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Builders Encouraged to Adapt Concept Home Plans
The Partnership for Advancing Housing Technology (PATH) wants to hear from builders, remodelers, architects and consumers about their experiences building a Concept Home or borrowing a few of its components.
For Concept Home plans, either as a PDF or as CAD drawings, click here.
The Concept Home resulted from PATH studies showing that the homes being built today are inflexible, with systems tangled behind interior walls and embedded in structural elements.
The Concept Home emphasizes the flexibility of systems to meet the specific needs of the home owner and to make it more efficient to build and maintain.
A national prototype of the home is being built in Omaha, Neb. by general contractor Fernando Pages Ruiz. The various stages of its construction and the specific materials and products going into the home are being chronicled on the PATH site and on the builder’s blog.
PATH recently reported that the home in Omaha was fully enclosed. Follansbee installed the metal roof provided by the Metal Roofing Alliance. Besides being durable and long-lasting, the metal roof was pre-painted with UV reflective paint to help prevent energy loss. Milgard's double-hung windows were also recently installed. To cut heating and cooling costs, the windows were coated with UV protection and filled with argon gas.
Ruiz’s company, Brighton Construction, based in Lincoln, broke ground on the 2,000-square-foot demonstration home last October. Relying heavily on product donations, it is expected to be appraised at $205,000 and purchased with a $95,000 mortgage.
Ribbon-cutting ceremonies to celebrate the home’s completion are scheduled for June 6.
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