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Construction Quality
Do you buy a car just because it's painted your favorite color?
It's easy to get distracted by the "eye candy" in a home--paint,
countertops, cabinets, and floor coverings. Yet, most buyers don't ask what's behind
the "eye candy". That's like buying that car without looking at the engine,
taking it for a test drive, finding out the miles per gallon (MPG) gas rating, or what the warranty covers.
Beautiful carpet won't seem so appealing if your house is always scorching hot in
the summer and freezing cold in the winter. Get the facts and become an educated
home buyer. Take time to ask about the concrete, insulation value, heating and
air conditioning system efficiency and warranty.
Perspective Homes utilizes a number of construction
materials and techniques to provide you with the highest-quality home possible for the price.
Below is some information to help you in your home buying decision.
- Concrete
For starters, your house is only as good as the concrete it sits on.
Perspective Homes worked with the Portland Cement Association
(PCA) for over a year to develop the right concrete mix for our area. Five to five-and-a-half bag mix is typically used.
We use a six-and-a-half bag mix. More concrete powder in the mix=more strength. Think of your concrete as a PacMan
game. The sulfates (the white stuff you see on block walls and around the edges of your concrete)
in the soil are PacMan. Moisture gets him going and chomping on your concrete. Over time, he'll
eat away your concrete and jeopardize the structural integrity of your foundation.
- Insulation
Why does insulation matter? Heating and cooling account for 50 to 70% of the energy
used in the average American home. Inadequate insulation and air leakage are
leading causes of energy waste in most homes.
Insulation:
- saves money and our nation's limited energy resources
- makes your house more comfortable by helping to maintain a uniform temperature throughout the house
- makes walls, ceilings, and floors warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
Once the energy savings have paid for the installation cost, energy conserved
is money saved - and saving energy will be even more important as utility rates go up.
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- Heating and Air Conditioning System
We use the Cadillac of heating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in The Flats at South Pointe. Most homes
in St. George in this price range have cheaper models that lose signficant efficiency and capacity with use.
Now the system must work harder to keep up with your heating and cooling demands, meaning higher
utility bills. The HVAC system we use could alone save you up to 17% on
your utility bills when compared to other models.
- Miscellaneous
- Moisture Control - Rain gutters are standard on all homes. You want
to direct rain water away from your home to help prevent erosion, mold, and a
host of other problems associated with moisture.
- Tile Roof - Asphalt and architectural shingles do not do well in the
St. George heat. We use concrete roof tiles, appropriate for our climate, to make sure your roof
provides steady protection from the environment. No ongoing
maintenance or replacement required.
Eco Info
- Healthier Homes and Communities
Housing conditions are important factors influencing health.
Green design and building practices can create healthier home environments
through better indoor air quality and healthier building materials.
- A Stronger Environment
How and where we build has a huge environmental impact. Buildings account for
38 percent of annual carbon dioxide emissions, 30 percent of both raw materials
waste and landfill waste and 12 percent of potable water consumption.
Environmentally responsible site planning and development, along with energy and water-efficient buildings can make a positive contribution to environmental protection.
- Carbon Footprint
A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities
have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases
produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide(CO2)[2].
The national average of CO2 emissions for an individual is 7.5 tons per year. To offset this emission, 42 trees
would need to be planted. Homes in the Flats at South Pointe reduce CO2 emissions anywhere from
6300lbs to over 10,000lbs versus comparable homes built to the latest building code specifications.
That equates to 72.5-120 tree seedlings grown for 10 years! To find out your carbon footprint, try the
Nature.org Carbon Footprint Calculator.
If you would like
to see what CO2 savings equates to, check out this
nifty calculator
(set unit to "Pounds", amounts vary from 6315lbs for the 1393 plan, 7800 for the 1650 plan, 10300 for the 2500 plan).
Hit "Calculate Equivalencies" and have fun!
- Cradle to Cradle
"Reduce, reuse, recycle," urge environmentalists. In other words, do more with less in order to minimize
damage. But as architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart point out in their provocative,
visionary book Cradle to Cradle, such an approach only perpetuates the one-way, "cradle to grave" manufacturing
model, dating to the industrial Revolution, that creates such fantastic amounts of waste and pollution in the
first place. Instead, why not adopt the mantra "waste equals food".
Guided by this principle, new products are being designed from the outset so that, after their useful lives, they will
provide nourishment for something new. They can be conceived as "biological nutrients" that will easily reenter the water
or soil without depositing synthetic materials and toxins. Or they can be "technical nutrients" that will continually
circulate as pure and valuable materials within closed-loop industrial cycles, rather than being "recycled"-really,
downcycled-into low-grade materials and uses.
The Flats at South Pointe is committed to the principle of cradle-to-cradle building materials. While today's list of
cradle-to-cradle resources is short,
The Flats will offer as many choices as possible and keep an eye out for new products as they become available.
Our buildings follow the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) standards for energy efficient practices; such as water
conservation, indoor air quality, and sustainable sites.
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