Tag Archive for ‘Residential’
LEED VOC MSDS SCAQMD
Part of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is to provide better environments for building occupants. Something we do every day but don’t think about much is breathing. Our lungs are very sensitive to contaminants and dust. If you have ever walked into a new building or been in a new car you [...]
The Components of Solar Hot Water – Collectors and Circulation
In the world of solar hot water there are many names for systems that are identical or do similar things. It is important to know the basics and general components of any system one is working with. Once the basics are understood and mastered then it is possible to have intelligent conversations about a subject [...]
Avoid Costly Future Alterations: Free Fair Housing and Accessibility Presentation
This week the Department of Local Affairs (DORA) Civil Rights Division offered one of four free lectures on Fair Housing, Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodations. The lecture is given by DORA’s fair housing expert, Jennifer McPherson, she covers the local, state and federal fair housing regulations. This is a must see for architects, real estate agents, housing property managers, and owners of rental [...]
Foundation Settlement: The Push Pier Alternative
EVstudio is asked quite frequently to perform structural evaluations of cracked foundation walls. These cracks are often due to settlement. Modern design philosophy (and most geotechnical reports) calls for the original structural engineer to design foundation walls to clear span ten to fifteen feet to account for soft patches of bearing soil or soils that [...]
Denver Survey Requirements
With the recent department shifts and reorganizing at the City of Denver, one thing seems to be coming up quite frequently with residential remodels, pop-tops, and new construction projects—Survey requirements. In the past, an architect, homeowner, builder, or developer could often get by with an Improvement Location Certification (ILC) to satisfy the building department requirements. [...]
Seismic Testing of a Mid-Rise Wood Framed Structure
After the destruction caused by the 1995 Kobe earthquake the Japanese government took it upon themselves to construct the world’s largest seismic testing table, often referred to as a “shake table”. This testing facility, called Earth-Defense, was built to its enormous size out of necessity. Space to build new structures is a rare commodity in [...]
Designing Your House – Part 6
With this post we move outside of the house and discuss your outdoor spaces. Clearly some of these choices are going to be climate driven so we would need to take into account the earlier discussion about sun and wind when designing them. A first question is, do you prefer to spend outdoor time in [...]
Cost per Square Foot for Residential Construction
One of the most challenging tasks of building your own home is wrestling with the idea of how much home your budget can reasonably afford to build. There are many factors that are involved in the actual costs of a home, and in the beginning, it is crucial to be as realistic as possible about [...]
How Can a Supplier Play a Larger Role in Design?
I had a great lunch today with Tom Glossa and Denny Rogstad with the Breckenridge Building Center and we discussed the importance of an integrated team approach to design, which would involve a wide variety of team members. The traditional approach to design is for the Architect to design the plans and elevations, then for [...]
Structural Modeling in Revit
With each new project we use more and more of the tools in our BIM toolbox. The latest tool that we have developed to the level of prime-time is our structural steel framing within Revit. We are currently working on a very unique custom home in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains which has some [...]
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