Maine Modular & Custom Home News

HGTV – which builds dream homes for give away has built its first green home. At the HGTV website you can watch a series of videos that explain their choices from start to finish, and how they built a LEEDS certified home this year. There are a lot of practical ideas in these videos, and HGTV claims you can build a green home at an additional cost of only 1%-2% over the cost of a conventional home. One thing I learned while watching these videos is the need to coordinate your site planners, your landscapers and your architect right from the beginning planning stages. What each is doing will affect the other, so communication is vital. Good communication throughout the process will be cost effective, also.

Planning, planning and more planning is the guide to being satisfied with your new custom built home. I found a great website for helping you research and do your homework on every room in your new home. It includes ideas for anything from a home library to a private sports complex. Lighting, furniture, design and many other areas are touched upon. Some of the ideas need to be incorporated into your initial building plan to be viable. Others ideas help you make your new home reflect your own special personal touches. Visit the Home Building Center and find links to take your creativity into a whole new realm.

There are times when we are thinking of convenience or saving room that we don’t always think through consequences. For instance; when you open your pantry door and your refrigerator door at the same time do they hit each other? Or, does your washing machine door open to the right or to the left, and is your plumbing set up correctly? These are small things that sometimes we forget to think about in the overall building process. Then we move into our beautiful new home and we’re annoyed when we can’t fit our barstools under the kitchen counter bar. For more “Ooops” that others have run into, visit buildingtips.net. Better to learn from others, than to be caught with our own delimma.

Capturing the wind for power seems so alluring. Windmills have been around for centuries and I always wondered why we don’t all have one in our backyard. It has the illusion of being a “free” power source. In fact wind turbines are getting a renewed interest from those looking to get off the power grid. Unfortunately, they are anything but free. Estimates for setting up your own wind generating operation range from $15,000 to $50,000….OUCH! Yet – if you never have to pay a power bill again…..it makes one think. The U.S. Department of Energy has a great FAQ page to get you thinking if wind power might be for you. The answer my friend, might be blowing in the wind!

Local Building Codes, Boca Building Codes, HUD Building Codes….now soon to be Green Building Codes. Codes are meant to standardize the building industry so that the consumer knows what they are paying for and if what they get meets that expectation. Sometimes they can be confusing. It might even take an engineer to figure out if a building code has been met. With all of the Green Building claims in the construction industry it is no surprise that a Green Building Code is in the works. I found it interesting that part of the code will be a consumer education piece. This only makes sense as there is so much green information and green technology it becomes overwhelming. Teaching the home owner the operation and maintainence of their new green building is a novel concept. Hopefully the builder won’t be held responsible for the homeowner following the guidelines they are taught. To learn more about the new National Green Building Standard (NGBS) that will be finalized in spring 2009, visit the Modular Housing News.

I know…it’s only the beginning of the fall season, but this is the best time to prepare for the upcoming winter. Use what we have left of the warm weather to do the work you need to face the cold weather to come. Bob Vila has a pretty good checklist to follow for all homeowners. This is a suggested bi-annual list to prepare for the seasons. Modular home owners will keep their homes in tip top shape following these maintainence tips. Manufactured home owners have a few specific items that they need to maintain to face up to the winter ahead. You will need to check your heat tape and get it plugged in, among other things. Read How To Winterize You Manufactured Home to make sure your home is ready for the snow.

I thought I was running across something new when I read about Xeriscaping – or landscaping that is concientiously water saving. Then I realized it’s been around since 1980 and is a registered trademark of Denver Water. I’ve just had my head in the sand because I live in the Northeast and we have comparatively few issues with water supply. As people all over the nation are becoming more green savvy, xeriscaping is also becoming more widespread. I only see benefits using the xeriscaping techiniques when planning out your building lot. The water supply needed to tend your land is minimalized, the beauty is intact, and the amount of general upkeep is decreased. That is a win-win all the way around. The Lowe’s website has all the steps for using the Xeriscape method to plan your perfectly landscaped home. Living in the Northeast is no excuse for wasting our precious water supply – so get the information you need to do your part.

You don’t have to go broke making your new home look classy. Small changes and little details can change the appearance of the ordinary and turn it into the extraordinary. I especially like the high end accents found in This Old House Magazine. Cambria makes quartz switch plates and and knobs that will match your countertops, giving your room a pulled together, high end home design feeling. The great news is that it won’t empty your wallet. These pretty little additions start at about $15 each. Browse through all of the “Bang-for-Your-Buck” ideas and see if there is one that catches your fancy.

The future for building new homes in general is changing rapidly. New green building techniques are appearing all the time. Creative architecture is becoming more popular in all types of building; commercial as well as residential. However, if you had asked me the future of modular building technology, I wouldn’t have come up with some of the ideas found at the MoMA’s exhibit in Philadelphia. The exhibit includes the “Cellophane House” which is a glass house with solar and photovoltaic panels, the “System 3″ which features a wall less bathroom and the “Micro Compact Home” which is described as an Airstream trailer on stilts. I’m pretty sure I’m ready for new energy ideas, but the wall less bathroom hopefully won’t come into vogue until I’ve departed this earth! To read more about these exciting new ideas for modular building technology read this article in the Philadelphia Weekly or go to the MoMA blog.