 |
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FROM THE PATH PRESS
PATH's Four-Part Series in Professional Builder Explores Concept Home Systems
Did the PATH Concept Home model capture your imagination and leave you wondering how to build it? PATH provides some answers in a four-part series in Professional Builder magazine, the first appearing in the October 2004 issue. Builders and remodelers can learn practical steps for incorporating Concept Home ideas through plumbing, HVAC, home automation and factory production techniques. The articles include:
The Next Generation of Plumbing
Big bathrooms catch a homebuyer's eye, but innovations behind the walls may be the next hot trend for selling homes. A new approach to integrating plumbing systems can simplify installation, ease maintenance and improve the home's livability, as well as your bottom line.
ABC's of HVAC
Properly installed and sized HVAC can make a home a comfortable oasis. Hidden within the floors and walls, it's usually out of sight and mind--that is, until it needs to be repaired or updated. Then homeowners get a good look at their HVAC system by peering through the holes ripped in their walls and ceilings by repairmen. The PATH Concept Home wouldn't have to face such disruption thanks to an approach known as "disentanglement," which would keep utilities--plumbing, wiring and HVAC--organized and accessible.
Improving Home Automation
While a home automation system can be installed into just about any home, one that reflects the principles of the Concept Home can better accommodate an automation system that links the lights, thermostat, TVs, stereos, and security system to a central control unit. Without organized utilities, homeowners can have unidentified wires running through every wall cavity, and upgrades to the system would require them to tear those walls apart.
Factory Production Techniques
"Factory-built" usually conjures up images of industrial construction, but how does building a home that looks like other homes, performs better, and can be finished in 20 days grab you? Having standards in place on the construction site and in the factory reduces the guesswork for builders, who can be sure of the product's quality. Contrary to the popular notion, factory-built methods also offer builders flexibility when it comes to design.
Read these and other PATH articles
Content updated on 9/19/2005
