Med City Builders of MN????

Just a quick heads up to let you all know I do plenty of traveling for clients looking outside the Rochester area.  Over the past few years I have spent time building cabins in NW Wisconsin, a home in St Boni which is located on the west side of the Twin cities, will be building a large custom executive home in Northfield this spring, and am soon to be starting a very large executive custom home in Lake Elmo which is located in the NE part of the Twin Cities.  I appreciate all of the referrals in the Rochester area my clients have passed my way, but wanted to extend the range of my company to all of you.  I still send the same crews to the job sites which allows me to control the timelines, selections, as well as the superior workmanship my clients have grown to expect.  If you or someone you know is looking outside the area, feel free to drop me a line. I'm happy to gas up the Med City Builders truck and take a drive!!

Win a full course dinner for 6 at Osaka Seafood and Steak!!

Win Dinner and drinks for 6 at the new Osaka Steak and Seafood!  We will be in the Spring Showcase of Homes coming up, so we will get updates on the times and dates soon.  During the Showcase we are planning on another contest, but this one is for the adults.  A Design Your Dream Home contest where we will give you the blank floor plan and you can submit your best home layout.  We will be voting for the winners on Facebook like we did before with the Coloring Contest.  We plan on giving away a 6 person appetizer, drinks, dinner, and dessert at the Osaka Steak and Seafood located at the old West Fire Grill in Rochester.  I tried it for a trial run and it was some of the best food I've eaten!!!  I hope to see you at the Showcase and email us if you can't so you too can get your floor plans to submit.

Custom Home Building

This is a term that is used pretty loose in our industry and can mean many things to many people.  To some a custom home is one that is simply modified from an existing floor plan.  To others a custom home is one that is created from just its most basic level in just thoughts to the final product.  Custom home building in Southern MN takes on many other aspects as well.  Whether or not to incorporate energy saving ideas or not and how to orientate a home to achieve the most desired result.  Selecting a builder that allows you to explain your ideas and that listens to what you want vs what they might want is a tough choice for some people.  One of the biggest obstacles I face day in and day out is to determine what people are trying to say when they are really not saying what they want.  That has come from helping many clients design many homes and many hours up front with them figuring out how they wanted to get there.  It happens during the design process and many times through the selection process.  One of the biggest tips I can give any of my clients is to trust your gut feelings.  I have taken many clients full circle only to end up doing exactly what they thought they wanted in the beginning.  A true custom home builder's job is to make this idea a reality for you no matter what level of custom you feel you are on.  Call anytime to get your dreams set in motion!!  

Attention Air Exchangers!!!!

Depending on the price points needed to be attained by my clients, I include Air to Air Exchange units as often as I can.  On average, I install them in 85% of the homes I build.  The clients I build homes for have these systems explained to them them several times during our many walk throughs, but as we all know our lives take over and we forget what we should be doing with them once we are in the home.  One of the first things I try to make clear is the air exchanger is actually the diamond shaped center core inside the box hanging from the ceiling.  The box around it has a fan that makes the center air exchanger an active system.  That center core is where the heat is extracted from the warm moist air leaving the home and where it blends with the cold air coming in. This is the reason for the 2 screen filters on the unit.  Once filter or screen is for the air coming in and one filter or screen is for the air going out.  Both air flows have dust in them and both need to be filtered so they don't dirty the center core or air exchanger.  By keeping the 2 screens around the center core or air exchanger clean, it will allow the system to do what we installed it for.  If these screens get dirty, the air cannot go through the air exchanger as easily and it also can potentially clog it.  To clean the screens, simply open the door on the unit and remove it.  Then slide the two screens off the center core and tap out the dust or soak them in hot soapy water if very dirty.  Make sure they are dry before installing them onto the center core or air exchanger and vacuum out any other dust you might see in the housing around the center core.  This should be done at least monthly or whenever you change your furnace filter.

Once a year, I recommend removing the center core and soaking that in hot soapy water as well.  Fall is a great time to do this just prior to turning the system on for the winter months.  I described the running schedule in an earlier blog.  Again, make sure this core is dry before putting it back into the housing.  At this same time, I recommend cleaning the intake screen at the exterior of the home.  The air exchanger will run in the summer months and will be bringing on dusts when running the bathroom controls to remove moisture.  This is the reason fall is a good time to clean the filter to make sure the air coming into the homes air exchange unit is cleaned before it even gets to the unit.

One of the most important things to keep in mind with these systems is that they work best when kept clean.  It is impossible for you to expect a dust free home if the appliance in your home responsible for bringing in the fresh air is clogged.  A little bit of maintenance goes a long ways with these types of systems.  They are designed for making a home more efficient, but one of the most beneficial things they do is cut down on air born allergens.  If you keep it clean, your home will be healthier and greener!!!

Block walls or Poured walls and my 2 cents...

Earlier on this past month I discussed the concept of doing ICF foundations and how they rate on an efficiency scale.  I mentioned my preference was not to use them and I preferred using a foundation wall construction that consisted of an exterior foam insulation design.  There are a few ways we can construct foundation walls on new homes when we decide to move that insulation to the exterior.  I commonly use two of them, block walls and poured walls.  Both wall designs have their benefits.

The first one I will explain is the block foundation wall.  We use the same type of footing depending on the plans designs for each of the wall designs.  With a block wall, we can typically install them much faster than a poured wall.  Layers or courses of block are added to achieve the desired ceiling height.  Typically a 12 course block wall will give you an 8' ceiling when finished.  A 13 course wall will give you an 8'6" finished ceiling height, and a 14 course will give you a true 9' ceiling height.  Depending on the size of the home, a block wall can also save you money over a poured wall.  Where they get their strength is from the open cores in the block we add steel rods to and pump them full of concrete.  This is called core filling.  This is also where the loads from the upper floors are transferred to the footing below the block wall.  Block walls are very strong and have very few problems associated with them when backfilled properly.

Poured walls are the next wall I will discuss.  Again, we use a footing similar to the block wall to begin setting up forms to design the poured wall.  These forms allow us to build the walls to any desired height since we can regulate how much concrete actually goes in the forms.  Prior to pouring the concrete, we add steel rods both vertically and horizontally.  This attribute is what truly gives the poured walls the added strength over the block wall.  When a load is being passed from the upper floors of the home to the foundation, it is transferred evenly over the footing instead of bearing on specific core filled points.  Keep in mind when I say stronger, that doesn't mean a block wall will function any differently when we are completed.  The concrete is then poured and cured in the form.  Once cured, the forms are stripped from the concrete and we are left with the poured wall.

Both wall constructions allow us to work with Pre-stressed garages and both are capable of working with throughout most of the calendar year.  If you have any thoughts or topics you'd like discussed in the future, feel free to drop us a line through our Facebook page or Website.  Thanks for reading and heres to a super 2011!

 

Special thanks

I just wanted to put out a special thanks to all of the super artists in this years coloring contest.  I plan on doing more of this throughout the upcoming year, so stay tuned.  It was a huge success for us, considering we did the entire contest through Facebook.  I expected the family members to get on board with their children, but didn't think it would escalate like it did.  We now have well over 200 "Likes" to our page and hope that will continue to grow as you all tell your friends and family about my company.  Thanks again and I will get back to a more construction orientated blog next week.