We’d like to wish all our clients, friends, family & all those who just like our work a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year… Hope Santa comes & we’ll see you all for a very exciting 2018
We’d like to wish all our clients, friends, family & all those who just like our work a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year… Hope Santa comes & we’ll see you all for a very exciting 2018
Selecting and surrounding yourself with the right individuals can have a massive impact on the speed and success of your dream home project…as well as your own sanity! When it comes to your dream home team the key individuals will include your architect, builder or contractor, bank lender (should you need credit or a self-build mortgage) and a solicitor, amongst others. Whilst you don’t need everything set up from day one it helps as each member of the project will provide their own unique perspective which, all together, should help you avoid major pitfalls and problems. Do your research, ask plenty of questions and choose wisely.
Thinking “big picture” might seem obvious (you’re building a house after all…) but what we really mean here is constantly ask yourself questions before any major decision.
Your architects should be able to help during this process. If you want plenty of natural light then think about what that means to the building. Likewise if you prefer dark, cosy spaces, the design should follow this preference.
Similarly, you should ask yourself questions about what you want to do with the space available and where you want to place key features of the house.
After you’ve nailed down big picture features it’s time to consider all the smaller details that can have a real impact on your home.One major consideration, as we move into an increasingly digital world, should be “smart home” product integration. Smart Home products include Google Home, Amazon Echo and Apple Homekit and they can help control things like heating, lighting, security and entertainment in your house all from a smartphone app. Building with these near-future additions could help save costs in the long run. Other small details could include the inclusion of under floor heating in certain areas of the house, wardrobe placement and storage space, access for pets, placement of bins, parking and more.
Almost all of us are aesthetic animals at heart meaning that, when designing our dream home, we want to dive straight into the style, materials, colours and interior design. That’s fine as long as you remember that finding a plot and deciding on major elements of the project come first. After that it’s time to get creative.
This is all part of the process and your architects will be able to help steer your thinking but you’ll most likely already know whether you prefer traditional or modern designs, stone cladding over timber, inside outside garden designs and so much more.
At this stage it’s important to be as clear as possible when delivering your brief to the architects. Give them as much information as possible, including specific opinions and preferences, so that they can create designs you’ll love.
For many picking the right plot isn’t an issue as families gift or inherit land between each other. However, if you’re completely starting from scratch then choosing the right plot will have a major impact on your dream home.
Not only do plots demand a large chunk of your budget, they also determine the location of your dream home, your future neighbours, the surrounding landscape and environment, views, access to public resources and amenities and so much more.
In short, choosing a plot is a massive decision and we’ve written a guide to help you through this process which you can access by clicking here!
Put all your effort into choosing the right plot. Everything else will flow from there.
Although spray foam insulation has been in use since the 1940s, primarily for aircraft, for the past 30 years, continual product innovation has seen the increased adoption of spray foam insulation in residential and commercial construction. The rapid growth of sprayed foam insulation in building construction, thanks in part to its immediate and long-term benefits, has allowed the insulation material to sit confidently alongside traditional insulation types in providing thermal comfort for building occupants.
But what is spray foam insulation? Are there different types available for different applications? And, how does sprayed foam insulation address the latest building codes while anticipating any changes to the building code? In this post, we explore the fundamentals of insulating foam and more.
Spray foam insulation, also known as foaming insulation or sprayed insulation, is a two-part liquid insulation material(link is external) that insulates and air seals wherever it is applied. The material comes in two large 55 gallon drums – an iso and a resin. These two liquids are kept separate until applied at the jobsite by a qualified, licensed spray foam installer. The two liquids travel up through a heated hose to the spray gun where they are combined to create the foam. The foam expands within seconds to fill the cavity surface. Depending on the type of sprayed-in foam insulation used, closed-cell or open-cell, the foam expands between 40 and 100 times its size upon application.
Product innovation over the years has seen the introduction of several different types of spray foam insulation. Primarily in residential and commercial construction, open-cell and closed-cell spray foam is used while high-density spray insulation is used as roofing foam in commercial or industrial construction. Open-cell sprayed-in foam insulation, a soft low-density material, is typically used for interior applications such as wall cavities, underside of roof decks, attics, basement walls and crawlspaces. The open cell structure of low density foamed insulation allows for moisture permeability to help contribute to moisture management and bi-directional drying of the wall assembly.
Closed-cell spray insulation, a rigid medium-density material, can be used in exterior applications such as continuous insulation applications, as well as interior applications. This type of foam insulation has a higher R-value per inch making it also suitable for small areas that require the highest possible R-value to meet building code requirements. Closed-cell spray foam’s rigidity help reject bulk water making it a recognized flood-resistant material by FEMA(link is external).
As mentioned, open-cell foaming insulation is best suited for interior applications/house insulation, offering an array of advantages of traditional fibrous insulation materials. Benefits of open-cell foam insulation include:
While open-cell foamed insulation has many benefits over traditional insulation types, closed-cell sprayed-in insulation goes beyond to offer additional advantages. Although closed-cell sprayed insulation foam has a higher per board foot cost, there are benefits that the material offers including:
R-value, the thermal resistance measure of insulation, varies between all insulation products whether they are fiberglass, cellulose, open-cell spray foam insulation or closed-cell sprayed-in foam insulation. Generally speaking the rule of thumb is the higher the R-value, the greater the insulating power. Focusing on spray foam insulation materials, there is a difference between the two main types. According to industry publication, Fine Home Building(link is external), the R-value for open-cell spray foam is between R-3.5 – R-3.6 per inch. However, there are open-cell spray foam insulation products actually offer R-3.7 per inch such as Icynene Classic and Icynene Classic Max. The open cell structure of low density foam insulation means the R-value is lower than its closed-cell counterpart. Nevertheless, open-cell spray foam does offer superior and consistent thermal insulation and air sealing properties.
In regards to closed-cell sprayed in foam insulation, R-value can range between R-4.9 to R-7.1 per inch. Closed-cell insulation products, such as Icynene ProSeal, allow builders and architects the ability to achieve R-21 in a three inch pass. Innovations such as Icynene ProSeal LE allows for an initial pass of five inches (5”) to achieve R-35.
Global warming potential (GWP), as defined by the EPA(link is external), is a measure of how much energy the emissions of 1 ton of a gas will absorb over a given period of time, relative to the emissions of 1 ton of carbon dioxide (CO2). Spray foam insulation products that use water as the blowing agent – typically open-cell foam however Icynene’s ProSeal Eco is a 100 percent water blown closed-cell spray foam – have a global warming potential of 1, the lowest possible number. This is because water in the mixture reacts during the application process to release carbon dioxide and heat. The GWP of the blowing agent is that of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide has a GWP of 1.
A major part of the innovation of spray foam products over the last three decades has been the evolution of blowing agents. Blowing agents are the gases used to expand the cells of foam plastic insulation and give it additional insulating properties. Closed-cell spray foam products typically use synthetic compounds as blowing agents because:
Today’s “third generation” of blowing agents have a GWP of 700 to 1000 which is still remarkably high considering water/CO2 has a GWP of 1. However, innovation from some chemical manufacturers like the Chemours Company have introduced the next generation of HFO blowing agents such as Opteon 1100, which significantly reduces the GWP impact when using closed-cell spray foam insulation products.
While the immediate and long-term performance attributes, flexibility of use and various types of foaming insulation make a strong case for using the insulation material in residential and commercial construction, how does it address the ever-changing building codes?
Today, each of the 50 states follows a different set of building codes making navigating these codes confusing, particularly for architects or builders that have projects in multiple states. In some cases, the building code changes significantly between the state and certain cities or counties within the state. For example, at the time of writing Arizona had adopted the 2015 IRC Building Code, however, Phoenix was on the 2012 IRC, IBC and IECC code. With the majority of states either on the 2009, 2012 or 2015 code, below are some high-level points to consider and about how spray foam insulation contributes.
One of the key differentiators between traditional insulation materials and spray foam insulation is the latter’s ability to insulate and air seal. Foam insulation provides an air barrier to wherever it is applied to help mitigate air leakage from the building. Air sealing the building envelope with sprayed-in foam insulation also helps address moisture ingress to reduce the risk of mold and mildew growth as well as the formation of ice dams in colder climate zones during the winter months. When you compare foam insulation with traditional fiberglass insulation and cellulose insulation, sprayed insulation minimizes air infiltration, it assists in limiting moisture vapor from entering and escaping the home, which in turn reduces the load on heating and cooling systems. Below is a video that compares fiberglass, cellulose and open-cell spray foam in terms of insulating and air sealing value.
Spray foam insulation is a complex, but high-performance insulation material, that has helped evolve the category further in the past 30 years to allow architects and builders to advance the way they imagine, design, and construct residential and commercial structures.
this information has been taken from the Icyene Website on advice from our spray insulation subcontractors One Step Insulation
what a view from our site outside straid, ballyclare.
started on site & flying through it…more pics will be coming soon.
Great end to this year with our Dunadry project featuring in Ireland’s Homes Interiors & Living Magazine.
our clients…and us are over the moon how it’s ended up.
Alfie and Sandra’s stunning new build in Dunadry, County Antrim has been thoughtfully designed and decorated with elegance….. read more about it on our projects page
Ireland’s Homes Interiors and Living Magazine featuring slemish design studio architects Modern Dunadry Home
Ireland’s Homes Interiors and Living Magazine featuring slemish design studio architects Modern Dunadry Home
Information on Wood Burning Stoves in your home & office
As the nights get darker and the days get seriously cold we all want the same thing during winter: a warm home. But, as always, there’s debate around the best way to actually heat your home. Here in the office we use a Morsø wood-burning stove to keep things toasty (more on that later…) but you’re probably wondering what’s the best option for you.
morso 7943 wood burning stove
As an architect studio we’re constantly exposed to new ideas, designs and concepts but clients are also always focused on heating their new homes as economically as possible. So if you’re considering installing a wood-burning stove you might want to consider the points below before making the purchase.
Even though 60% of those surveyed by Which said they saved money switching to a wood-burning stove, the initial outlay can prove too much for some. Depending on make, model and location within your house, a new stove can cost anywhere from £750 t0 £2000. As a homeowner you’ll need to weigh up initial costs to long term savings.
A wood-burning stove can seem like the perfect answer to your home heating problems until you think about where you’re going to get such big amounts of wood. Not only do you need a regular supply, you’ll also need space to dry out any damp wood.
If these seem like potential issues then a multi-fuel stove might be your best bet as coal is more readily available. However, this will obviously add to fuel costs going forward.
Stoves are generally purchased to heat one key room in a house as a compliment to a normal central heating system. If, however, you want to treat your new stove as the primary heating source then buying one with a back boiler will be the best option but this will again lead to less efficiency and higher costs.
Also, to effectively choose the right sized boiler you should divide the cubic meter total of the room (length x width x height) by 14 to ensure the correct heat output (kW) is matched to your room. For example, a room measuring 72m3 in total, divided by 14, would result in the use of a stove with an output of 5kW.
Modern wood-burning stoves are systematically designed to decrease overall CO2 emissions during the burning-off process of wood, however you need to be aware of Smoke Control Areas and regulations around your home.
Here in Northern Ireland things can vary from council to council. Fermanagh and Omagh and the Mid Ulster district councils have no regulations whereas Causeway Coast and Glens have some and Mid and East Antrim have more again. The best bet is to check online, or contact your local council office directly.
Morso 6143 Woodburning Stove
If you’ve ever visited our office at Raceview Mill, just outside Ballymena, you’ll know that it’s a big beautiful space upstairs in a converted linen mill but all that space needs to be heated. To do this we installed a brilliant Morsø wood-burning stove that keeps everyone warm and happy all day, alongside all of the coffee…
Our particular model is Morso 6143 and we’d highly recommend it to anyone, bearing in mind the points above.
We moved here just over a year ago, needing more space & better office accommodation to meet & greet clients.
Click the image to see more pics of our office in our projects page
Today’s our official 3rd anniversary!!
It’s been a fantastic 3 years so far working on great projects and moving office to raceview mill in broughshane, ballymena
We’d like to thank everyone that have came to us about all types of architectural projects & also to everyone else who has supported Slemish Design Studio.
Cheers,
Steven & Joe
Slemish Design Studio Architects have been appointed to design a modern renovation and extension to a traditional farmhouse outside Cullybackey, Ballymena.
With great views to the north of the glens & views from the south as far a belfast, this will make the design appealing to both ourselves & clients.
slemish design studio have been appointed as architects for a cottage style house over looking Slemish Mountain outside Broughshane, Ballymena
Well sheltered with mature trees surrounding the site to the North East an crackin views to the south over the countryside and slemish