WHY?
Because Your Life May Depend On It.
Your Comfort Definitely Will.
I am a general contractor and have been building houses for over 40 years. I've always been intrigued by the weakness of the typical building system of residential homes that has dominated our country and most of the world for the past 100 years... i.e. sticks. You may recall the story of the Three Little Pigs. The houses built of sticks and straw were blown down by the big bad wolf while the house made of brick and concrete saved the pigs because it couldn’t be blown down. Now that may have been a propaganda story promoted by the brick industry at the time, but there is a lot of truth to the story.
Sticks do not make a house strong.
Sticks are weak.
Sticks are flammable.
Sticks are not energy efficient.
And the most remarkable thing about this is that stick-built homes are
Approved by the building codes in all 50 states,
Approved and certified by professional engineers, and
Approved and recommended by most architects.
For those of you wondering why I refer to "sticks" in house construction, that's because
The industry refers to houses built with dimensional lumber, 2x4s, 2x6, and so forth, as
“stick-built homes.”
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In a stick-built home, dimensional lumber is arranged and connected with nails in a manner that the structure is strong enough to resist the typical loads that are subject to most houses. Those loads are weight, (mainly the people inhabiting them and snow on the roof), and other weather loads - mainly wind and water. And they do a pretty good job at that. That’s why they are code, architect, and engineer-approved.
But, and it’s a Big But...
Stick-built homes don’t withstand the non-typical loads that we see more and more. We're having more and stronger hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, and floods.
Realistically, you can't build a house that is impervious to all weather. There are limitations to all construction. But you can be smart enough to build a home that surpasses most of the weather situations we might encounter.
And that is one of the reasons WHY we build Superior Homes and a major reason you should consider building one of our models.
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Superior Strength, Unique Beauty, and Energy Efficiency.
Superior Homes of North Carolina
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Another problem with the modern stick built home is the structural design. Most homes, in order to conform to the sticks and to make them more affordable, are typically designed as a box or rectangle in most cases. The box of sticks, (2x4’s)or 2x6’s ) is very weak and has to be braced while being built. The plywood or osb that is nailed on the outside of the sticks is critical to the strength of the structure. It keeps the sticks from racking, (moving from side to side) and helps keep the box stable.
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The bracing has to stay on until the roof is installed and secure. That is because the box, (house wall structure) is not stable until it is tied together with the roof. The roof prevents lateral movement and holds everything together.
Most roofs in today’s stick-built houses are gables. Some are stick-built using rafters made of larger sticks, usually 2x10’s or 2x12’s. Some roofs are built with trusses, using smaller 2x4’s, connected with triangles to give them strength.
There are advantages of able Roofs
Gable roofs are popular today, especially when built with stick-built trusses. They are a quick and convenient way of building a house. A crew of 4 with a boom truck and crane can set the trusses on a roof in a day or less. Trusses have other advantages in that they are built using triangles, which are one of the strongest structures that can be built. There is a reason the Egyptians built the pyramids in a triangle. And they certainly have survived the test of time. The gable roof has other advantages. In a cape cod-type house, the steep roof slope allows for there to be living space under the roof, maximizing space and therefore costs. This is another reason gable roofs are so prevalent. Cape Cod styles are used a lot in northern climates due to the high pitch angle that handles the snow load and allows for easy snow removal. Still, you will find them all over the country even in areas with no snow.
There are Disadvantages of Gable Roofs
The major disadvantage of a gable roof is that it protrudes high in the air which subjects it to wind loads.
You’ve seen in the news the destruction that hurricanes can inflict on houses. The last Hurricane of the season in Florida,2022, had the largest death toll of any hurricane since 1935. Many have tried to explain this toll, which in our age of advanced weather predictions should not have been so bad. I have read accounts that tried to explain this. Strangely absent in those accounts were the weak construction of the homes.
Here is an example with a link to the article.
Hurricane Ian’s exceptional death toll explained
Florida has seen plenty of hurricanes. Why was Ian so deadly?
By Umair Irfan Oct 7, 2022, 11:50 am EDT
TORNADOES OF 2022
TORNADOES CAN WREAK HAVOC ON MOST ALL HOMES. THEY ARE SO DANGEROUS BECAUSE MANY TIMES THEY OCCUR AT NIGHT WHILE PEOPLE ARE ASLEEP WITHOUT MUCH WARNING. WINDS HAVE BEEN RECORDED AT OVER 200 MPH.
As you can see, a gable roof with a stick-built home has some significant problems. If the wind removes it, as is so often in a hurricane or tornado, then the structure will more than likely fall. And all those splintering sticks can come down on the occupants.
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There is a saying in structural engineering that states,
“If it can’t spread then it can’t come down”
In other words, if the walls of the structure remain stable, and can't spread apart, then the structure will remain intact. It could blow over in one piece, but it will not collapse. That has been proven with a panelized house in Tennessee that was hit by a tornado. It picked up the house and moved it in one piece.
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What makes a gable roof even more unstable are the many different roof lines. A simple gable roof, such as in a cape cod style, has just one roof line, with just 3 hinge points. Hinge points are the weak points where a roof can fail. With multiple roof lines, there are multiple hinge points. Many houses today, in the name of architectural integrity, have multiple roof lines.
Nails are Weaker, Screws and Pegs are Stronger.
Another problem with stick-built houses with gable roofs is the connectors. Most contractors use nails, which are inexpensive, quick, easy, and reduce labor. However, they are the weakest of all the connectors.
For example, the pull-out strength of a nail gun framing nail averages about 30 lbs. In other words, it takes 30 pounds of force to pull that nail out of wood. The same size screw has a pull-out strength of over 500 pounds.
The average pull-out strength of our timber screws is over 800 pounds.
You will be hard-pressed to find a builder who will build a stick-built house with screws.
Our peg connectors are superior to both nails and screws and have been used in construction for thousands of years.
Fire
Most of us know how flammable wood is. Sticks are much more flammable than large pieces of wood. That’s why we split wood into kindling to start a fire.
Some wood is more flammable than others. I was taught in Boy Scouts when starting a campfire, look for a pine knot. Pine knots have flammable pine resin which helps keep the fire going.
Guess what most stick-built houses are made of? You guessed it. Pine with pine knots.
Look at the tinder in this typical stick-built house. That is why when a house catches fire, it is usually reduced to rubble.
And What About Energy Efficiency?
Superior Homes have continuous insulation. Continuous insulation, as opposed to insulation between the studs in a typical stick-built house, does not have heat loss or gain due to thermal bridging. Thermal bridging is the term used to describe heat loss due to the movement of heat across an object that is more conductive than the materials around it. The objects in stick-built homes are the supporting wall studs and roof rafters. Take a look at that photo of a stick-built house. Those wood members transmit heat or cold directly from the outside or inside of a house. The insulation and the international code approve this, is placed between them. There is a substantial amount of energy loss. In a 30-foot wall of a stick-built house with 9-foot ceilings, the area of the 2x4 studs can account for 1.2% of the total surface area. And the cumulative energy loss can be much more than that. On cold rainy days, the heat loss due to thermal bridging can be significant, because moisture can accelerate the heat loss.
Another factor to take into account is the insulation type. Most stick-built homes are insulated with fiberglass. Fiberglass insulation has its drawbacks. It is tested for its R-value at 73 degrees in a dry environment. I’m not sure who decided or why that testing temperature was chosen, but that is the temperature at which fiberglass performs best. In other words, testing of R-value of insulation is tested at a temperature where we don’t need any heating or cooling. When fiberglass insulation is subject to much colder temperatures and higher humidity, its performance drops. In other words, when it is cold and rainy outside, your fiberglass insulation lets you down.
What About Noise?
Wood walls conduct sound waves better than concrete walls. Superior Walls with its continuous solid foam insulation, block sound better than stick-built walls with fiberglass insulation. Your neighbor's activities will be less noticeable in a Superior Home.
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What About Mold?
Stick-built homes with fiberglass insulation are more susceptible to mold and mildew. Superior Walls with solid insulation and 5000 psi waterproof walls rarely attract mold spores.
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Whew. That's a lot of information. If this confuses you, please feel free to call me and I will be glad to discuss this with you. You can reach me at 828 776 7117.
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All the reasons you should consider a Superior Home.
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