Small Modular Homes

Small Modular Homes

Eco Cottages, the small modular home from Nationwide Homes


Modular Homes, The Standard in 2025?

"By the year 2025, modular homes are expected to be the dominant form of home building not only because of their higher quality and lesser costs but most importantly because of their eco-friendly superiorities." - Michael Zenga, ZN Custom Building

In addressing the ongoing concerns of our environment into the future, part of the puzzle involves home construction in general. Not only does home construction create significant waste and use significant energy in construction, but ongoing energy use once built continues to be important looking ahead. These simple facts are leading many to turn away from site built homes and begin looking into "going modular."

Did you know that modular homes create 90 percent less waste than site built home? Because modular homes are predominantly built in a factory setting, each step of the building process is streamlined. This allows maximal usage of materials and therefore less waste. Plus when the small amount of waste is accumulated, it is located in one location rather than multiple sites. This enables excellent opportunities for efficient recycling and waste management.

The factory setting also enables a more durable product that is greater in energy efficiency. By individually building and assembling modules of a modular home, better insulation techniques and a stronger more durable structure is possible. The ability to protect materials from the weather while being built in a factory further adds to the home's quality of construction. Over time, these factors reduce energy usage and markedly reduce future home repairs. Quality and better value provide longevity in a modular home's ability to be "green."

Something often overlooked is the number of subcontractors and time needed to build a site built home in contrast to a modular home. Imagine that an average site built home takes 14 months to build and requires frequent deliveries of building supplies and trips by local subcontractors to and from the site. Now replace that process with 4 months of modular home construction in a factory where all the supplies are delivered infrequently. The bottom line is that modular homes take half the time to construct and put into place and markedly reduce transportation and delivery trips. The end result is savings in energy usage and reduced toxic byproducts that could harm our environment.

What many fail to realize is that modular homes are held to the same local building codes as site built homes; and often their construction quality is superior. Likewise, a modular home can be customized into any design a homeowner desires using the best in "green" building materials. Examples may include WarmBoard Radiant subfloors, HardiPlank siding, Icynene insulation, and low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints. Each of these can be easily implemented in the factory setting along with energy efficient designs that optimize a home's ability to be environmentally friendly.

As we progressively focus on better ways to protect our environment, modular homes afford a great opportunity to reduce energy consumption, reduce waste, limit toxicities, and provide more durable homes. For today, modular homes are the best "green" home building technology.

Small Modular Homes

The Craft of Modular Post & Beam:  Building log and timber homes  affordably
The Craft of Modular Post & Beam: Building log and timber homes affordably
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  • ISBN13: 9780881791310
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
PreFab Green
PreFab Green
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IN PREFAB GREEN, architect Michelle Kaufmann shares her vision of creating thoughtful, sustainable design for everyone. Her firm, Michelle Kaufmann Designs, blends sustainable home layouts, eco-friendly materials, and low-energy options to create a "prepackaged" green solution to home design. Kaufmann tells about five eco-principles that are present in every design her firm creates-smart design, eco-materials, energy efficiency, water conservation, and healthy environment-and how each work together to create homes that make a difference.

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  • ISBN13: 9781423604976
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Building the Custom Home Office: Projects for the Complete Home Work Space
Building the Custom Home Office: Projects for the Complete Home Work Space
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Everything a homeowner needs to know about designing a custom work space at home. Includes information on building home-office furniture, space planning and ergonomics, materials, lighting and computers. Featuring 12 projects, complete with measured drawings and cut lists.

Prefab: Adaptable, Modular, Dismountable, Light, Mobile Architecture
Prefab: Adaptable, Modular, Dismountable, Light, Mobile Architecture
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More and more architects (as well as their clients) are becoming aware of the benefits of prefabricated architecture. Here is a first-ever look at the light, modular, dismantlable, transportable, mobile, adaptable, self-supporting, and recyclable projects that make life easier for 21st-century nomads! Featuring over 25 extraordinary projects designed by progressive architects, PreFab takes a look at an assortment of intriguing prefabricated buildings whose functions range from single-family houses and guest pavilions to offices and bars. Filled with 300 full-color examples and 50 architectural plans by the designers themselves, PreFab will prove to become the definitive reference for architects, contractors, homeowners, and anyone else interested in creating a prefabricated structure.

Prefab Modern
Prefab Modern
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Description

For many, the idea of prefab may bring to mind trailers and other less desirable images of housing.Instead, the new prefab is becoming the inevitable next step to "cool" housing as home buyers look for distinctive yet reasonably priced first and second homes. One in six new houses today is a prefab and 400,000 units are now produced in the U.S. each year. More than 50% of all homes are constructed in whole or in part by using building systems -- modular, panelized components produced in quality controlled environments. This exploration of the best prefabricated houses on the market today, from all over the world, along with a resource directory on how you can purchase them, is an invaluable reference for those interested in this alternative.

Tiny Houses
Tiny Houses
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With “McMansions” increasingly giving way to “tiny” houses, the desire to downsize and be more ecologically and economically prudent is a concept many are beginning to embrace. Focusing on dwelling spaces all under 1,000 square feet, TINY HOUSES (Rizzoli, April 2009) by Mimi Zeiger aims to challenge readers to take a look at their own homes and consider how much space they actively use. Ranging from tree houses to floating houses, TINY HOUSES features an international collection of over thirty modular and prefab homes, each one embodying “microgreen living”, defined as the creation of tiny homes where people challenge themselves to live “greener” lives. By using a thoughtful application of green living principles, renewable resources for construction, and clever ingenuity, these homes exemplify sustainable living at its best.

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  • ISBN13: 9780847832033
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Compact Cabins: Simple Living in 1000 Square Feet or Less; 62 Plans for Camps, Cottages, Lake Houses, and Other Getaways
Compact Cabins: Simple Living in 1000 Square Feet or Less; 62 Plans for Camps, Cottages, Lake Houses, and Other Getaways
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Description

The setting might be a sparkling lakefront, a cool clearing in the woods, a breathtaking mountaintop, or an expansive beach, but the dream of a modest retreat from everyday life often includes a simple little cabin. In cabin getaways of the imagination, the cares of the world recede, time slows down, and the day’s pace is set by leisure and quiet activities.Compact Cabins presents 62 design interpretations of the getaway dream, with something to please every taste. Best of all, these small footprint designs are affordable and energy efficient without skimping on comfort and style. The cabins range in size from a cozy 100 square feet to a more spacious but still economical 1,000 square feet, and all include sleeping accommodations, kitchen and bath facilities, and a heat source. Complete chapters on low-maintenance building materials, utilities and appliances, and alternative energy sources supply readers with the options for living efficiently in small spaces.For every design, readers will find floor plans with detailed suggestions for designing the space for optimal use. These plans are flexible; many feature modular elements that can be mixed and matched to accommodate a particular owner’s needs or hobbies. Features such as an outdoor fireplace, covered porch, or external storage locker might work nicely in several cabin designs. It’s all about enhancing and maximizing small spaces to suit individual needs and preferences.Build small. In this time of uncertain energy costs, global warming, and tighter budgets, building small is a theme that resonates with second-home owners. Gerald Rowan shows readers how to achieve their cabin dreams on a small footprint.

Features

  • ISBN13: 9781603424622
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Prefab Houses (Architecture)
Prefab Houses (Architecture)
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This book shows around 25 international houses that are based on modular and prefabrication systems. All of them have ecological advantages in comparison to standard construction systems, since they represent a more effective use of resources and a reduction of construction time and there with costs. All houses are built in factories, carried by road and assembled on site. Thus, building materials can be used more economically and very few refuse is produced during construction. Due to the actual spread of technologies and construction typologies, the international prefabrication industry can deliver up-to-date houses, aesthetically modern, and with an average rank of prizes from very cheap solutions to more exclusive ones, depending on the main material used (wood, steel, galvanised aluminum and concrete).

Prefab
Prefab
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Prefab presents a series of innovative homes and concepts that boldly demonstrate that this is not your grandmother's prefab, offers a glimpse into the history of prefabricated housing over the last century, and reveals a wealth of practical and attractive alternatives to the status quo. Prefab discusses architects, builders, and designers such as Walter Gropius and Philippe Starck, examines the historical precedents from Albert Frey's Corbusier-inspired Aluminaire house to Kisho Kurokawa's capsules, and showcases the work of twenty-four contemporary architects and designers who are exploring the myriad possibilities that prefabrication offers for housing of the future. From the fantastical digitized aluminum prototypes of Gregg Lynn to the stylish functionality of Ikea's prefabricated apartments in Sweden, Prefab presents a series of innovative homes and space-saving concepts that show how far this building technique has come-and how far it can go. Allison Arieff is a writer, senior editor of the architecture magazine dwell, and co-author of Trailer Travel. She is also the editor of several books on art and culture, including Airstream: A History of the Land Yacht and Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop. She lives in San Francisco. Bryan Burkhart is the designer and co-author of Airstream: The History of the Land Yacht and Trailer Travel: A Visual History of Mobile America. As creative director of his own firm, Modernhouse, he has designed books for Taschen, Chronicle Books, and Gibbs Smith, Publisher. Burkhart also lives in San Francisco.

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