How to save money when building a new home

[Pat]

Gary, About door openings... Lowe's has (don't recall mfg) a neat entry door with side lights. The side light on the non-hinge side of the entry is also hinged and opens. It is a bit like a pair of french doors but with unequal size doors. They look darned good and it sure make for a wide passage whe both are opened. Should be an excellent thing when moving furniture in or out of the house.

Patrick

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I first saw the doors with the hinged sidelights at the International Builder's Convention in Dallas three or four years ago. It's certainly a neat concept but, around here, everyone uses storm doors and I've yet to see a storm door maker have anything compatible with them.

[Pat]

Gary, I've had my head so deep in the big systems that doors and windows haven't been explored too well in style details. The door I saw could have a storm door retrofitted over the "regular" door part but I'd have to have another look to see if a storm door could be placed over the side light. I'd be tempted to do a little extra to seal the sidelight (something short of tapping in oakum and pouring tar) for the season and using it in better weather.

My experience in the USAF in Minot, ND indicates that you could use a door with opening sidelights during the the two warm seasons (they have three seasons up there, July, August, and winter).

Personally I am a big believer in airlock entry ways in harsh climates. I don't think storm doors are nearly so important with an airlock. Of course, a good fitting/functioning seal on the airlock is a GOOD thing.

When we lived on the outskirts of Lima, Ohio we closed in our front porch and it became our airlock entry. Real handy for an indoor place to remove a few layers of snowy wet clothes from making snow angels, building snow forts, and belly flopping down hills. Part of the porch became a large closet that held coats, overshoes, and a lot more.

Given our moderate(?) climate in south central OK, I wasn't quite so hard over for an airlock entry in the new house we are just starting but it is snowing AGAIN today, second time this year so...

I thought about making a small portion of the front porch serve as an airlock by glassing it in and installing doors between the entry portion and the rest of the porch. In addition to an airlock entry, I also like to provide an out of the weather place for folks to wait for the door belll to be answered. My response is a glassed in airlock that isn't locked and the doorbell buton at the actual formal entry door.

For anyone wondering what the save money building a new home part of this is... Airlocks save money on heating and A/C while improving IAQ by controlling a major source of infiltration. So if you include one in your design, you will save money in the outyears.

Patrick

[Gary_in_Indiana]

You certainly know my climate if you lived near Lima, OH (did you know Lima is actually and acronym? Lost In Middle America [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ). What I usually use for an 'airlock' is an attached garage. Over 90% of the time I come or go I do so in one vehicle or another in the garage.

The balance of the time it's no problem to go through the garage as I put an entry door on the 'house side' of the garage OH doors and another one between the house and garage just inside. Admittedly, it's a far larger "airlock" area than anyone would normally recommend, but it eliminates the need to build additional square footage. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Gary, Thanks for the Lost In Midle America thing. Never heard it before. Had enough trouble with folks calling it LEEMAH like in Peru instead of LYME AH like the bean. My dad worked for Magnolia Petroleum Company the pipeline part of the Mobil Oil and Mobil Gas folks. Lima was the northern terminus of their N-S cross country pipeline. We goto to live in a few nice spots. Lima,OH was nice as was LIndsay, OK. Anyway...

The garage meets one of the most important criteria for an airlock...it prevents the wind blowing directly into the house when you enter/leave and purging a lot of air you paid to condition. Of course maybe the vast majority of your arrival and departures are friends that use the airlock/garage instead of the formal entry. We have visitors that avoid the formal entry like the plague and come to the back door via the sun room which is an airlock connecting the house and garage. The sun room has 4 doors: one each to the house, garage, backyard, front yard via 8 ft separation between the house and garage.

They say that imitation it the most sincere form of complement. I have designed my mud room entry via the end of the shop/garage wing such that it will also be an informal airlock entry like your garage. It will be accessible from either the front or back yards and gives access to a change of clothes and a shower before entering the house proper. I intend to build storage racks for muddy boots. Not that I am too lazy to clean them but it isn't worth 15 min of boot cleaning for 5 min in the house.

Patrick

Patrick