Goal #4 Fewer Components, Less Waste

By Beverly Smirnis with special thanks to input by Allison A. Bailes III, PhD and Zero Energy Homes Designer, Consultant & Instructor Armando Cobo

Part 1:
Airtightness and Keeping it Dry are Goals #1 & #2

Part 2:
Making Houses Less Prone to Damage in a Natural Disaster is Goal #3

Part 3:
Fewer Components, Less Waste is Goal #4

Part 4:
Right-Sizing the HVAC is Goal #5

So many components, installation methods and materials used to create the necessary layers leave many potential points of error.  This, along with the lack of skilled labor is another reason some builders choose to ditch traditional OSB and housewrap and opt for integrated exterior wall solutions that combine a structural component, continuous insulation, an air barrier, and a water barrier all in one.

Fewer Components
With the metallic reflective facer, Barricade Building Products’ ThermoPro Rigid Insulation System provides exceptional thermal performance. This negates the need for transitioning to 2×6 studs, thus enabling builders to meet the new 2021 IECC code requirements seamlessly. Thermo-Brace Guard wraps corners seamlessly and addresses the challenge of thermal bridging, which helps maintain consistent temperatures throughout the structure.

Material Efficiency is A Reason to Explore Alternatives

Less Waste
CertainTeed ONE PRECISION ASSEMBLIES offers factory-insulated and weatherproofed panelized walls, floors, ceiling, and roof assemblies simplify home construction with plug-and-play installation that significantly reduces weather, labor, and material risks. The offsite building team uses your specs to fabricate panel assemblies with the inclusions you pick in as few as 5-10 working days. Shipping and onsite assembly is included too, right down to the blower door test, validating HERS rating performance.

“Nowadays, we’re designing to minimize waste.  We’re recycling and using renewable and more sustainable and locally source materials,” says Cobo.  “Product extraction, manufacturing and chain of delivery is included in our planning. Environmental impact and water conservation are part of our residential development plans. Reduced or zero carbon and carbon counting in buildings is the future of our industry, whether we like it or not.”

With the call for sustainable construction practices louder than ever, more builders consider using structural components made in a factory that come preassembled and ready to install on the jobsite. Offsite precision manufacturing inherently reduces waste, which is key to construction sustainability. And the benefits of building panels in a controlled environment are many.

Onsite Factories Could be the Way of the Future

Instead of constructing factories requiring huge capital expenses, complicated machinery, and specially trained staff and then shipping materials miles away in gas-powered trucks, NileBuilt builds its concrete wall panels right on the job site.

With the same philosophy, Cuby produces what it calls mobile micro factories that it set ups near the construction site.  The Cuby factory is an inflatable dome of about 30,000 to 40,000 square feet. Inside, all the elements of the home—windows, wall panels, plumbing pipes, sheetrock, HVAC systems, are produced and prepped, then packaged into kits. Once delivered, Instead, it takes just four unskilled laborers to assemble one code-compliant home in about 30 days.

NEXT IN THE SERIES:
Right-Sizing the HVAC is Goal #5

Life On The Estate

Life On The Site

Life On The Set

Life With A Twist

About The Savvy List