When planning a home, most people usually feel like they have a good idea of what they want in their home design; however, they may be leaving out one important set of criteria.

Your building site has much to say about your home and how it should be designed, but it is most often ignored in the design process. The topography, orientation to the sun, drainage, focal views, existing trees and the type of soil are only part of the conditions that exist at each site and can severely impact your home design. Example — the soil type lurking beneath the home can be expansive clays that may have the ability to crush your foundation. Another example — placing most of the glass area of your home toward the south allows you to capture the solar gain in the winter and avoid direct solar rays in the summer.

Regardless of whether you are looking for a pre-drawn plan or you are having your home custom designed, you should have two documents in your design arsenal:

1. A soil test which can be obtained from a soil testing laboratory. They will take sub-surface soil samples from your site, analyze them and provide you with a soil report and foundation design recommendations.

2. A site analysis plan is usually prepared by a landscape architect. The landscape architect will usually survey the lot to gather tree location and topography data. This information will be used, in conjunction with site observation data, to compile a complete drawing of the site. The drawing will usually include a recommended footprint of the home in order to best fit to the site.

Armed with these two pieces of valuable information, you will be much better equipped when searching for the perfect home design.

See Edsel’s home plans by clicking here!

Energy-saving home designs are sure to become a topic of interest for future plan buyers.

(Note to readers: This is an expansion of an earlier article written by designer, Edsel B. Customers asked for more details about energy-saving features of homes and Edsel provides those details here!)

The involvement of Edsel’s design firm in the development of energy efficient design dates back decades. In the mid 1970’s at the height of the oil embargo, industry and government came together to develop the prototype of the energy efficient home. Owens Corning and Middle South Utilities teamed with housing agencies of the Federal government to test and develop various models. After developing a superior prototype, Edsel’s firm was selected as the home design company to package the technology into appealing and marketable home designs.

Each design is based upon a criteria of two key goals:

1. The home must have a maximum heat loss/gain of no more than 16btuh per sq. ft. per hour of the thermal envelope. In plain terms that means – it must be about twice as efficient as the standard home.
2. It must have optimum value – in other words, it must cost the least to save the most.

Although there are more than 50 key elements that go into the homes design to make it a super energy saver, the following are the most important:

1. 2×6 exterior walls (a) Provides 33% more wall cavity and 33% more insulation (b) Studs at 24” o.c. vs. 16” o.c. means 33% less interruption of the insulation but the home is supported by the same amount of wood. (c ) The wider stud allows for a wiring channel at the bottom so that wiring no longer is in the mid wall and interrupting the insulation.
2. The roof is raised 1’ (modified raised plate) to allow for a full 12” thick layer of attic insulation to extend to the outer perimeter.
3. Insulated exterior doors doors.
4. Insulated windows. Windows are the weakest link in the thermal barrier. Even the most efficient windows loose or gain 10 to 20 times the amount of heat as the stud wall areas. To offset this loss and to add efficiency, glass area is carefully sized to 8% glass to floor ratio. Whenever possible, windows are placed under covered areas so that they are protected from solar gain.
5. All exterior penetrations of the wall are sealed with expandable urethane to close up all weak areas.
6. Positive vapor barriers on the conditioned side of the exterior wall stops the flow of moisture which allows greater control of the interior moisture and greater room comfort.
7. Heat & a/c ducts are located in the interior of the home rather than the attic or beneath the floor. Ducting accounts for approximately 15% of heat loss or gain. This loss is generally incurred through faulty joints or the flow of heat through the duct walls. When this loss occurs, if the ducting is located in the attic or beneath the floor, it is permanently lost and cannot be recovered. If the ducts are located inside the conditioned area, there is no loss. Although the ducts are located in the interior of the home, they are hidden from view by using furr downs over cabinets are in closets and other less visible areas.

Plan E-1835 (above) – one of Edsel’s super-energy-saving home plans. Click on the image to see details and specifications.

See more of Edsel’s super-energy-saving home designs by clicking here. 

Or, link to all of Edsel’s plans here.

With energy prices hitting all-time highs, energy-saving home designs are a hot topic for today’s home plan buyers.

Plan E-2107 is an example of an energy-efficient home that packages energy efficient technology with an appealing design. The designer of this home bases his energy-efficient designs on two criteria:

1. The home must have a maximum heat loss/gain of no more than 16 btuh per sq. ft. per hour of the thermal envelope. In plain terms, this means that it must be about twice as efficient as a standard home.

2. The home must have optimum value, which means it must cost the least to save the most.

Although there are many key elements that go into making a home a super energy saver, some of the most important elements are 2×6 exterior walls and insulated exterior doors and windows.

Plan E-2107 is designed with 2×6 exterior wall framing.

Click here to see more of Plan E-2107.

This same design is also offered in an alternate version that uses Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF) for the wall framing—see Plan E-2113 for the ICF variation.

To see more plans by this designer, click here.