Home 2.0 Blog Archive

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

STARTER HOME 1.0?

Project Clarification

In presenting and posting about the Starter Home 2.0 Project, I have been asked on several occasions if there is a Starter Home 1.0 Project that I have built previously? The answer to that question is No. My view is that Starter Home 1.0 Projects represent all the other starter homes currently on the market, whether older houses in walkable neighborhoods that lack the amenities, energy efficiency, and durability of a newly constructed home, or newer houses in isolated outer suburbs that are highly car-dependent and lack convenient access to jobs and entertainment. The Starter Home 2.0 tag is analogous to Web 2.0, which was the term given to describe the second generation of the World Wide Web, characterized by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social media. Much like Web 2.0 made us rethink of the way we view the internet, the aim with the Starter Home 2.0 is to rethink the way we view Starter Homes, especially with regards to long-term viability as a home growing families.

Monday, June 29, 2015

TILE PATTERNS

Bathroom Floor & Wall Tile Arrangement

Last week I had the chance to meet with the tile contractor and builder on site to discuss bathroom floor and wall tile materials and patterns, deciding to go with a 12" x 24" grey floor tile and 13" x 13" white wall tile (floor to ceiling) in a running bond arrangement. Before finalizing that decision, I wanted to see what that arrangement would look like in Revit, so I produced the images below.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

Secondary Basement Window Installed

With the Starter Home 2.0 site sloping nearly 3 feet from the back of the house to the front, there ended up being enough exposed foundation wall above ground at the front of the house to add in a small basement window without the hassle and cost of excavating a new window well. This allowed me to get some nice daylight into an otherwise dark portion of the basement at a total installed cost of just $150. The 32"x19" sliding window was put into place on Friday and below are some pictures of the slider installed.


Saturday, June 27, 2015

DRYWALL PROGRESS

Drywall Hung, Taped, Mudded & Sanded

With the majority of the drywall work in the Starter Home 2.0 now complete, the project is really starting to take on the feel of a finished product. Below are images of various spaces throughout the house in their most current state and additional construction photos can be accessed on the project's Picasa web album, which is now over 1,000 images, by clicking on the following link.






 

Friday, June 26, 2015

BEYOND SUSTAINABILITY

It's All about the Kids

Later today I'm going to be giving a presentation for the AIA VISION leadership program I am involved with on the following topic as it relates to the theme 'Beyond Sustainability': “Take one of your current projects . . . Imagine all the ways that developing this project could continually add value to the world, instead of doing less damage.”
The project I am choosing to discuss is the Starter Home 2.0 project, and the topic reminded me of something my old co-op employer, William McDonough used to say that is quoted in this article.

The typical approach to eco-innovation is to start with metrics—then tactics, strategies and then goals. The problem with that is, if you start with measurement you try to be less bad. People think being less bad is good. This isn’t math, with two negative numbers becoming positive; you are still bad, just less so. Is that as good as we’re going to get?
What we start with instead is value. How do we love all of the children of all species for all time? That’s our value set. We can take it with us wherever we go and it stimulates dynamic creativity and prosperity.
This attitude of creating value by designing with children in mind is something that is of critical importance to the Starter Home 2.0 project. Children growing up in the Starter Home 2.0 will have the freedom and ability to walk safely to school, church, the park, the pool, the library, stores, restaurants, bus stops, etc., whereas children growing up in most suburban areas are 100% dependent on adults to drive them to and from these locations, with the common alternative being to stay at home and play video games all day. Children growing up in the Starter Home 2.0 will also be part of one of Cincinnati's most ethnic and racially diverse neighborhoods in Pleasant Ridge, providing them the opportunities to interact, learn, and play with kids of different cultures and backgrounds on a daily basis, which is something many suburban raised children miss out on growing up. The house itself has an abundance of natural light, ventilation and social spaces, which are conducive to the development of happy and healthy children as well, so in the end, it really is all about the kids.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

DRYWALL INSTALL

Inspections Passed & Drywall Started

With the Starter Home 2.0 having passed the HVAC ductwork, above ground plumbing rough-in, and insulation inspections, recorded on the ezTrak website (here), the drywall crew was given the go ahead to start hanging the gypsum wall board on Wednesday. The crew, which is only two guys, was close to having the interior of the house completely sheathed when I was on site around 5pm and still working, so I'm anxious to see where everything is at later today.
 

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

SUMP PUMPING

Sump Pump In Action

This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Cincinnati was pounded with rain from the remnants of tropical storm Bill, causing water to back up in basements throughout the region, including the Starter Home 2.0 project. With the sump pump not being plugged in at the time of the downpours, some of the water that collected around the foundation made its way into the house without anywhere else to go. Fortunately, by simply connecting the sump pump to the temporary power supply on site Monday, all the water was gone within minutes. With the sump pump now hooked up, any water around the foundation will be pumped out away from the foundation before it ever has the chance to enter the house. As for the water that entered the house, the furnace is raised off the ground on blocks and all framing touching the ground is pressure treated, so there are no real concerns of moisture damage, but that said, I'm definitely looking forward to a dry basement moving forward.




Monday, June 22, 2015

INSULATION INSTALLATION

Walls Insulated, Stopped & Sealed 

With plumbing, HVAC, and electrical rough-ins significantly complete on the Starter Home 2.0 project. The insulation crew was able to go around the perimeter of the house and seal all joints and gaps in the exterior framing, install R-19 insulation batts in between all the 2x6 studs, and firestop all pipe, duct, and wire penetrations. This work was completed throughout the first floor and the majority of the second floor, and should be wrapping up in the next few days.





Friday, June 19, 2015

GROWN UP & NOWHERE TO GO

Architect Magazine Housing Editorial

Last month, I came across an editorial in Architect Magazine, titled 'All Grown Up and Nowhere to Go: Millennials are finally entering the housing market. Unfortunately, inventory is limited,' and wanted to share some of my thoughts about the piece as it relates to the Starter Home 2.0 project. Below is a transcript of the article, with my comments in red below.


'All Grown up and Nowhere to Go'
By Ned Cramer

Millennials can’t catch a break, or so the story goes: Graduated into the worst job market in living memory and saddled with unprecedented school debt, they are stuck in mom and dad’s basement without the wherewithal to buy a house of their own. According to John Burns Consulting, those student loan payments cost the housing industry $83 billion in sales in 2014.

Fortunately, the storyline may be changing. Bloomberg Business Week, The New York Times, and Money all report that as the economy improves Millennials will finally begin to pursue homeownership en masse. The catch, as young house hunters may discover, is that entry-level options, in the $200,000 range, are limited.
The common finding in all of the articles cited is that Millennials are equally, if not more interested, in owning a home than previous generations, it is just happening at a later age for them, which is the same case for marriage and parenthood. This compresses the timetable in which families will potentially outgrow a first home if it is not right-sized for a growing family like the Starter Home 2.0 project with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.
Destination cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., are simply priced out of reach. Concurrently, we’re witnessing the rise of the NORC, or naturally occurring retirement community. Boomers around the country are embracing the idea of aging in place and opting to remain in their homes, which reduces both resale inventory and the likelihood of remodeling jobs from recent purchasers.

The new construction landscape is just as grim. “More and more builders have been chasing that luxury and 55-plus buyer, and all of that stuff is at higher price points,” John Burns Consulting’s Rick Palacios Jr. tells Builder, ARCHITECT’s sister magazine, in an eye-popping feature titled “Are New Starter Homes History?” Furthermore, Palacios says, “It’s really difficult, given what land prices moved up to, for a builder to make that entry-level product pencil out.”

It’s not that home builders are avaricious. In his story, Builder deputy editor Les Shaver enumerates a host of factors that make the starter home a financial nonstarter, including zoning that prohibits density and the rising cost of materials, land, and labor.
I see this as more of a problem for large scale production home builders that have high overhead costs and rely on multi-lot greenfield developments and economies of scale to make their profits, rather than the small scale builders that are more equipped to take on scattered site infill developments.
So if the free market can’t meet the pent-up demand for starter homes, whether old or new, where are Millennials to turn? It’s tempting to imagine Good Design swooping down and saving the day singlehandedly, like Superman or Wonder Woman (but in an all-black unitard, of course).

There is precedent. As in 1927, when a league of 17 early modernists—among them Corb, Gropius, and Mies—industrialized the building type with the Weißenhof model housing estate in Stuttgart. Or in 1967, when AIA Gold Medalist Moshe Safdie wedded prefabrication and prehistoric settlement patterns at Habitat in Montreal. But neither would’ve been built had the architects’ radical ideas not aligned with the policies of the governments footing the bills.

Nowadays, architects must reconcile a myriad of powerful interests—not just those of the client, but of bankers, planners, community groups, the trades, and on and on. It’s a tall order, but it’s also an opportunity for the profession to take a leading role. Already, architects are poised to make major contributions, in areas such as prefabrication and energy harvesting.
This is why I am such an advocate for more architects to embrace the architect as developer role like I am doing on the Starter Home 2.0 project. My hope is to serve as the general contractor on future projects as well to continue to streamline the development, design and building process.
Demand for low-cost housing is only going to increase with time. According to a recent Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate survey of Post-Millennials aged 13 to 17, a full 97 percent of respondents believe they will one day own a home, and 82 percent say it is the most important part of the American dream. Architects can help make that dream a reality.



BATH TIME

Bath Tub Installed as Plumbing Work Progresses

As plumbing rough-ins have continued to move forward, one of the recently completed items was the installation of the hallway bathtub on the second floor. Sequentially, tubs need to be installed before sheathing is hung, so they are set long before sinks, toilets, and other plumbing fixtures. Other plumbing tasks completed, were the stubbing in of the hot and cold supply lines for each fixture, and installing the hose bib at the rear of the house.



Thursday, June 18, 2015

SIDING CONTINUED

Hardie Plank and Trim Progress

The siding crew has continued to work on the installation of the James Hardie Siding and Trim around the perimeter of the house and now has rows of siding installed on all elevations except for the front. With each plank being installed individually, the labor time is much longer than what it takes to hang vinyl siding, but the timeless aesthetics and long term durability of the fiber cement siding is well worth the effort, in my opinion.




Wednesday, June 17, 2015

PRDC MEETING

Pleasant Ridge Development Corporation (PRDC)

One of the takeaways I've noticed developing the Starter Home 2.0 project, is the way my perceived level of connection to the surrounding neighborhood and neighbors has increased as a homeowner compared to a renter. Personally, I've been a renter in Oakley (a neighborhood bordering Pleasant Ridge) since 2012, and while I've really enjoyed my time living in the area, there is something about having that personal investment rooted in the Pleasant Ridge area that has driven me to go out and get involved with the schools, community council and development corporation in whatever way I can to make the Ridge a more desirable place for all Greater Cincinnatians to live, work and visit. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend my first Pleasant Ridge Development Corporation (PRDC) meeting and was able to get the latest updates on many of the exciting happenings in the Neighborhood Business District, so stay tuned to my blog for posts on some of those developments as they come online in the upcoming weeks and months.

Monday, June 15, 2015

FRONT DOOR

Front Entry Door Installed

The front door was installed at the Starter Home 2.0 last week, completing the prep work required for the Hardie Plank siding to be installed on the front of the house. The intent with the entry door's 'full glass' design is to allow in the maximum amount of daylight possible, effectively adding another window to the front elevation. That said, blinds installed between the glass give residents options for different levels of privacy as desired.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

PAINT & TILE

Interior Paint & Bathroom Tile Selections

Yesterday, was a day spent finalizing selections for numerous Interior finish items ranging from door styles, to door and window casings, to baseboard trim, to stair railings and balusters. I also picked out interior paint colors from the Sherwin-Williams paint store and bathroom floor and wall tile from Floor & Decor and Home Depot. The color palette I selected for the Starter Home 2.0 is a classic yet contemporary mix of earthy tones that complement one another well under both natural and artificial light. Below are some images of the porcelain floor tile, shower wall tile, and paint colors that will make their way into the house in upcoming weeks.

Saturday, June 13, 2015

PEX PIPING

Water Supply Lines Installed

This past week, cross-linked polyethylene (or PEX) tubing was run throughout the house to all the plumbing fixtures requiring hot and cold water supply lines. PEX tubing has become the material of choice for many builders and architects in recent years for residential construction, replacing white PVC and Copper as the preferred selection due to it's relatively low up front cost and ease of installation. Clearly identifiable with the read and blue lines representing hot and cold, the PEX tubing can bend in flex without all of the fittings required for rigid PVC or Copper pipes. Below are some images of the PEX installation to date.


Thursday, June 11, 2015

SIDING STARTED

Hardie Plank & Trim Installation

Earlier this week, scaffolding was assembled and the installation of the fiber cement board siding was started. The Hardie Plank product shown in the images below is prefinished in Monterey Taupe ColorPlus technology and the Hardie Trim is prefinished in Arctic White ColorPlus technology, which means that (other than some minor touch-up work during installation), no exterior painting will be required during the construction or occupancy of the home. Below are some photos of the first day's worth of work.


Tuesday, June 9, 2015

BACK OF HOUSE

Rear Elevation, Garage and Patio Area

Yesterday the rear entry doors for the house and garage were installed, further developing the back of house patio area. Enclosed by the garage to the east, future privacy fence to the north, neighboring driveway to the west, and house to the south, the backyard is designed to provide a private outdoor setting for dining, socializing, and miscellaneous activities. All of which provide additional flexible living space to the Starter Home 2.0 project at minimal cost. 


Saturday, June 6, 2015

DOOR DROP-OFF

Exterior Doors Arrive

The exterior doors were dropped off on site recently and will be hung within the next few days to allow for the installation of the fiber cement siding and trim to begin to take place. The doors are full glass to maximize the amount of natural light allowed to enter the house, but are also equipped with blinds between the panes of glass to provide higher levels of privacy when desired.

Friday, June 5, 2015

FIRST FLOOR LIGHTING

Living, Dining & Kitchen Cans Installed

The last of the can light fixtures were mounted in the open living, dining and kitchen area of the Starter Home 2.0 project on Wednesday with wire runs to all of the lights, switches and outlets completed on Thursday. Walking around the house, the can spacing feels like it should provide comfortable, consistent light levels throughout the project, but it will be interesting to see if that holds true when the project is complete.



Thursday, June 4, 2015

WITH THE END IN MIND

Final Renderings & Progress Pics

When I was in college, I had the chance to attend a lecture by the late Steven Covey, a world renown speaker and best-selling author of the book '7 Habits of Highly Effective People'. One of the habits Covey discussed in his lecture that stood out to me as being especially important to architects, developers and builders was to 'Begin with the End in Mind', meaning to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen. That said, I thought it would be appropriate to post some side-by-side images of the final renderings and progress pics for the Starter Home 2.0 Project.