I’m not talking about stripper shoes! I’m talking about truss construction. This is something we’re seeing and recommending more in new construction. Installing a truss with a raised heel detail allows for more insulation at the perimeter where often the insulation is compressed or absent due to the proximity of the interior ceiling to the roof deck. The detail to the right shows how a standard truss is built. As discussed here before, venting and insulation is important to shingle life and to prevent ice damming.
A high heeled or raised heel truss (see left) is created with the equivalent of an additional wall section separating the bottom chord and top chord of the truss at the exterior wall. This allows full thickness insulation to extend out to the wall and complete the protection of the building envelope. If care is used in selecting your roof slope and eave extensions, this is never noticed as your soffit can be installed to return at the same height as the interior ceiling making the construction look like a standard cantilever truss.
When you’re planning your new home or addition to your existing home, make sure and ask us about this and other “Green That Save Green” solutions.
Brent Martin and I have had several discussions about using shipping containers as living space. Apparently someone beat us on the implementation. London-based developers Urban Space Management used shipping containers to create Container City, a 22-unit modular building. I read about it in the April issue of Multi-Family Executive. You can read the entire article by Linsey Isaacs on their site here. I also read an article recently where Ball State University was experimenting with the idea as housing in third world countries. Another million dollar idea lost to quicker minds…
On Saturday, I sat in on another focus group meeting on the Culver Comprehensive Plan. This one was specific to the Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Council and Fund. It was a fairly good discussion and several achievable goals were added to the consultant’s list for the plan. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more discussion about why goals from the previous plan weren’t met and how to achieve that, but overall I thought it was positive.
As with every single Culver meeting on the Comprehensive Plan that I’ve attended, the subject of affordable housing came up. This is such a nebulous term that is thrown around with people at the table talking about houses currently available in town for $70,000, others talking about the $125,000 to $250,000 range and also the eco-friendly housing project that has been floated around which is looking at the $250,000 range. To help me get a handle on it, I asked a banker friend to break it down. (This is all in big fat round numbers, so don’t get too picky on my math, please!)
I think this elevator has a lot of potential due to its small footprint, but I’m a little disconcerted by the similarity to the drive-up window tubes at a bank. Ha! It appears to only go up and down and not travel horizontally across the ceiling, but then you never know!
This is a vacuum lift from Pneumatic Vacuum Elevators, LLC. It is a self-supporting structure with a footprint of only less than 53″. This still provides an internal cab diameter of 43″. It can rise up to 35′ and have up to 4 stops. Door openings can be arranged in line or at 180 degrees. It requires no mechanical room and no added headroom.
A standard lift requires a constructed shaft with an interior dimension as large the exterior dimensions of this one. That could be an advantage in the residential applications that this is designed to accommodate.
Often we use stair climbing lifts in residential applications. This is fine for homes with wide stairs and for users that are still ambulatory. Unfortunately that option doesn’t work well for someone who is wheelchair bound. There is no way for the rider to move the chair from floor to floor.
The Pneumatic Elevator is a aesthetic and life style choice. The cost is similar or greater than a standard cab style chairlift elevator. it would be something to consider in the right application, but it is designed to be a feature and not something hidden or disguised as is often the goal in home elevator installations.
A recent post on the SRA Blog talked about the new HepCat Loft Development in Warsaw, Indiana. It’s an interesting concept and one I might consider including in our Sand Hill Farm Development when it moves forward. There is not much in the way of what I would call “loft space” developed as such in Culver. Most of the spaces above the downtown buildings have been developed as more traditional apartments such as what Susie Mahler has created above Cafe Max. (Listing with pictures here.) Jan Nanini’s building at 110 North Main Street took the old Masonic Lodge on the second floor and subdivided it into apartments as well. (You’ll need to go to Jeff Kenney for better history of that building. He tells us it’s haunted here.) Others, such as the space above Fisher & Co. have been left undeveloped and have been relegated to storage.
When I think of “Loft Space” I think of open concept and high ceilings, generally having exposed trusses and often having spiral duct HVAC systems. (I love Google Image search, but it’s frustrating when I look through so many pictures and don’t find exactly what I want. This time I came pretty darn close!) It is very much the look Larry Surrisi went for in the original design of The Edgwater Grille (now The Lakehouse Grille) in Culver. There are more of these spaces in Plymouth. We worked on a loft space at the site of the old Moose Lodge and George Schricker has developed some loft apartments above the former Vine Restaurant as well.
This is very much what RW Kidd Construction has gone for in their concept design; the difference being that instead of rehabbing existing abandoned second floors of buildings, they have used “Loft Space” as a style for their new construction. It is somewhat of a minimalist style that should lend itself to some cost savings. It looks like RW Kidd had outfitted them at a fairly high level though to go along with the HepCat theme, which has reintroduced costs.
I like the flat roof patios. I’m picturing them along the east property line of the Sand Hill Farm Development where they would look out over the baseball diamonds. It could be an interesting concept there. I also like the multifamily format. I think some limited mix of this type of building could fit well in my mixed use scheme. As mentioned above, it would be something different for Culver. I also wonder if it could be modified to work with a more traditional loft theme where there could be some home-based retail on the first floor, possibly moving the garage entrance to the back off of an alley. There’s potential here!
I’m in Warsaw enough that I will need to swing by and see them in person. There are quite a few pictures at the HepCat Loft Development site listed above, so check them out if you’re interested. Let me know what you think. Is this something that could work in Culver?