You can add solar panels to any of our homes. Our homes, which already are very energy efficient, will now generate electricity to help you save money and protect the environment.
You can select the solar company of your choice, and The Home Store will work with your provider to make this possible. This is your chance to save for years to come.
Electrical Rates Locked In for 20 Years
Your solar system will generate its own clean, affordable energy at a lower rate than you’d pay the utility company. In addition to being energy efficient and energy secure, your home will be protected from unpredictable rate hikes. A solar system lets you lock in low, predictable rates no matter how much utility rates rise. Imagine paying $1.11 for a gallon of gas. That’s the price you’d pay if you locked it in 20 years ago! You can’t go back in time, but you can lock in low energy rates now. You can literally watch your savings grow over time.
Green Solar Energy
In addition to the financial advantages you’ll enjoy with your solar system, you’ll also feel pride in knowing you’re helping to protect the environment. Solar power is one of the cleanest sources of energy because it doesn’t emit any greenhouse gases or other pollutants when it’s produced or consumed. Unlike generating electricity from fossil fuels, creating electricity from sunlight slows global warming.
Solar energy is inexhaustible, unlike fossil fuels, so it will never run out. It also provides a measure of energy independence since no one can buy the sun or turn sunlight into a monopoly.
Sleek Mounted Solar Panels
Today’s solar panels are quite attractive. As you can see in the photo of our sales center’s two-story model home, the solar panels sit low to the roof in a sleek, modern appearance that enhances the curb appeal for savvy, energy conscious buyers.
Installing a Foundation for a Modular Raised Ranch
In my last post, I talked about the advantages of a modular raised ranch. Now I’d like to discuss what your general contractor (GC) needs to do to “button-up” one.
Let’s start with what your GC needs to do to create a “split” entry at the front door. Since this requires that he elevate the main floor above “grade” (ground level) at the front of the home, he will need to install a 4’ tall concrete foundation below grade and a 4’ tall wood framed “kneewall” on top of the concrete. This will make the total height of the foundation 8’ at the front door. When the set crew places the modules on top of the 8’ wall, the main floor will be 4’ above grade at the front door. This will leave the basement floor 4’ below grade and place the entry halfway or split between the main and basement floors.
The foundation walls for the other three sides of your home will also be 8’ tall from the basement floor to the bottom of the modules. Depending on the lay of the land, the top of the foundation for each of these walls may be set at grade, 4’ above grade, or elevated a full 8’ above grade. Any walls 8’ above grade can either be concrete or wood framed. Either way, they will sit atop a 4’ concrete “frost” wall that will be installed below grade, making these walls 12’ tall. Since the basement floor is at ground level for these 12’ tall walls, the GC can install full sized windows, which will brighten any rooms finished in the basement. The GC can also install an exit door, which is why these walls are known as “walkout” walls. If you build a drive-under garage in your basement, the foundation walls will also be 8’ above grade.
Completing the Split Entry of a Modular Raised Ranch
The completion of the split entry of a modular raised ranch requires a bit of work on-site by the GC. After cutting the temporary rim joist installed by the modular manufacturer to strengthen the home for delivery, the GC must build the entry landing, install the front door, and construct the stairs up to the first floor and down to the basement. The walls framed on each side of the stairs, combined with a door at the bottom, will close off the first floor and stairway from the basement. This step is required by the building code, unless you immediately finish the basement. You will have to instruct the GC whether you want him to finish the split stairwell with a railing or half wall. If you select a railing on the first floor overlooking the foyer and the manufacturer does not install it, the GC will have to do so.
The electrician must wire the foyer light so it can be turned on from the top of the stairs, the front door, and the bottom of the stairs. He should wire the front-door light to be turned on from the top of the stairs and the front door. The modular manufacturer should wire the home to facilitate the electrician’s work with both lights. The electrician should also add a receptacle at the landing, and the HVAC contractor will need to bring some heat to the foyer.
Completing the Exterior of a Modular Raised Ranch
On the exterior of the home, the GC will need to install the siding on the kneewalls and walkout walls. If you cantilever the top modules over the basement, the GC must insulate and cover the exposed area under the overhang. Non-perforated vinyl soffit can be used as the cover.
For more information about building a modular raised ranch, see Designing a Modular Home, Modular Home Specifications and Features, and The General Contractor’s Responsibilities for Building a Modular Home in my book The Modular Home.
My First Home – A Raised Ranch
My wife and I bought our first home a year before I learned about modular homes and became a builder. It was a raised ranch built in the 1960’s. It had everything we needed: three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the main floor and a drive-under garage, family room, and third bathroom in the basement. It also had a lovely yard framed by an attractive stone retaining wall.
What is a Raised Ranch Home?
A raised ranch is a one-story home built with a split-level entry on top of a raised foundation. It consists of two levels separated by stairs. The upper level contains the bedrooms, kitchen, living, and dining rooms. The lower level is a finished basement.
In our home, the entry was “split” in that it was built halfway between the first floor and the basement. A platform at the front door connected two sets of stairs, one going up to the first floor and one going down to the basement.
To make the bi-level design work, the foundation was elevated 5’ above the finished grade at the front of the home. The back of our raised ranch had a wood framed walkout with a slider and some full sized windows.
Why You Might Want a Modular Raised Ranch
There are several reasons why you might want to build a modular raised ranch. Elevating the foundation out of the ground can solve problems caused by a high water table. It is often easier to minimize excavation costs on a sloped property by building a raised ranch. Also, if the property has sufficient slope, the low side of the basement can be used for a drive-under garage, which is considerably less expensive to build than an attached or detached garage.
In addition, a raised ranch with a Cape Cod design that has an unfinished second story, offers you a chance to affordably expand your living space. The raised foundation allows you to finish the basement with larger windows. In addition to providing good natural light, the larger windows allow you to build bedrooms in the basement while meeting the building code requirement for egress.
In designing modular raised ranch floor plans, you will need to decide whether you want the front of the house flush with the front of the foundation or cantilevered over the top of the foundation. A cantilevered home, which is often preferred for its look, will have a foundation that is a foot or two narrower than the main floor, which means it provides less usable space in the basement. You will also have to decide if you want the front entry to be flush with the front of the house or recessed. An advantage to a recessed entry, in addition to its appearance, is that it provides some overhead protection from the weather for anyone entering the front door.
When thinking about the basement floor plan of your raised ranch, pay attention to where the split-level stairs are located. This is particularly important if you are building a drive-under garage, since the stairs should not intrude into the garage.
Modular Split Level Homes
“Split-Levels” are usually T-shaped ranches that are composed of a ranch on one leg of the T and a raised ranch on the other leg to create a tri-level design. They offer some of the advantages of a raised ranch, although they do not work well on a flat lot with a high water table unless the ranch wing of the house is built on a crawl space. As with a raised ranch, split levels can also be built with either a flush or a cantilevered front and a flush or a recessed entry. And they can often accommodate a drive-under garage.
For more information about building a modular raised ranch, see Designing a Modular Home, Modular Home Specifications and Features, and The General Contractor’s Responsibilities for Building a Modular Home in my book The Modular Home.
Nominal Lumber Sizes
A two-by-six is not a 2 x 6 when it’s construction lumber.
The framing materials we use for the walls and ceilings of our modular homes are mostly two-by-sixes, two-by-tens, and two-by-fours. You might assume, as I did when I first started selling modular homes, that these designations refer to the actual dimensional sizes of the lumber. But a two-by-six is not 2” x 6”. It’s actually 1 ½” x 5 ½”. In fact, the 1 ½” dimension can be as little as 1 3’8” or as much as 1 5/8” and the 5 ½” dimension can be as little as 5 3’8” or as much as 5 5/8”.
Why Is Lumber Labeled with Nominal Sizes
In residential construction in the United States the framing materials are designated with a “nominal” value, which approximates its size. For example, a 2 x 10, which is close to 2” x 10” but actually 1 ½” x 9 ½”, is given the name “two-by-ten”. This makes sense when you understand a little history.
In the past, the nominal dimensions given to the lumber were the sizes of green lumber before it was dried and planed smooth. This process shrunk the lumber by about ½” in each dimension. The lumber sold today for residential construction is already dried and planed. But it’s still sold in the historical sizes with each size retaining its nominal name. That’s why your modular home will built with “two-by-sixes”, “two-by-tens”, and “two-by-fours”.
Nominal Sizes of Modular Floor Plans
Nominal values also play a role in designating the width of modular home floor plans. For example, a “twenty-eight x forty-four” home is actually 27’6” x 44’. In this case, the width is rounded up by 6”.
For more information about nominal lumber size, see Designing a Modular Home in my book The Modular Home.
Oral Representations Often Lead to Disagreements
Now that Daylight Saving Time has arrived and spring is two weeks away, many customers are ready to start building their home. Other customers are getting ready to select their modular builder. With interest rates predicted to rise by June and housing starts to increase to their highest level in several years, getting started soon is a wise move. Here is some advice about ensuring that your modular home contract includes what you expect.
Experienced modular builders have lots of stories to tell about the types of problems that cause disagreements with their homebuyers. One type of problem involves misunderstandings about items that were never discussed or documented because one party just assumed what the other party intended. Another type of problem involves misunderstandings about things that were discussed but not included in the builder’s contract. It might surprise you that more frustration, anger, and stress are generated by issues that were actually discussed – but not documented in writing – than by those that were not discussed.
These situations typically involve complaints by the homebuyers such as, “I told you I wanted raised panel maple kitchen cabinets and not picture frame maple cabinets.” The builder might come back with, “Don’t you remember, we did talk about your preference for raised panel maple cabinets, but the additional cost put you over your budget.” The problem is that the modular builder and homebuyers had talked about this on two occasions, going back and forth about which would be included, but the final contract just said “maple kitchen cabinets” and now both parties remember the discussion differently.
The Cost of Relying on Oral Representations
The cost difference between the picture frame and raised panel maple cabinets would be substantial enough on its own. But usually this misunderstanding doesn’t get discovered until the cabinets are already purchased and at least partially installed. It will cost either the homebuyer or builder (or both) a bit of money to make the change. The alternative is no better. If the homebuyers accept the picture frame cabinets, they will likely be unhappy with their modular builder and forever disappointed in their kitchen. The relationship between the two parties will now be fractured by distrust, which will make it more likely that small disagreements will become antagonistic.
Agree to Make Oral Representations Null and Void
The last thing you want to do is to rely on your modular builder’s or your own memory of what you’re getting. That’s why it is better for modular builders to include a clause in their contract that states that “It is mutually agreed that any oral representation made by either party prior to the signing of this agreement is null and void.” This clause serves to limit and place boundaries around the scope of either party’s representations and warranties. Even if an item is discussed and agreed to verbally, it has no legal validity unless it’s documented in the contract.
Replace Oral Representations with Detailed Written Representations
My suggestion is that you share responsibility with your modular builder for documenting all the details by taking notes during your meetings. You should be concerned if your builder is not also taking notes. If you then compare your notes with the builder’s contract, you are more likely to avoid contentious and costly disagreements.
For more information about oral representations in your contract with your modular home builder, see Selecting a Modular Home Dealer and Selecting a General Contractor in in my book The Modular Home.
