Thoughts on Building a New House, Part Five: SIP's

As mentioned, we went with SIP panels for different reasons.  As advertised, the factory built panels (from approved shop drawings) would, in a sense, “snap” into place therefore greatly reducing labor costs.  Not so.  There was far less snap than anticipated.  Mostly it was a struggle to teach our local crew how to put them together and it became a painful and slow process of watching the shell take form.  Our guys knew stick-style framing but the panels were a different animal.  If the foundation is off by a quarter inch, the panels must be shaved just so in order to fit.  Running electrical thru the “pre-formed” conduit is not as easy as advertised, especially if there is anything unusual.  I suppose that, for a simpler tract house, the panels would make a lot of sense.  For us, I’m not sure we saved any money on the labor.

How have the panels performed? I was hoping they would end the hit that we take every month on energy bills.  They lessened the pain but they certainly didn’t end it.  Yet, I can’t say I’m disappointed because I don’t know what the bills might have been using other framing scenarios.  We have large expanses of glass opening to the view which can’t help the situation.  The bills are not nearly as high as our previous house (about $220 for electrical in August) but we don’t have the same square footage (now we have 2,400 sf vs. 3,200 sf previously).  Maybe my expectations were unrealistic. Maybe, if we hook up the solar panels we wired for, it will assuage my pain—the solar panels we couldn’t afford to begin with.

Since the panels were made in the factory and hauled here on a truck, there was very little waste—a good thing.

I will say that it is very nice to be comfortable in 15 degree weather outside.  The house is virtually airtight, it’s like living inside a Styrofoam beer cooler.  There are no radiant qualities here…but it only takes a second to condition the house and it stays that way for awhile unless you open a window or door.

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Thoughts on Building a New House, Part Six: Things I Wish I Had Done Differently

1. I would have spent more time researching “green” building systems.  I don’t dislike the SIP panels we used but they didn’t save labor as advertised.  They perform well now that we are in the house.  But they certainly didn’t snap together—maybe they do snap for spec houses, where the systems are more standardized.  Getting the electrical thru the “existing chases” was a challenge.

2. I would have spent more time trying to simplify the work process.  Most everything that we built had to be skimcoated, painted, re-worked, finished, modified, coddled, or cut-to-fit.  I’d like to do a house where, once an element is installed, that’s it, there’s nothing more to do: what you see is what you get and things actually do snap together.  This would take more up-front time with the design and with shop drawings.  It may be that I’m asking for too much, that the construction tolerances inherent in building will not accommodate such a vision…but if we’re not there yet, we’re getting close.  Machining and manufacturing, aided by new technology such as BIM should be close to achieving this end.  In a small town in West Texas, our local manufacturers are not yet there.  Modern architects in the twenties dreamed of such an architecture (eg: “a machine for living”) but the dream turned out to be difficult to realize on a budget…are finally getting there?

3. I would simplify the electrical switching.  We couldn’t afford to buy higher end automated lighting systems so we ended up with too many switches trying to do too many things.  There are too many circuits and dimmers and knobs and plates and you have to remember what is what or you’re likely to hit four switches before you get what you want.

 -Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 3:06PM

 

Continuing The Bird Houses

The Bird house project continues. Here are all seven of our bird houses on display primed and ready to be painted. The bird houses are going to be set up at the back of our new offices, which is the old San Angelo bus station. We are going to paint the bird house in a monchromatic style with bright colors. We will have pictures up shorlty of the finished product

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 1:45PM

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From Greyhound Buses to Architect's Trusses

The old Greyhound bus station in downtown San Angelo is officially on its way to becoming Kinney Franke Architects' new home. It is exciting for us to be able to work in a space that was once a starting point--and ending point--for journeys. We'd like to think of the process of architecture as a sort of journey as well. In the photo below, you can see where travelers have left proof of their travels on a limestone window ledge.

 

 

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Construction has begun and the building has now been framed.

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 Working out the design has been great fun for our office. Some of our "Fun Fridays" have been spent drinking beer and trying to sketch how the space should work. Here are some of our goals:

  • Create an efficient and open layout, exposing the "bones" of the old space (specifically, the open web metal trusses). 
  • Cost effectiveness (of course!)
  • To create a dynamic anchor for the office (Conference Room) that is energizing, unique, and that encourages dialogue. 
  • Allow room for growth.
  • A sensible divide between our office and the retail space we have created at the front of the building. This retail space will hopefully be rented out by a chef with a vision in the near future.
  • Signage and parking that is easy for the public to locate and access.
  • And... a functioning kitchenette of course. 
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Another benefit of moving our office to this location is that we will be across the street from the lovely and historic Wendland building which has been transformed into an artist's studio. We caught a few of San Angelo's trademark sheep, waiting to be painted and peeping at us on our way out. 

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We'll keep posting updates on the progress of our new office. It's a great opportunity for us to create something good for our office and, hopefully, for downtown San Angelo.

 

 -Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 1:25PM

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Fun Friday

 Last Fun Friday, Kye showed us all how to build a bird house like the boy scouts do! It was the first thing I have ever built and it turned out really well, with the help of Kye! I can't wait until next Friday when we paint them!

-Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 4:51PM

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'The Used Car Lot' to Transition Once Again

What once hosted many retail car operations such as 'The Used Car Lot', then 'Tito Kustoms', and then possibly 'Fat Pop's Shop' is now the future site for the San Angelo Area Foundation's new office building. There is something unique and almost humorous about the tiny, asymmetrical 50's shack plopped on the spacious corner lot of Concho and Irving St. downtown. It seldom gets noticed. Now it is about to be demolished to make room for the San Angelo Area Foundation. We wanted, however, to document what we believe is a vintage piece of architecture. 

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'The Used Car Lot' in all its vacant, rundown glory. The flat, straight lines in the building recall a bygone era...and echo the West Texas landscape. 

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There are still spare parts laying around. Anyone need a windshield replacement?

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The great, bold shapes give the building forward momentum. We are hoping to translate this momentum and sense of place into the new foundation offices. We intend to reuse the red roman brick in the new facade for the foundation.

The graffiti and paint jobs remaining gave us a taste of what the building's past lives may have been like. 

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We feel that it was important to document these buildings and the site so that they can help to inform what happens in the future. 

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From one life and generation to the next - such is the nature of buildings... and people! Much excitement comes from being able to be a part of these transitions as architects.  

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 12:24PM

This Is New.

This is new.  I have never “blogged” before

My architecture career was born when the computer was programmed using punched cards inserted into a large mainframe.  Computer Assisted Drafting was considered a novelty relegated to the Future.  REAL architecture was done by hand, laboriously and painfully, with mechanical lead pencils needing constant attention—you sharpened them by whirling them in a whirlygig device.  Neck muscles were sacrificed bending over drafting tables to reach details at the top of white vellum sheets.  It was considered ART.     

Now, our firm uses BIM software to produce Construction Documents.  There are two interns in our office that are wizards on Revit or most any other program that architects might use: Maxwell, Rhino, SketchUp, Photoshop, FormZ, InDesign, Illustrator, etc. etc. Pencils sit on our desks in cups.  Roll sketch paper is hidden in drawers, ready for the rainy day. 

This is not a nostalgic rant.  I don’t miss the pain in my neck or the graphite on my hands

The computer has eased the pain of so many tasks that seem oxen-like nowadays. So, here I sit typing into the Cloud or wherever it is that blogs like this live (where is that?).  This is a B-L-O-G.  Welcome to the world, as it is, say “yes.”

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 3:29PM

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