August 2013
     
Henderson Project       
WELCOME TO GRACE HOMES
Grace Homes is pleased to offer many ways to assist you in the design and construction of your new home. We implement the latest energy efficient technologies and systems in our building process to produce high quality custom homes. We feature several of those items in this edition of our newsletter.
Top 10 Reasons Home Buyers Prefer New Homes vs. Used

By Jay McKenzie

 

New Construction Home     

Today's new homes offer more benefits than ever before. Here's a quick list of the Top 10 reasons why so many home buyers prefer new homes to used houses: 

 

 

1) Design Your Dream Home Your Way: Why settle for someone else's choices when you can select your favorite cabinets, countertops, appliances, carpets and flooring? While you're at it, you can choose gorgeous bath and kitchen fixtures, lighting and other options that you love. Your new home will reflect your style, not someone else's taste. 

2) Choose a Floorplan and Room Layout that Meets Your Needs: Want a master bedroom on the first floor? It's yours. With massive his and her's walk-in closets? Done! Want high ceilings and a luxurious, resort-style master bath? Perhaps you'd like a sitting room with a fireplace in your owner's suite or French doors that open to your private patio or the pool? It's easy, when you build your master suite your way. 

3) All New, Under Warranty: A used home likely has tired products that may soon need replacing. Your new home -- and the products that comprise it -- are brand-new and under warranty. What's the cost to replace a roof, appliances, countertops or a water heater on a used home? Those components of your new home feature the latest designs and building materials and should offer you years of comfort and enjoyment before needing replacement. 

4) Energy and Cost Savings: Today's new homes are far more energy efficient than homes built just five years ago. Versus homes built ten or 20 years ago, it's game over, advantage new.Why settle for drafty, energy-wasting single-pane windows in a used home? Many new homes offer double or even triple-pane windows. Special window coatings and inert gases between the layers of glass are often available, saving you even more energy and money in both heating and cooling season. 

5) Comfort and Indoor Air Quality: Today's new homes meet stringent energy standards and codes not in place in the past. They combine high-performance energy efficiency with state-of-the-art ventilation and air filtration. The result is year-round, draft-free comfort and higher indoor air quality. 

6) Low Maintenance: New cars today are computer-designed and computer-equipped. That's why they perform much more reliably than a car that's 15 or 20 years old. Homes are the same. Today's new homes have open floorplans and high ceilings that reflect the way we live today. They're also made of cutting-edge building products that require less care and maintenance. Another plus? The latest building systems and components are designed and engineered to work together. 

7) Community Amenities: Many new homes are built in lavish master-planned communities with resort-style community centers, pools and clubhouses. Many new home communities also feature hiking trails, protected open lands and some of the best new schools and shopping near (or even within) your new home community. 

8) Advanced Technology and Design: It's possible to replace all of the single-pane windows in a resale home with today's high-performance windows. It's also possible to add insulation to a used home. However, it's very expensive to replace dated appliances, cabinets and countertops in a used home -- and you still won't have the high ceilings you dream of on the first floor of an older two-story home. All are reasons to build your new home your way, to reflect the way you live today. 

9) Safety: State-of-the-art circuit breakers. Electric garage door openers with infrared beams that stop if a tricycle or child is too near. High-efficiency furnaces and air conditioners that use the latest environmentally-friendly coolants. Cabinets, carpets and paints that use fewer volatile organic compounds, so that you and your family can breathe easier. 

10) That New Home Feel: A used home was someone else's dream, not yours. It reflects their choices and family memories. You may learn to love avocado-green appliances (and you may be willing to scrub stained countertops or grease-encrusted ovens and cooktops) but more and more people prefer that never lived-in feel. 

After all, when was the last time you went to a department store and selected used clothes? Or visited a car dealer and paid more for a used car than a new car? 

New homes offer the latest designs, style, comfort and quality. They provide a care-free lifestyle so that you can enjoy your home, not work on it.   

Plans

Grace Homes has the ability to provide you with the construction documents and details that you will need to produce your new dream home. 

Benz Section Details

 
Main Level electrical
Highley Front Elevation

Somersby Park

Franks Front Elevation   
With over twenty-four years of experience in producing quality interiors, Grace Homes is able to utilize multiple styles and elements of interior finishes to provide our clients with unique and personalized homes from the inside out. Contact us for more information on how to start your new project.

 

Melton Cottage Front Elevation         
Melton Cottage
Our plan of the month is the Melton Cottage project. This is a smaller version of the main house to be constructed later next year.

PIP Concrete Walls - Corner form    

Poured Concrete Wall Advantages

These walls have a higher density than precast concrete walls. The walls also do not incorporate joints which yields a solid wall structure. It gives the building greater resistance to fire than precast walls. This is important especially if you live in a fire prone area. Poured concrete walls assure you of a stronger, drier basement. This is because the joint free structure of the walls gives the building a high resistance to water which helps to keep water out of your home. The walls also have high compressive strength which reduces water problems in the basement. This makes poured concrete walls especially suited for basements. When properly installed, poured concrete walls have fewer maintenance requirements than precast concrete walls. This helps to downscale your home improvement costs.

   

Grace Homes uses poured in place concrete walls as its standard foundation wall system.


Spray Foam Insulation     

So what is spray polyurethane foam?

 

Spray polyurethane foam is a remarkable versatile material that provides proven solutions to a great range of challenges in the construction and manufacturing industries.

 

Features and Benefits

What are the benefits of SPF?
 

SPF is environmentally friendly, contains no formaldehyde or ozone depleting chemicals, saves energy* and reduces the use of fossil fuels, thereby reducing global warming gases. It also assists in providing good indoor air quality, requires less energy to produce than the leading insulation, and reduces the amount of energy required to transport and install it. SPF is durable, maintains physical properties over time, contributes little to the waste stream, and in a single product (depending on the formula and project) can take the place of three-four other products, including insulation, air barriers, sealants, vapor retarders, and weather barriers.

 

*SPF reduces energy use in the following ways:

  • Has high R-value per inch (open-cell 3.5 per inch and closed-cell 6.0 per inch)
  • Eliminates air infiltration
  • Helps control moisture and condensation
  • Reduces convective currents in walls and attics
  • Eliminates wind washing
  • Effective at low and high temperatures
  • Provides the correct environment so that the ventilation system performs more efficiently
Other benefits include...
  • Closed cell SPF adds structural strength and glues a building together, thereby making it more resistant to racking events, such as hurricanes and high winds.
  • SPF reduces noise from outside by air sealing the building.
  • Closed-cell SPF can provide an added barrier against water intrusion.
COMFORT:
  • SPF reduces drafts and increases comfort.
  • SPF helps maintain a comfortable, constant, temperature throughout the building, from room to room and floor to floor.
HEALTH:
  • SPF assists in improving indoor air quality.
  • SPF reduces the infiltration of outside air pollutants and soil gases.
  • SPF can reduce moisture condensation and mold growth within the building walls and roof.
VALUE:
  • Excellent insulation efficiency of SPF can reduce heating and cooling usage dramatically.
  • HVAC equipment can be down-sized, thereby reducing construction costs.
  • SPF will not sag or settle.
  • SPF can eliminate the need for separate housewrap and vapor retarders.
ENVIRONMENT:
  • SPF helps conserve energy, reducing CO2 emissions.
  • SPF contributes LEED credits for sustainable, green construction.
  • SPF can help reduce structural damage caused by high winds.
  • SPF contains no formaldehyde or ozone depleting substances.

 

 

 


Venmar ERV

Why choose an ERV (Energy Recovery 
Ventilator)

An energy recovery ventilator system (ERV) fits in colder climates, in the homes where there is no excess moisture in heating season, as well as for homes located in warmer climates where the outside humidity level is high.

As for the HRV system, the ERV system recovers heat; however, it also recuperates the energy trapped in moisture, which greatly improves the overall recovery efficiency.

In air conditioned homes, when it is more humid outside than inside, the ERV system limits the amount of moisture coming into your home. In humidified homes, when the humidity level is low in winter, the ERV system limits the amount of moisture expelled from your home.

 


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GRACE HOMES
Brad Hutchinson, President
O 828.687.1879 - Fletcher, NC 28732
M 828.423.6837
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