, he might used quite a few recessed can lights, because they are inexpensive and can be scattered around for comprehensive lighting in this busy space, and they can be easily reached by a normal stepladder and they are in an interior ceiling, not penetrating an attic, so there is no energy loss.  In such a space (Kitchen) Soellner also often uses multiple task lights under the upper cabinets, directly illuminating the counters below them.  This works extremely well in Kitchens.

For more imagery of interior lighting and other aspects of residential design, please click here–> Home Architects ^TM .

Stay tuned for next week’s post: Efficiency in Residential Design .

tags: custom, residential lighting, cashiers, atlanta, norcross, alpharetta, chicago, illinois, north carolina, south, orlando, tacoma, telluride, boulder

Residential Design in North Atlanta

There will be a main house of about 5,000 HSF (Heated Square Feet), an attached 3 car oversize garage with interior and exterior storage, and a 4,800 SF related but detached separate car barn for collectibles (a hobby of the client).  Additionally, there is ongoing Master Planning of the site to accommodate a Porte-Cochere (a fancy word describing a nicer sort of carport) off the Front Porch, with two 12′ wide driving lanes passing through it.

North Atlanta Residential Design (C) Copyright 2012 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. In the Master Planning and Programming stages, testing some 3D concepts in an animated movie Soellner put together to view the implications of the client's initial thoughts for their new project.

Out back, the tall gable roof of the Grand Hall (main central open plan living space of the house) continues to cover about 24′ of a Rear Porch/ Outdoor Living space, then there is the swimming pool, Summer Kitchen, pool bathroom and related hardscaping and landscaping.

Ah, this is the life!  All together, there will be about 13,480 square feet under roof, including interior and exterior covered spaces, but not including the full gable tall screened enclosure over the pool.  The building site will be roughly 10 acres in size, with plenty of buffering trees and other landscaping from the road.  Privacy is desired, as are beautiful views.

north atlanta residential design (C)Copyright Rand Soellner 2012, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. This is the preliminary view from the Rear Porch to the swimming pool area, with a 2-sided fireplace on the opposite end and a summer kitchen and a pool house. After seeing the movie Soellner produced, the clients decided to have him turn the pool 90 degrees and eliminate the pool house and move the fireplace to be in the porch. A picture says a thousand words and a movie makes it nearly real.

Like many of Rand’s clients, this couple wants this to be their retirement dream house.  There is something about Soellner’s designs that appeals to this special market segment.  Perhaps the vaulted ceilings with muscular beams and timber trusses, large stone pedestals and timber posts, or huge glass areas framing spectacular views.  All of these are part of the equation and the path that leads to Rand Soellner Architect.

Soellner’s work has been featured in books and magazines worldwide, including in a major residential design coffee table book published by Images Publishing, available through Amazon.com (log on to Amazon and type in: “House With A View.”  Soellner has several of his built house project designs in the book along with the likes of Richard Meier, Mario Botta and other luminaries of the architectural world).   Rand is quick to comment: “mine are the rustic ones that look like they grew from their sites and have been there for 100 years.”  Seeing the elegance in Soellner’s design for this new North Atlanta house belies his mountain leanings more toward “Rustic Elegance,” a flavor that seems to be appealing to more retirees these days.

Rand Soellner's new North Atlanta project includes about 14,000 square feet of roofed space, one couple's retirement dream, with all the room they ever imagined for scores of grown children and grandkids and hobbies and collections, parking, swimming and just about anything you'd want to do.

Soellner takes it all in stride, enjoying the fact that so many people looking forward to their dream retirement houses contact him.  “I get 84,000 hits a year on my website www.HomeArchitects.com ,” he says with a grin, “but no where near that many actually call me.  I wish they did!” Here is Soellner’s Contact Us page from his website–> Contact Rand Soellner Architect

He designs custom houses all over the United States and he confides, that yes, he actually lives in just one state, however he is licensed in multiple states all over the USA and enjoys creating projects anywhere.  He actually lived in Kuwait City for 2 months, while designing a major project there, on the Arabian Gulf.  “So me designing a residence for people in North Atlanta or Washington State, or South Carolina, or Virginia, Pennsylvania or Illinois is not a difficult thing to do, ” said Soellner.

tags: north atlanta residential design, custom, norcross, alpharetta, newnan, macon, timber, post and beam, pennsylvania, farm house

Spring Project Planning

The winter, just after the major holidays,  has always been a time of new projects at Rand Soellner Architect and this year is no exception.  Soellner’s trademarked term: HOME ARCHITECTS ^TM says it all: they design houses all over the USA, the Americas and the World.  The Soellner firm often begins planning for client projects during the winter, so that when warm weather arrives, work might hopefully begin on his clients’ proposed new houses and renovations.

The Economy is improving: get started now:—> Residential Architect

Click here to see Rand Soellner’s Contact Us form: —> Contact Us

Soellner is receiving record traffic on his website: www.HomeArchitects.com , as he typically does in the early months of each year.  People seem to want to get through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day in order to have the time they need to focus on efforts for a major new undertaking like a new house or renovation of an aging residence.  Soellner is seeing from 72,000 to 84,000 hits on his website a year, and visitors are on the rise.  That’s about 7,000 people a month, and 230 average a day, however, recently Soellner noticed a spike of 315 visitors on a Sunday.  That’s over 13.1 visitors an hour, or 1 visitor approximately every 4-1/2 minutes.  That’s a lot of interest in residential design and planning for spring projects!

(C) Copyright 2004-2012 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. One of Residential Architect Soellner's projects underway.

Soellner enjoys getting projects started early, so that his clients can understand how his designs fulfill their functional and aesthetic requests, long before they are built.  That’s one of the advantages of starting Before you need a residential design: so that you have the time to understand the physical and economic implications of your project well before you want construction to begin.  Planning early is what it is all about.

Some people prefer to wait until the warm weather is here, but they discover that they can’t immediately begin to build then.  They first need a design.  And this is going to be their dream retirement house.  So do you imagine that they want a quickie design out of a magazine or other source of designs that have nothing to do with their desired lifestyle and their site?  No, of course not.  They want a design custom tailored to what they want.  And how to you find such a design?  You engage a residential architect who designs the sort of houses that appeal to you.

That bears repeating: How do you find the design that works for you?
YOU ENGAGE A RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECT WHO DESIGNS THE TYPE OF HOUSES THAT APPEAL TO YOU.
It can really be that simple.  It is suggested that you Not try to cobble together bits and pieces of portions of houses that you have torn out of publications and hope that you can put it together.  You can’t.  That will be a frustrating exercise, as many of you have already discovered.  It takes a lifetime of designing houses to know how to design a residence properly.  That’s what an architect brings to the table.  Allow him or her to do their job on your behalf.  When you find an architect whose style of houses “speaks to you,” that is the main hurdle.  Once that is established, your residential architect will listen to you explain what you want in your house and plan it accordingly.  It will typically look like what that architect’s body of work has been doing for the last several decades.

(C) Copyright 2011-2012 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. All of Soellner's documents are produced on CAD, like this partial wall secion.

The architecture of houses is complex.  The AIA (American Institute of Architects) indicates that residential design is one of the most complex design tasks an architect can undertake.  There is a lot going on between the walls and many issues to resolve and a host of regulations and functional and aesthetic concerns.  Your house architect is the one, through education, training, licensure and experience that brings it all together for you.

And starting your project in the dead of winter is an excellent time to get your project planning and design going and perhaps even done before the new year’s warmer weather breaks, so that your project can get a jump on the year before other people’s projects book up the builders.  Speaking of builders, the recession has taken its toll: there has been attrition.  There are not as many residential builders available to to quality custom construction as there used to be.  But there continues to be more people.  As our economy continues to improve, peoples’ pent up demand for new custom residential housing and renovations will increase and eventually make today’s smaller pool of available quality builders busy.

Call to Action: Get Started Now by Engaging Your Residential Architect Now!

Rand Soellner Architect: 1-828-269-9046.  Rand@HomeArchitects.com

tags: planning spring projects, custom design, atlanta, orlando, hendersonville, cashiers, highlands, lake toxaway, chicago, wisconsin, timber, post and beam, boulder

Rand Soellner and clients at a Programming meeting.

Rand Soellner Architect starts every project with what he calls the “Programming.”  As the word implies, this begins by Mr. Soellner asking you: “What do you want?”
Soellner takes notes, listens carefully, asks an occasional question, then documents the discussion in written form, usually in an e-mail to the client.  When the client receives the Programming, he and/or she is welcome to make comments, typed right into the Programming and send it back to the architect.

Soellner reviews what you have written, might make a few more comments and then sends it back to you.  This cyclical process continues, until the program is in its completed form.

What is included in a program?  Several typical subjects might be the following:
-  BEDROOMS/BATHS: Number of Bedrooms and Bathrooms desired.
-  SIZE: Approximate total Heated Square Feet (HSF)
-  GARAGE: If you want a garage, how many car parking bay spaces?  Workshop?  How elaborate?  Storage shelving along the available walls?  Access to outside trash can parking?  Any special electrical requirements?  Electric charging requirements for an electric car?  Golf cart?  ATVs?
-  PORTE-COCHERE: do you want an additional outdoor covered parking area (commonly called a “carport”, but more interesting, and possibly at the front door?  For how many cars?
-  STARTING POINT DESIGN: Basing the design on an existing design that Soellner is modifying and customizing for you?  Which one of Soellner’s many designs appeals to you as a starting point?
-  STYLE: Any particular “style”?
-  ELECTRICAL NEEDS: anything special in the way of power needs?
-  ROOFING: Any particular materials appeal to you?  Cost implications of this decision.
-  FLOORING: many people want wall to wall wood flooring.   How about you?  Species?  Cost implications.
-  COST: do you have a particular construction cost that you have in mind?  Discussion of what this is likely to buy for you and implications for your wish list as compared to the cost/HSF.
-  OUTSIDE LIVING AREAS: want a nice covered and screened back porch where you can enjoy your view and stay clean and dry?  How about a Summer Kitchen back there?  And a welcoming Front Porch?  How many people would you like to accommodate on the rear porch?  Materials?
-  KITCHEN: large, medium or small?  Large central island?  30″, 36″, 42″, 48″ or 60″ wide range/oven?  Make a major feature of the cooking area or not?  Cabinetry preferences?  One or two cold boxes?  Widths?  One, two or more sinks and locations.  One or more dishwashers and refuse containers in cabinetry.  Pet feeding built-in areas (something Soellner’s clients seem to appreciate).  Windows.  Openness to the other main living areas.  Number of people you would like to accommodate at one time during meal preparation.  Utilities.
-  MASTER BEDROOM: king bed or California king?  Nightstands and circulation space.  Access to outdoor living area, possibly even a Sleeping Porch (one of Soellner’s historic references that clients seem to enjoy)!  Fireplace?  TV (popup or on display)?  Dressers?  Makeup/grooming vanity for her?  Shelving?
-  MASTER CLOSETS/DRESSING: one larger, or separate His & Hers?  Implications for size of house.  Shoe stacker shelving for all those shoes!  Center dresser island?  Want a coffee maker in there and a flat screen TV?  Exercise equipment/area?  This can be as simple or elaborate as your imagination and budget allows.
-  MASTER BATHROOM: large, medium or small?  Separate toilet room?  Fancy toilet with all the bells and whistles or simple normal toilet (yes, there are a whole range of toilets these days, some with hot water cleansing, automatic lid raising from motion sensors, auto-flush and much more!).  Garden tub?  Whirlpool?  One larger vanity with 2 sinks, or separate His & Her vanities?  One person or 2-person shower?  Soellner often designs his clients’ showers to accommodate future possible wheelchairs so they can continue to enjoy their homes for as long as they live and not have to go anywhere else unless they want to do so.
-  AND MUCH MORE…

Rand Soellner Architect—> Contact Us .

When the program is complete, Rand Soellner then asks you your permission to allow him to proceed into the next phase: Schematic Design.  But that’s a subject for another article.

tags: custom residential architect, charlotte, cashiers, atlanta, pueblo, colorado, jackson hole, wyoming, aspen, telluride, los altos

Protecting Your House & Plumbing in Winter

THERMOSTATS: first, what Not to do: do Not turn your thermostats off or to such a low level that you will have frost inside your house.  That will eventually melt and saturate the wall and floor and ceiling finish materials which is sure to grow mold.  What to do: turn your thermostats down to perhaps 60 degrees F.  In reality, the low limit switches in your AHUs (Air Handling Units) will turn on when the thermometer in the thermostat reaches about 58 degrees.  The high limit switch in the AHUs will probably turn off the heat source and related distribution fans when the temperature at the thermostat reaches about 62 degrees.  Why is this important?  Because there are water pipes running through your walls, ceilings and floors.  These pipes are heated typically by the water itself, if it is running through them, and/or from the heat inside your house.  If you turn down your heat to an extremely low level or turn it off, you will have a Cold Structure that will not be able to provide any heat to the piping in structural spaces, thereby allowing the pipes to freeze.

DEHUMIDIFIERS: many people think that just because they are not present to smell any moldy odors that they can turn off their dehumidifiers when they leave.  That is Not a correct assumption.  If you have dehumidifiers in your crawlspace or other location in your house that would otherwise have dampness you really need to keep your dehumidifiers on.  They do not use much electricity and can prevent the building materials and furnishings in these area from growing a green, fuzzy coat.  That is not an exaggeration.  Rand Soellner Architect’s wife is a real estate broker in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Some of her clients turn off their dehumidifiers to “save” when they leave.  Invariably, their houses smell like an 1820 root cellar.  You must keep your dehumidifiers on at all times.  Dehumidifiers have a humidistat setting that you can typically adjust to whatever level of dehumidification you desire.  The Soellner’s set theirs at 35% to 40%.

PLUMBING “WINTERIZATION”: if you are going to be gone for more than a few days, like weeks or months and you  expect that there may be freezing temperatures during that time period, you would do well to engage a residential licensed contractor who is experienced in “Winterizing” houses.  This mainly involves draining all of the water from your house.  First, turn off your hot water heaters.  When all the water is gone from them the elements can burn out or other damage can occur if they are left on.  Have your local gas company advise you about turning off a gas-heated device and have them come to your house to do this.  Now, to drain your house piping of water, typically, the exterior valve at the street is turned off first.  This valve box and all the other subsurface valve boxes should be filled with bundles of plastic bags (like what people at your grocery store bag your food purchases inside for you to carry to your car).  This advice is actually given by Utilities, Inc., a large water and sewer provider serving communities in the SouthEastern to MidCentral United States.  The bundled plastic bags serve to insulate the valve and pipe.  Even though the water inside this piping is very cold, it still retains some heat and the bags serve to insulate them from the even harsher temperatures above the valveboxes.

Now, drain all of the water out of your house, by first connecting hoses to the lowest point of water piping in your residence, which often will be the bottom of your hot water heaters in your crawlspace.  Have the hose drain ends lead to the outside before opening their drain valve.  Okay, open these low point drain valves, then proceed around your house and open up all the other water valves in all the kitchens and bathrooms and anywhere else.  Flush all the toilets, several times.  Your Winterization contractor should look for other possible low points in your piping, which can also occur in horizontal runs of piping that is inadequately supported, causing low spots.  When all of the water has been drained from your house, make sure that all of the water valves inside your house and crawlspace are turned back off.  Otherwise you will get a big surprise when you turn on the Main when you return.  Your contractor may also feel it is prudent to pour in non-freezing fluids into toilets, which is based on his or her experience in your climate.

GARAGE: First of all, Close all the garage doors and windows completely.  If you do not have weatherstripping around your garage doors (all the garage doors of all types and sizes), then take this precaution.  Stop infiltration (infiltration is the entrance of unwanted exterior air blowing into your house from outside).  You do Not want to leave your garage interior to freeze.  More than likely there are some water pipes flowing through the structure of this area and you do not want them to freeze.  Your plumber may have installed a special shutoff valve in your garage that allows you to turn off water to any exterior hose bibbs on the exterior garage wall.  You should have turned this shut off valve off, then opened the hose bibb connected to it.  Also, provide at least a small heater in your garage set to a low temperature and if you know where water piping is in your garage walls, ceilings and other areas, you might want to direct the heater in that direction.  Even if you believe you have drained all the water from your house, there still could be some low spots with water remaining in them and you do not want these to freeze.  Why?  Because water expands 10% of its volume when it freezes.  This is why if water is contained within a fixed volume, like a closed pipe, the pipe is doomed.  The freezing water inside will become rock hard as it expands, and can easily split and break even metal piping.

EXTERIOR HOSE BIBBS: not many people do this.  They really should.  First, remove all of your exterior hoses that are connected to your exterior hose bibbs.  If you do not remove the hose from the hose bibb, water can be backed up in the hose bibb, causing it to freeze.  If you have Frost Proof hose bibbs, that is great; they will hopefully be safe, however, even these will need to have any hoses connected to them removed.  If you are not sure if your hose bibbs are frost proof, you may want to insulate them with something like flexible rubber or plastic hose bibb protectors that you may be able to find at Lowes or Home Depot, or use what you have as scrap material in your house, if you know that harsh weather is on the way, or if you will be gone.  Drain the hose bibbs of all water before doing this, if you are winterizing your house for an extended period.  Oh, if you’d like to have your hoses continue to function, drain them as well, after you disconnect them.  The best way to do this is to pull them out straight, then pick up one end, and keeping a continuous high point, walk along the length of the hose, constantly draining the water out of it.  Otherwise, water left inside the hose can expand, freeze and rupture the walls of the hose, ruining it.  If you do not remove hoses from even frost free hose bibbs, the faucet can be ruptured inside the wall, and you will not even know it, until you turn on the faucet in warm weather and water starts spurting inside your wall, causing much more water damage than if you took these simple precautions.

IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WINTERIZE: if you are not going to drain all the water out of your house and turn off your main water valve, then consider this precaution: on each floor of your house, turn on a faucet just enough to allow it to slowly drip.  Perhaps even do this at all fixtures in your house, if you will be leaving for several days and you know that the pipes in your house are susceptible to freezing.  The idea is to keep the water flowing (even just a little) so that it does not have the chance to freeze.  Open under cabinet doors where you know plumbing lies behind it so that the warm air in your house can better warm the walls where the piping is located.  If you expose anything not suitable for infants and small children, take necessary precautions.

IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR PLUMBING: Rand Soellner Architect specifies that ALL plumbing piping be insulated with synthetic insulation.  The reason is to protect the piping from freezing and from losing heat (in the case of hot water piping) and from have moisture condense on them (in the case of cold water piping) to prevent mold from growing.  If you see any plumbing distribution piping without insulation, then call a plumber and pay him or her to insulate the piping with a quality pipe insulation like Armaflex.  This will also help avoid freezing.   If you have the ability to do so, install additional insulation between the outside surfaces of areas in walls and ceilings and your plumbing piping.  Never allow water bearing pipe to be installed in areas where cold weather can directly contact it.

DOORS & WINDOWS: Doors and windows are often responsible for a great deal of infiltration in a house.  Infiltration is the unwanted and uncontrolled entrance of exterior air entering your house.  Wet your fingers and run them around the perimeter of your exterior doors.  If you feel a cold chill coming onto your fingers from the exterior side of the door gap, then you have infiltration.  You want to stop the infiltration.  First: have a tradesman that is experienced at installing and repairing doors make sure that your door is square and level and not warping and seated properly into the door frame.  Second: if you don’t have proper weatherstripping firmly contacting your door when you close it, provide and/or adjust the weatherstripping until you do.  Third: if you still experience some remaining infiltration, especially with warping wood doors, you may need to have your handyman install another thin strip of wood trim around the top and side of your door to further block the door gap.  Fourth: make sure you have a proper threshold and that your door bottom is level and completely horizontal and engaging weatherstripping along the exterior bottom door face.  Rand Soellner has actually seen exterior doors in some houses that have a bottom gap through which you can see the outside!  Obviously, any air outside can easily slide under such an improper opening and into your house, along with a host of creepy-crawlies.  Fifth: if you have a non-insulated or non-solid core door, you may want to consider replacing your exterior doors with a better quality new entrance.

Windows can have a tremendous amount of infiltration and you should think about replacing older windows that leak a lot of air into and out of your home.  Newer windows are also double pane with Low-E coatings that help dampen heat transfer from inside to outside and vice-versa.  You want windows that have low infiltration levels and low heat transfer frames.  If you don’t want to spend money to upgrade them now, you may want to consider temporary measures like sealants and other insulation to make them perform better.  Such measure may render the windows inoperable, however, depending on how you have installed the fixes.

For additional information on how your house can be designed to deal with the winter and other seasons and conditions, please click here —> Contact Rand Soellner Architect .  Home Architects website

tags: protecting your house & plumbing in winter, custom, residential design, cashiers, atlanta, newnan, hendersonville, asheville, murphy, chicago, los altos, orlando

If, on the other hand, you do care what your proposed house design will cost to build, then you may find this article interesting.  Many designers just do what they are asked to do and give their documents to the owners, then run for cover.  Why?  Because anyone knowledgeable with construction has some idea of what is more expensive than something else.  When clients come to Rand Soellner Architect with their file folders full of cutouts from design magazines (featuring houses costing $500+ per square foot), Soellner normally considers what the client wants, then asks them: “And how much do you expect to pay your contractor to build your house?”

That’s when things start to get interesting.  Many clients may say things like: $200,000 or whatever, for a house of 3,000+ HSF (Heated Square Feet).  This = less than $100/HSF.  Costs like that are difficult to achieve, especially with high-end features torn from design magazines.  Soellner is quick to point out that he will gladly design clients’ houses however they desire; he just wants them to have some appreciation for the economic implications of what they are asking for in their houses and what the builder will charge to build it.  Most people have unrealistically low expectations of what their high-end wishes will actually cost to build.

Many people have in mind complex plans with curves and angles and tall commercial glass window walls, high-end flooring, tall widow-walk towers above their roofs, and big-big-big square footages with 3 and 4 car garages.  All that for just a few bucks a square foot!  Wouldn’t that be great, if that was actually possible?  The reality is: you get what you pay for.  Maybe in these down economic times, you get a little more.  But builders cannot lose money.  They already did that in the Great Bust.  They lost money in the spec houses they had sitting on the market that they had to sell for 50 cents on the dollar, just to dump them.  And that was for a built house on which they hoped to earn a profit.

What some clients imagine is that pre-built houses that have sold at distressed prices is what they can now have their new, custom built house constructed for.  No, you cannot.  Why?  Because you are asking a builder to create something new for you.  He is under no pressure to do this.  You are asking and he is considering.  Sure he will give you a good deal; he wants the work.  But can he build your high-end featured house with all your wished-for goodies for half of what is will cost him?  No.  And he will not.

So, understanding all of this, Rand Soellner Architect strives to ALIGN HOME WISH LISTS WITH COSTS right at the beginning of his projects.  The choice is the clients, and Soellner’s objective is to create the design his clients want for as close to the construction cost they would like to pay their builder as possible.  Soellner is not responsible for what your builder decides to charge you.  That cost is largely based on the features you have asked him to include, along with the size you have requested.  Soellner lets you make the choice.  He is there to inform you when what you have requested clearly exceeds the cost desired.

So what’s to be done?  Well, for one, Soellner tries to simplify his clients’ desires for complicated geometry.  Contractors charge extra for each additional corner and more for curves and angles.  If you want them, fine, just realize that you will pay extra for them.  Soellner also advises his clients on how certain spaces can have multiple uses, avoiding over-building space that really isn’t necessary.  This savings in “footprint” can have huge paybacks when you have more than one level.

Often, Soellner will ask his clients if they would like to see some examples of how to accomplish their desired space program with some of his existing designs.  They invariably agree.  Then, Soellner overlays the existing design with tracing paper and sketches the client’s new desired organization, understanding that this is simplifying the client’s wish list into something that will likely be built for much less construction cost.

If you are concerned about how to align your home design wish list with your cost, you may want to schedule an appointment with Rand Soellner Architect: Contact Us . 1-828-269-9046.

tags: custom, house design wish lists and costs, atlanta, orlando, sanfranciso, chicago

Some people may not think that sounds very exciting, but sometimes you just need Dependability from your house.  Sometimes good old fashioned peace and quiet and reliability is what you want.  Many people take for granted that architect will make their house design look good.  And that is true.  You should expect that.  No architect worth his salt should talk too much about that, because it is expected.

What is meant by RELIABILITY in a residential design?  That it works.  That it will be there after high winds blow or after modest ground tremors, or heavy rains.  That the electrical system provides dependable, constant power.  That things stay put and wear minimally.  That the home’s joints stay tight and keep out the wind, rain and cold.  That the insulation functions properly, keeping your house comfortable during all seasons.  That your roof keeps the inside of your house dry.  That your sealants and other coatings and materials keep wind borne water from entering your house.  That your windows and doors frame outstanding views, have minimal infiltration and are positioned to resist uncontrolled sunlight, heat and cold and water.  That your foundation and other aspects of your structural system stay put on solid ground.  That the very earth around your house conducts rainwater down and away from the structure.  That your sewage system conducts all your waste safely away from your house and deal with it so that you don’t have to think about it.  That your well or water source is clean, flowing, unfrozen and tastes wonderful.

Okay, now how about ENERGY EFFICIENCY?  What exactly does that mean?  Some pie in the sky “Green” thingamajig?  No.  Special sealant and/or insulation first, that seals the majority of the cracks and crevices from the inside out, which is how Rand Soellner Architect specifies it.  Second, special rigid insulation sheeting around the inside of your floor joist bands, preventing condensation that is sure to occur here if you don’t (per Building Sciences Corp.)  Third, mass insulation that fills the wall spaces, floors, ceiling/attics that gives you the most “R” value for the least dollar.   In other words, a lot of bang for your buck.  Fourth, interior vapor barrier that is “smart” that lets moisture through (from inside to outside in summer, and reverses this in winter).  In other words, a tightly construction house that properly controls and treats the air in your house so that it sips energy rather than guzzles it.

And LOW MAINTENANCE?  What does that mean?  It means using materials that last a long time, hopefully forever (as far as your lifetime is concerned), and coatings that last a long time, and hopefully have integral color and finishes as much as possible.  Fasteners also enter into this equation, for instance, Soellner specifies galvanized ring shank nails for just about everything.  If you have never tried to remove a ring shank nail, try it.  You will pull the head off the nail before you will be able to budge the shaft.  It is like a screw.  The added cost?  Pennies.  The effect on your maintenance?  Things stay put because nails on Soellner projects do Not back out.  And those are just for starters.

GOOD LOOKS: take a look at Soellner’s website, and books and magazines featuring his house designs.  Even on Amazon.com, along with some of the leading architects on the planet.  He is one of the top architects in the world under the category of Rustic Elegance.

LOGIC, PRACTICALITY, EFFICIENT USE OF SPACE: Soellner’s designs typically have little to no hallways or corridors.  Every square inch is effectively utilized.  Open Space Planning is prominently featured in public areas.  What is supposed to be close to other spaces are.  For instance, garages are located near to kitchens.  dining and living areas look out the back at your views.  Closets, foyers, stairs and other non-view spaces are located along the front of the houses, buffering the view spaces.  Master suites are located in split plan arrangements, away from guest rooms for privacy and peace and quiet.

For more, please see Rand Soellner’s website: www.HomeArchitects.com

tags: custom residential architecture, atlanta, chicago, las vegas, reno, orlando, new york, aspen, tellride, rocky mountains, blue ridge

This is not an idle phrase; it is the truth.  For instance, quite often Soellner will pick up his phone and hear a new client say: “I’ve been looking on the Internet for months (sometimes years), and I can’t find what I want…Until I came to your website.  I’m very interested in the look of your house designs and in particular in how the ________ design of yours functions.”  These people are referring to Soellner’s numerous project examples on his website: HomeArchitects.com

Soellner has been at this a long time, since he was 15 years old, starting by taking a drafting course at John Adams High School in South Bend, Indiana, where not only did he draft, he designed, creating several residential projects from his sophomore year through his senior year, that caught the attention of his teachers, who put them on display in the corridor showcases, and encouraged him to graduate and attend a major accredited architectural university, which he did.  Since then, Soellner has become a licensed architect in multiple states, has received multiple awards from prestigious sources such as the American Institute of Architects, a major power utility company, a State Government, a major city, and been featured in books and magazines worldwide.  See House With a View (available from Amazon.com) in which he is one of several famous architects from around the World who designed outstanding residential projects in scenic locations.

Decades later, he now enjoys scenarios like last weekend.  A prominent professional, based in downtown Chicago, made an appointment and came to visit Rand Soellner at his home office.  The professional, let’s call him “Bob,” said that he had already been through two previous architects in past months and years, who either didn’t understand what he wanted or didn’t have the design skills to accomplish his requested house size and still have the imagery he wanted for his unique acreage in the woods on a cliff in the backcountry of a northern state.

Bob wanted a “Fairytale Cottage” of about 2,000 HSF (Heated Square Feet) on the main level, and had an ambitious list of requirements.  The most recent previous design firm had created a design of about 3,500 HSF on the main level, which exceeded Bob’s requested size substantially.  He really didn’t want that much house.  So, he verified with Soellner that Rand could, would, and was interested in designing projects for anyone, regardless of the size and budget, or the location of the land.  Having established that, Bob met with Rand.  Soellner allocated an entire day (at no charge for the first meeting); picked Bob up from his hotel, and met with him in Soellner’s conference room for several hours during the morning, reviewing Bob’s program requirements, “flying” around Bob’s wonderful acreage on a large flatscreen monitor in virtual reality, exploring the view angles, and reviewing several of Rand’s previous designs.

Soellner had only offered to show several previous examples to illustrate what a 2,000 HSF house looked like in several configurations, some of them built.  One of the schemes captured Bob’s imagination: “That’s it!  This is great!  This could work!”  Bob really liked one of Rand’s projects, Rand’s Fairytale Stone Cottage, which had won a design competition for Soellner a while ago.  That happened to be about 2,500 HSF on the main level.  Rand let that issue rest for a while and offered to take Bob around to several of Rand’s built houses in the local community.  Bob consented, so Rand drove them around to see 3 houses in the area: the Falcon Cliff Lodge, the Creekside Cottage, and the Eagle Mountain Aerie.  Bob liked them all and enjoyed seeing what the actual, built projects felt like and looked like in person, and appreciated the interesting materials and details.

Soellner drove back to his home office, where Rand served lunch; an assortment of sandwiches, fruit, diet soft drinks, bottled spring water, fresh cookies and about the tastiest potato chips in the world.  After that, Bob and Rand resumed their design review in the conference room.  They “flew” around Bob’s acreage again, documenting Bob’s favorite view directions.  Then Bob wanted to look at the compact, yet functional Fairytale Cottage design that he had found so interesting during the morning session.  It incorporated Soellner’s Open Plan Home Design concepts, so it felt spacious.  So, Rand and Bob studied that for a while.  Bob said that he would like to have a Loft Level, so Rand sketched in a stairway, and a Loft Level above.  Bob said that Rand could remove the 2nd Bedroom on the main level and press the loft into service in that capacity, which could also serve as his studio when guests where not there.  Now, the main level would be around Bob’s requested 2,000 HSF size.

Soellner noted the walkout basement request from Bob’s program notes and found a way to have the stairway simply go down another level to access that space, which would carve a view right out of the cliffside, overlooking a bend in a major river in that location.  Bob beamed, delighted with the results of their cooperative work session.  Rand Soellner had accomplished, in just a few minutes, what the other design firms had not been able to do during the last several months and years:  The Size.  The Features.  The Functional Plan.  The Look.

“Clients come to us because they can’t find the residential design they want anywhere else.”  All of the above is a completely true reporting of what happened and what continues to happen at Rand Soellner Architect: The HOME ARCHITECTS ^TM.  Except, of course, the names have been changed to preserve the privacy of Soellner’s clients.  If you are thinking that you want to consider the design of a custom house that meets your family’s objectives, tailored to your lifestyle, your dreams and your land, perhaps you might think it’s about time that you gave Rand Soellner a call, e-mail on online chat:  Contact Us .

tags: Custom residential design, Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, New York, Perth, Las Vegas, Toronto, Shenzhen, Moscow, Lake Tahoe

Rand Soellner used to design laboratories, NASA projects, Air Force electronics facilities, water treatment plants and he agrees that residential design is the most complex type of project.

The 2012 International Residential Code is 904 pages long.  How many people who think that designing a residence is a simple matter have studied that or even know that hefty set of legal requirements even exists?  Licensed architects do know.  Mere residential designers may not.  The difference is: architects have a license.  The State requires that they design their projects in accordance with the State adopted codes.  So, real architect are required to comply with such weighty volumes.

There is also the International Energy Conservation Code.  Each state either fully adopts or amends the IECC and the IRC.  Architects designing project must comply with the full IECC and the IRC or as a minimum, the State modified version.  Many states reduce the requirements of these codes; once in a big while, they might add to them.

These sorts of codes, governing the design of houses covers a vast array of subjects that affect the arrangement, size and operating and performance characteristics of future houses.  Like what, for instance?

Well, let’s look at something small and relatively simple: windows.  If you, a lay person were to set out trying to design a house, you might think: “Hey, this is my house, I will make my windows however I want and that will be that!”  Not so fast… that is not necessarily true.  For instance, how many people have studied the International Residential Code and know that windows on the upper levels of a house, where the floor levels are at least 6 feet above the ground must have their window sills at least 24″ above the floor level?  This change occured during the last decade.  So, if you are planning a house, you must keep your window sills at least 2 feet above the floor where those floors are about the height of a man above the ground.  Okay, now we are ready to resume designing, right?

Once again, not so fast…  You think that now that you have learned one thing.  One thing out of thousands, that you are ready to size your windows?  No.  Not by a long shot.  Here’s another requirement: did you know that in a residence, all bedrooms have to have what is called a “Secondary Means of Egress?”  This means, that in addition to the door through which people normally enter the bedrooms, you must have another emergency way out of that room, leading directly to the outside of the house, in case of fire, smoke, or other emergency.  Why is there such a requirement in the IRC?  Because people have died in the past in catastrophic  and horrific tragedies in which people have burned to death or died of smoke inhalation in their bedrooms when they were trapped in there, because they couldn’t get out small windows or no windows, or windows which did not lead to a safe outdoor area away from the house.  The fire marshals of each state notice when such nasty events happen, then modify the building codes to hopefully prevent such horror from happening in the future.  That is how codes end of being forced to change.  How could anyone not agree: that it is a bad thing for people to be burned to death or inhale smoke until they die in their very homes?  Of course.

Okay, so, what has this got to do with this one aspect that we are examining in this one micro-study of one set of decisions for a house: your windows in your bedrooms?  Well, did you know that all windows serving as a secondary means of egress on the 1st floor or “ground floor” of a house must have a minimum of 5.0 square feet of net clear opening?  And that all upper level windows serving as a secondary means of egress must have at least 5.7 net square feet of opening through which a person can escape?

All right.  Do you now think you know what you need to plan just your bedroom windows?  Nope.  Here’s some more legal requirements that the architects of houses must know: per section R310.1.2 (2012 IRC), the minimum height of this emergency egress clear opening must be a minimum of 24″.  And, per section R310.1.3 (2012 IRC), the width must be at least 20″.  You may infer from this that if you make all your windows have a 24″ wide x 20″ tall egress opening you will meet the requirements, right?  Wrong!  If you multiply 20″ x 24″ you will only get 3.334 square feet!  That does not add up to the required 5.0 or 5.7 NSF required!  So, you have to think about several things here: the actual size of window required that will meet the Minimums, or be greater in width and height, but that also satisfies the Total required NSF size required by code.

And we haven’t even touched the “fun stuff,” like will the windows Look good?  What will you be looking at when you walk around your house or sit near those windows?  This means that when at architect arranges your Site Planning, he or she is also thinking about what aligns with the view directions from inside your house to those exterior features, sometimes miles away, like a distant mountain range!

What a lot to think about!  And we haven’t even addresses such features of only these bedroom windows such as energy efficiency.  Do you think that tinted windows or totally clear windows are the way to go for energy?  No.  Neither.  There are special coatings these days that reduce summer heat gain and minimize winter heat loss.  Not to mention, the number of layers of glass in a sash.  Only a few decades ago, single pane glass was the norm.  Not today.  Anything less that double pane insulated glass will have a hard time meeting the energy codes that reduce the amount of electricity your house will consume as a direct result of the type and arrangement of glass in your residence.

And we haven’t even touched the other types of glass required in your house in other locations, like special safety glass near bathtubs and showers and stairways.  There is so much to know!  And the material of the window frames. That one decisions can impact the cost of your door and window package by tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention how much or how little maintenance you will have in the future.

We hope that just this one, very small example will begin to display how complex designing a house really is, and why licensed architects are the ones trained to do this.  Health, Safety, Welfare are the main requirements of an architect’s design.  He or she takes a sacred vow to uphold these concerns in everything they design for you.  Most architects also make sure that their creations are beautiful, but don’t talk too much about that; they understand that most people take that as a given when they engage an architect.

Rand Soellner Architect  www.HomeArchitects.com  1-828-269-9046

We have not even mentioned all the other vast array of items involved in your house that need to be designed, specified and arranged: roofing, siding, structural systems, plumbing, heating ventilating and air-conditioning, wall materials and finishes inside and outside, fireplaces, colors, textures, stairs, outside living spaces, furniture, appliances, garage, social gatherings and how they will function in the spaces provided, lighting and control switching, computer wiring, cabinetry and other built-ins, closet shelving, pantries, flooring (structural and finish), site slopes, access to the street, vehicular maneuvering on your site, guest parking, sewage system and location, potable water locations and access to your house, electrical and equipment rooms and the gear inside them, storage requirements, the views!, doors, handrails, insulation (thickness, R-value, location, ventilation), hobby rooms, spaces that you can use most of the time then allow guest to occupy occasionally, landscaping, exterior paved areas, views from and to your house, waterproofing your house above and below ground, flashing, sealants and much much more!  And there are code regulations associated with all of them, above and beyond your functional and aesthetic desires.  Your architect keeps it all working together harmoniously.

So, the next time you think that designing your house might be a simple matter, consider just the windows in one bedroom of your house and all the legal, energy, and aesthetic decisions and requirements that went into the decisions affecting their specification, size and arrangement.  Now multiply that by about 10,000 and you might have something near the magnitude of the scope of decisions your residential architect makes on your behalf while designing your new house.

Do what you do best and earn a good living at it.  And consider understanding that what an architect does required decades of training and experience to help you have a wonderful place in which to live.  Enjoy!

tags: custom house design, atlanta, dallas, tacoma, chicago, wisconsin, burbank, orlando, des moines

It is almost Christmas and one of the nicest things you could do for your family is to to give them a card that says: “You’re getting a new house!  I hired the architect!”  We can help you make this dream a reality.

One of Rand Soellner Architects most beloved designs is a concept fairy tale cottage he created and with which he won a design competition.  There is something about it that brings out good cheer, happiness and a warm feeling of being home.  This is just one of dozens of creations conceived by Soellner, who is one of the leading residential architects in the United States.  He also has projects overseas.

Rand Soellner Architects Stone Cottage, one of dozens of his projects infused with warmth and charm, for client project sites worldwide.

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If you’d like to share this post with others on Facebook, Twitter and others, please click on SEARCH/CHAT menu to the right, then click on Share This Page.  There you will see scores of social media websites on which you can share this webpage, if you wish.

“Dude, you’re getting a house!”  What a great holiday sentiment!  Not many other things in your lifetime can be shared and conjure such a profound change for the better in a family.

Give your family the gift that keeps on giving: a new house for the holidays!

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If you have questions about how to get started with your new house design, by all means, give Rand Soellner, AIA a call at: 1-828-269-9046, or e-mail at:
Rand@HomeArchitects.com

Think about that Gourmet Kitchen you’ve been wanting, that special Hobby Den in which to tie your fly fishing lures, or edit your computer videos, or sew your custom made creations.  Imagine the big glass areas framing your spectacular views.

(C)Copyright 2005-2011 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. One of Soellner's holiday houses, with tall glass framing great views of nature.

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Do you own property that has been just sitting there?  You’ve been paying taxes on it and perhaps Home Owners Association dues.  Isn’t it about time you had your dream house designed and built on it?  How much time is there left until your children are grown and starting out their own lives?  Enjoy a great place on your special land while you can.  Get started now; there’s no time left to waste.

tags: custom house design, america, canada, blue ridge, orlando, boulder, aspen, tacoma, chicago, wisconsin, illinois, new york, fairy tale cottage architect