PanelWrights uses the ePrint and Share utility daily – Dan can redline drawings in the field, snap a picture with his smartphone and upload design and detail questions to the ePrint and Share cloud.  Our designer Eric can access those changes sitting at his desk in the PanelWrights office and make necessary adjustments electronically.  Combined with Tyvec plans and HP’s waterproof ink system, PanelWrights has improved efficiency and communication between field and office.

Al likes the ability of this system to facilitate large file sharing and electronic collaboration with engineers, architects and owners.  Al has  been recruited by HP’s Experts and Mentors Program and will be speaking at the upcoming AIA convention in New Orleans on the success of ePrint and Share in the PanelWrights office.

The team from Starting Pointe Foundations Inc worked closely with us to install the poplar boards inside the concrete forms. The process is fairly simple and with a few screws to hold the poplar in place along with spraying the boards to prevent unwanted sticking, the walls were ready to pour. Due to the muddy conditions, a pumper truck was used to fill the forms. When the forms were stripped, I was delighted with both the dimensional accuracy of the pour and the appearance of the interior finish. The grain from the poplar boards gives the appearance that the foundation may have been poured before the days of steel and aluminum forms. The design of this foundation wall system is being insulated on the exterior. This method does a number of good things for us. First, it moves the dew-point outside of the structure. This simple detail means no wet smell in the basement level. In addition, the mass of the concrete wall is completely insulated and can act as thermal mass that buffers any temperature fluctuations. The idea of thermal mass is being used in both the walls and the slab in the lower level. I’ll show a lot more detail as we insulate and ultimately clad the outside of our poured wall.

The CraftWorks project is giving us the opportunity to showcase many of the tricks and techniques we’ve mastered over the years. For those of you who follow this build, you’ll notice that we’re not using a points system like LEED or NAHB’s Green Build program. This project will be an opportunity for PanelWrights to prove that real energy efficiency doesn’t cost a premium and isn’t difficult.

We’re very excited about this project as it should serve as a valuable training opportunity. I hope to educate builders, owners, code officials, and our states legislators about what energy efficiency is and how it can be achieved.

As a sign-off to this first of many posts, I want to direct you to an article about the current state of our energy code. Recent changes to the code will increase minimum standards and force us as an industry to build better buildings. What a concept! Better buildings for all the right reasons. The following article highlights the current fight and how the NAHB and other industry dinosaurs are fighting tooth and nail to hold our industry back based on inaccurate information.

http://www.greenbuildermag.com/Blogs/Ron-Jones/March-2011/Got-Mustard-

It’s a very good and short read that every building official and politician ought to digest and then join the fight to improve the way we build homes.

I hope we speak often and I hope you all make it to the ribbon cutting where we WILL christen this building as the most energy efficient building in West Virginia.