| The Types Defined | | | | summer and winter, vegetation, frost-depths, |
| This is fairly simple to define. The activities, once | | | | water tables, soil conditions, etc. |
| defined, are not so simple to perform if your end | | | | What I mean building with a blank palette is to do |
| result is to build a beautiful usable functional space | | | | it right. Homes in suburban tracks are on straight |
| utilizing local materials, minimizing waste and | | | | streets with the houses... facing the street. Newer |
| energy consumption. | | | | developments are done are winding roads with |
| The first type of construction is ground-up or | | | | the houses... facing the street. Most of these |
| new construction. But isn't all construction new. | | | | homes are mass-produced with time and budget |
| Yes but in this definition, the second type of | | | | being the driving force with little regard for quality. |
| construction is renovation work on existing | | | | Doing it right means to orient the home to |
| buildings. So there is ground-up new construction | | | | maximize solar gain during the winter, minimizing it |
| and renovation construction of existing buildings. | | | | during the summer. Aligning the home to direct |
| Renovation Construction | | | | prevailing winds through the home during the |
| In my opinion, renovation construction is more | | | | summer and blocking them during the winter. |
| complicated than ground-up new construction | | | | Minimizing waste and using local products versus |
| because one must work with the existing | | | | getting that gorgeous marble from Italy is doing it |
| idiosyncrasies of previous owners and builders. | | | | right. Designing spaces to accommodate more |
| Years of implanting an owner's personality into a | | | | than one use is doing it right. Making the home |
| building need to be erased to accommodate a | | | | efficient by conserving energy and even |
| new owner. The owner or his contractors may | | | | harvesting energy is doing it right. |
| have done previous renovations with varying | | | | What's Next? |
| degrees of success or competency... or maybe no | | | | You want to do a construction project and it'll be |
| capabilities at all. And work could have been done | | | | one or the other. If you're not accustomed to the |
| without permits or worse, not built to minimum | | | | process, where do you start? Future article |
| code standards. | | | | entries will hopefully help organize the vast |
| Ground-Up New Construction | | | | amount of information and thought processes |
| The other type of construction is ground-up new | | | | required to undertake a construction project. |
| and this is like starting with a blank palette. Of | | | | As a friend, colleague and mentor used to tell me, |
| course, I don't mean to cut down every tree to | | | | "Construction is not a venture, but an adventure..." |
| plop a house or building in the middle of the lot. As | | | | I'll tackle renovation work first because in this |
| has been said to me too many times to count, | | | | economic climate, renovating your existing home |
| "We used to just throw a rock on the site and | | | | can be more economical AND more aligned many |
| that's where we built..." | | | | Green Pundit advisors. |
| Site planning is an integral part to ground-up new | | | | But where do you start? Next up: beginning a |
| construction. One needs to consider the exact | | | | renovation project... is to dream. |
| locale regarding solar orientation, winds during | | | | |