by Lora Corder | Dec 3, 2014 | Water Conservation
In many areas of the country this question wouldn’t even be asked because there is a shortage of water and strict controls in place for water usage.
Some cities even have water police that will ticket people for washing their cars or watering their lawns because the problem is that serious. In the East Tennessee area, we are fortunate that water is abundant—most of the time. But our area has suffered severe droughts within recent years, causing a significant loss of trees. Also, not far from us in the Atlanta area, the drinking water supply became critically low during these droughts. Therefore we should not take a plentiful water supply for granted.
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by Lora Corder | Dec 3, 2014 | Green Building
Advanced Framing
Advanced framing is a key component of green building and value engineering.
There are a variety of advanced framing techniques designed to reduce the amount of lumber used and waste generated throughout the construction of a wood-framed house.
These techniques include:
- Designing homes on 2-foot modules to make the best use of common sheet good sizes and reduce waste and labor.
- Spacing wall studs up to 24 inches on-center.
- Spacing floor joists and roof rafters up to 24 inches on-center.
- Using two-stud corner framing and inexpensive drywall clips or scrap lumber for drywall backing instead of studs.
- Eliminating headers in non-load-bearing walls.
- Using in-line framing in which floor, wall, and roof framing members are vertically in line with one another and loads are transferred directly downward.
- Using single lumber headers and top plates when appropriate. (more…)
by Lora Corder | Sep 16, 2014 | Green Building
Green building is the process of being environmentally-responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s life-cycle
from siting to design: construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.
This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort by:
- Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
- Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity
- Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation (more…)
