By Fernando Pagés Ruiz
If you're reading this article, you already know the advantages of keeping up with technology. We live in an era of technological revolution, where two-year-old software or a six-month-old camera is practically obsolete. In homebuilding, a technological revolution is also taking place but very slowly. You probably build and remodel using techniques and products developed decades ago.
Enter the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing, a program funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development fosters innovation in building methods and materials.
Consider that many of the latest innovations in homebuilding received technical assistance from the PATH partnership to achieve code approval and market acceptance. These innovations include PEX water pipe; manifold plumbing systems approach to organizing water distribution; structural insulated panels (SIPS); frost-protected shallow foundations; optimum value engineered framing (also known as OVE or advanced framing); and many other green building methods, such as greywater reclamation and energy-efficient shell construction.
I have been on the PATH Advisory Committee for about three years and last year agreed to build PATH's first national Concept House. The idea, similar to a concept car, was to showcase the latest in PATH-sponsored technology. But beyond a collection of forward-looking products, the initiative would also show how a house becomes more than a collection of parts when homebuilding components are assembled as an integrated engineered system.
The series of articles that follow this one will detail the components in the PATH Concept House: why they were chosen and how these technologies work in synergy to achieve its central themes, which include flexibility, durability and energy efficiency.
- Flexibility implies a house that adapts to changing lifestyles through features such as movable partition walls and wireless switches that allow a homeowner to reconfigure the floor plan to fit with a range of lifestyles and family configurations.
- Durability is the watchword for the Concept House exterior, which includes a 150-year standing-seam steel roof ; a panelized, insulated concrete form (ICF) basement that we installed in one day; and a new attic-wrap system that assures both ventilation for the sheathing and a weather-tight envelope over the attic.
- Energy efficiency comes with the best weatherproof barriers available; a mechanically engineered greywater reclamation system; a water-saving tankless water heater, expanding foam insulation derived from soybeans; and an engineered heating and air-conditioning system.
Another theme that matters to the building industry and has been a subtext in every phase of the Concept House construction is building better and faster. We used factory components in the foundation, floor, framing and walls, which meant operations that usually take a week or more were completed within hours. All of these systems will become the subject of individual articles in our PATH Concept House series.
The research done by PATH and my experience building the first Concept House provides free insight — a quasi-R&D division for your company. Most of us certainly cannot afford the time or expense of researching all of the existing methods of homebuilding to find what works best. However, by reading this series of short articles and clicking on a few of the links, you may discover advanced technologies worthy of a closer look.
The excitement is building. As I write this, we are installing the mechanical and electrical systems. Soon, we will insulate the house with a layer of soybean-based expanding foam, which is designed to seal all penetrations, cracks and pinholes in the exterior shell. I'll be curious, because even without this high-tech product, I have managed excellent blower door tests using caulk, a few cans of foam, and a good eye for detail, combined with inexpensive, fiberglass batt insulation.
I'm also curious to see how paperless drywall, clay wall finishes, wireless switches, movable walls, and quick-release plumbing fixtures work in real life. Despite my enthusiasm for advancing technology in homebuilding, I also know the dangers of new products with unproven records.
In the stories that follow, I'll give you the information sans the sales pitch. And certainly feel free to write to me and ask questions. I'll answer from my experience and the resources available through PATH.
Fernando Pagés Ruiz is president of Brighton Construction Co. Inc. in Lincoln, Neb., and a consultant on affordable housing. A 30-year veteran of the construction industry, he is the author of Building an Affordable House: Trade Secrets to High-Value, Low-Cost Construction and Affordable Remodel, both published by Taunton Press. E-mail him at fpages@buildaffordable.com.
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