Create your view with windows

If you are designing a new home, you have the opportunity to set your house on the spot that will give you the best views around.  It is then up to you and your designer to find the way to take advantage of your lot.  We recently purchased and renovated a home that had a great view, but it was hidden.

There is a lake out there, somewhere!  From inside the home, you couldn't see it.

By opening up the wall, and adding a room with large windows, and an open porch, the lake now is a part of the home.

This photo was taken from the same spot, after the wall was removed and the large windows added.

The new rooms accent the view, and the Lake becomes a part of the home.

Hearth for Fireplace—Is it necessary to have a hearth for a gas fireplace?

 A hearth is not mandatory for the building code if you have a gas-only fireplace. But it would look funny without one since we are all accustomed to seeing a hearth on a fireplace. The kind of hearth that is flush with the floor as shown in the photos is exactly what you want. It won’t get in the way of the furniture and be a block in the room like a raised hearth would.

Notes from Bill Hirsch January, 2011


Each winter, as the days get icy, I get queries for advice about a common complaint. Beautiful wooden planks on floors are not laying as snugly as they had been, framing is pulling away from its place, doors don't fit as tightly. What is going on?

Wooden floors seem to be shrinking as the air in homes are heated. This shrinkage is due to the wood losing moisture content. The indoor relative humidity is usually quite low in the wintertime. As the air dries out, it draws moisture from the wood floors and the rest of the wood in the house, studs and doors included. When the weather warms, the relative humidity will go up, and the wood floors, studs, joists, and doors will swell up again. If the wood had the proper moisture content when it was installed, it should return to the original size. But, if the wood was excessively moist when installed, it may never return to the original size.

Seasonal shrinkage of wood in a home is a normal occurrence. One way to reduce this shrinking is to add humidity to your home. A central humidifier installed on your heating system will work if you have forced air heat. Otherwise, a free-standing humidifier would help. If you install or start using a humidifier, it might take weeks for the wood to absorb enough moisture to make a visitble diffeence in the shinkage you see.

If your floors do not return to normal and excessive cracking is still a problem next summer, call your contractor and tell him you think he installed a wood floor with too high a moisture content. Most good contractors will stand behind their work and make the corrections .

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A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed by a writer from the New York Times about self publishing. Here is a link if you are interested. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203525404576049622180003938.html

I continue to enjoy designing homes--the people I meet and work with are inspiring. I have also been writing articles for my website, www.about-home-design.com If you have any topics that you would like to read about, please let me know.

If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Bill

William J Hirsch, Jr AIA
200 Benwell Court
Cary, NC 27519

919-469-9290
hirschnc@nc.rr.com
http://www.williamhirsch.com/
http://www.designingyourperfecthouse.com/
http://www.about-home-design.com/

Notes from Bill Hirsch October, 2009

I went over to a friend's home the other day, and she had her house beautifully decorated for the Fall Season. However, she lamented the fact that she had to use one of her bedrooms to store all of her seasonal goodies. Her home was not designed with enough storage space. When you are laying out your plans for your home, don't forget to add closets and areas to keep all of the occasionally used items such as seasonal decorations and party needs. If you like to entertain, you will surely need to have a place to keep your nice tablecloths, napkins, glassware, and serving pieces. If you like to decorate, like my friend, you will need an ample storage area for fun decorations. Some people set aside an area with large shelves and use crates and containers to organize their items. In other homes we have arranged ways to hang up wreaths and decorations on the walls to keep them from getting crushed.
While you are thinking about storing your holiday decorations, you also need to remember to include your holiday lighting needs when making your electric plans.

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The month of October has marked the 20th anniversary of the Chatham County, NC Habitat for Humanity Organization. They have had various activities celebrating the 20 years of service this month. On October 24th they had a dedication of the 89th home to be built by the group. Congratulations! http://www.chathamhabitat.org/ We continue to contribute a portion of our book profits to this worthy cause.

In September Bill attended the "Reinvention Convention" which is an annual conference for Residential Architects. Topics discussed included making residential architecture more relevant to the needs of society, using media and technology to promote good design, and sustainable building.

Next month Bill will be speaking about Residential Architecture to the Minnesota AIA convention in Minneapolis. Thanks for your support!If you have any comments or questions, please contact me at hirschnc@nc.rr.com, or go to one of my websites, http://www.designingyourperfecthouse.com/ http://www.williamhirsch.com/

Bill William J. Hirsch Jr. AIAArchitect and Author of: Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect
#1 Bestseller on Amazon.com Awards: Best Book, USA Book News, Gold Medal Indie Book Awards, Silver Medal ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year, Bronze Medal IPPY BooklAwards.

Passive Solar Design in Early American Homes: by Bill Hirsch, Architect and Author of Designing Your Perfect House:Lessons from anArchitect

The heat of the summer has energy-efficient cooling on my mind lately. Here is a passage from a blog I recently wrote after visiting a house in San Diego.
"Passive solar design and sustainable building are not new inventions. Who would have thought that we would be returning to the house design principles of more than a century and a half ago? I visited a house in San Diego that is built in the Spanish Colonial style of the early California settlers. You can see from the photographs that it is built in a "U" shape with a covered veranda wrapping the inside of the "U". In the center is an outdoor space that is planted and has a water feature in the center.

This is passive solar design at its essence. The climate is dry and the sun is harsh. So what did the builders do? They shaped the building so as to create a protected courtyard. The hot sun is kept from streaming into the windows and the thick adobe walls don't heat up in the sun because they are shaded by the veranda roof. This prevents them from radiating heat into the living spaces. In fact, the high-mass adobe walls will hold the cooler nighttime temperatures, providing a measure of cooling that requires no electricity. After all, they did not have that luxury. The shape the building and the use of the veranda as a corridor between rooms means that every room will have openings on two sides so that even the smallest breeze will ventilate the room.
It's these simple principles that we should be incorporating into our "modern" designs to reduce our demands for energy. The pleasant by-product of designing in this manner is that the spaces become more inviting and comfortable for people. Rooms with daylight on two walls are wonderful. Transition spaces, such as verandas, improve the quality of the spatial experience. Smooth transitions from outside to inside soothe our souls."

More about Bill Hirsch--

Bill's book, Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons From An Architect, continues to receive rave reviews from everyone. In fact, the awards and recognition are beginning to pile up! Some of the most recent citations include they following:

-2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Winner: Home and Garden category
-USA BOOK NEWS 2008 National Best Books awards: Winner in Home Reference category
-ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award 2008: Silver Medalist: Architecture category

-Independent Publishers Book Awards 2009: Bronze medalist: Home and Garden category.

If you are interested in hearing Bill discuss his ideas about design and home building--- he was interviewed by Natalie Weinstein, host of Home Show with Natalie Weinstein. The radio program broadcasts from New York's 1370 AM, "WALK", on Sunday July 26 at 10 am. After it's airing, the podcast will be available at http://designingyourperfecthouse.com/mail/images/tracker.phpqid=0d3c4efeec8e1a6c06e98dfa71ebf223&go=http://walkradio.com/cc-common/podcast.html.

For more information about Bill Hirsch, go to his website:

http://www.williamhirsch.com/

http://www.designingyourperfecthouse.com/

Contact: maureen@dalsimerpress.com

We have made a commitment to Habitat for Humanity to contribute a portion of the proceeds from the sales of our books to Chatham County,NC Habitat for Humanity. My book is Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect. (www.designingyourperfecthouse.com) To be someone’s Perfect House, a house does not have to be expensive. Any house can be Your Perfect House if it fulfills your needs and your vision of “home.” Habitat for Humanity is an outstanding organization of volunteers who work tirelessly to help many deserving families realize their dream of a home of their own, a home that is their Perfect House.

The Chatham County affiliate of Habitat for Humanity is one of the exemplary affiliates in the country. They were one of last year’s three national finalists for the distinction of Affiliate of the Year as a result of the work of so many caring and hard-working volunteers. Director of Development, Kay Taylor, and the rest of the staff, along with this year’s President, Dick Forbis, the many volunteers and everyone involved with Chatham County Habitat for Humanity deserve our congratulations and our continued support. Please think of their good work when considering donations of money, donations of items for the Home Store, or a contribution of your time and talents to help build more Perfect Houses for our neighbors who need a helping hand. Every house strengthens our community.

You can contact Chatham County Habitat for Humanity at 919-542-0794. www.chathamhabitat.org

Am I nuts? I think that now is a great time to build

Bill has written the following article encouraging people to support the building industry.
http://www.carynews.com/opinion/story/11720.html