Construction Chronicles

Construction Chronicles

We officially have been given an extra hour of daylight back to our schedule, and the weather is finally starting to warm up—warmer than the single digits, at least. With spring fast approaching, the construction of the S21 Design+Build Demonstration Home (Bill’s house for short) is going along full steam ahead. That’s not to say, however, that we don’t have lots to recap for you all. Milestones, you say? Oh, there are milestones galore!

While we did sneak in a picture of the stunning 3D rendering of Bill’s house in the last issue, it has been a long minute since we have updated you on the progression of this home in the Studio Pages newsletter; if you watch our YouTube series, Design+Build Decoded, then you get caught up on the action every two weeks. Ground was broken back in November, right before Thanksgiving, to dig what will soon become the Styczynski home’s basement. This excavation took a mere matter of days, and then it came time for the first, ever-crucial, milestone: the foundation. In a blink-and-you-miss-it manner, the foundation of the home was installed in one day! Believe it or not, one day is all it took, as Bill’s home used Superior Wall’s prefabricated foundation system. A crane dropped each slice of the wall system into the excavated area, where the waiting construction crew simply had to piece them together like a puzzle and...voila––the foundation was in place.

Top-Bottom: Starting off with excavation; Framing completed in time for the freeze; Latest - windows!

The next stop was to frame the first floor deck, which ties the upper portions of the foundation together. Next was the prep for the basement slab. Bill’s basement will have heated floors by way of radiant tubing; after placing the radiant tubing himself on a brisk zero-degree day, the basement slab could be poured. Thereafter, the construction crew backfilled the foundation just in the nick of time, as the backfill, while not the flashiest step in construction, serves as an important milestone to protect the progress of the build from the impending winter chill.

Fate smiled down upon us and gave a brief reprieve between polar vortexes––just enough time to complete yet another construction milestone: framing the home. With framing done, the S21 Design+Build Demonstration Home has the beginnings of walls and what shall soon be a fully-fledged roof. The completion of roofing does bring us up to date with our latest Design+Build Decoded episode, but since you all, as our Studio Pages audience, have always been such amazing supporters of our firm and the stories we share, I think we can give you a little bit of a bonus!

Pop Quiz: who knows what the next step in construction is after framing? For our readers who’ve built homes before, don’t blurt it out! Ready for the answer? The next step are windows! Windows are actually quite an early part of the construction process, which is why it is so important to make your window selections early. During framing, the openings for the windows are accounted for and framed up. At Bill’s home, Sierra Pacific windows were used, and the installation went smoothly and without delay. By this point in the construction process, the visual begins to change from a mass of wood and concrete, taking shape into an actual, tangible home. Given that, I’m sure you can see why Bill is starting to feel the excitement at his forever home coming to fruition.​

As this article is going to print, construction presses on. Currently on the agenda could be considered yet another milestone: plumbing, HVAC and electrical, in that order. Bill has been at the site with the electrician and plumber to get those steps squared away and once completed, it will be time to insulate and drywall, making further progress on Bill’s home. Before I get too far ahead of myself, we will be uploading a full tour of the framed house, so give it a watch and let me know if I was right––is it starting to take shape yet?
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Watch Design+Build Decoded

​And, of course, don’t forget to watch Design+Build Decoded to stay updated on construction and see Bill’s house go from rendering to reality!  ​​

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written By: Emma H. 

Emma works as the Marketing Manager for Studio21 Architects. She is the writer behind (almost) all of our newsletter articles, and she works hard to make sure all of our marketing materials reflect an architect-approved design quality!