“Quiet” homes are designed to be:
– healthy
– affordable
– quality
– low maintenance
– energy conscientious
– OWYN WYNI (Only what you need, when you need it)
– psychologically comforting
– green
Healthy
Of course everyone wants a healthy home. History, however, has proven otherwise. While no one can claim to have a 100% healthy home, quite a bit of thought has gone into the ‘Quiet Home’ designs. We’ve listened to people who’ve been adversely affected by their homes. As a result, we’ve adopted a ‘less is more’ philosophy. We’ve reduced electrical components, eliminated wireless components, separated dangerous but necessary components, replaced antiquated components, and have thoroughly considered materials’ health and environmental impact. The result is a home which minimizes electrical consumption, reduces off gassing, and discourages mold. Refrigeration is ‘remote’; meaning the compressor is located a safe distance from the box itself and heat dissipation occurs in the vented portion of the attic. An added benefit is no sound when the refrigerator is cooling.
Affordable
The materials discussed above are usually more expensive than standard box-store materials. So, to reduce cost, these homes eliminate useless spaces, reduce the square footage of required spaces, reduce ‘luxury’ items, and have a simple efficient design.
Quality
Let’s face it. While we try to save costs, we usually get something we pay for many times over because it just isn’t quality. We don’t skimp in these homes. We use European framing cabinets because they’re far more efficient with space, solid surfaces in the bathrooms because they’re more durable and are easier to clean, and faswall because of its durability, energy efficiency, and environmental consideration.
Low Maintenance
Let’s face it. No matter how much thought or care is put into a home something will always fail. Quiet homes are designed to ease the repair process. Plumbing walls are accessible from the other side. All wiring is conduit fed meaning if new wire needs to be pulled it can be. All plumbing has cleanout access. Every route is neatly labeled and accessible. All HVAC is vent driven; meaning a simple vent system is used with a variable speed fan.
Energy Conscientious
Most people don’t think of this, but space between floors is useless space. Why ‘condition’ 18″ of space between floors? That’s 19% energy reduction. And what about walls. That’s another 3%. Ok. We can’t eliminate walls entirely, but an open floor plan allows us to reduce the overall footprint and remove walls in the process. And let’s not forget the ‘remote’ refrigeration described above. Dissipating the heat in the attic means the air conditioner doesn’t have to fight it.
OWYN WYNI (Only What You Need, When You Need It)
Why have electrical current being supplied to rooms you don’t occupy? With that simple reasoning in mind, the only thing required in each room of the house is ‘environmental control’. In that vein of consciousness we’ve set forth a new set of terminology. Instead of light switches, we now have ‘activation’ switches. Using low energy POE, we can configure a room with preset parameters for lights, audio, video, and security. So, now the wall switch merely ‘activates’ the room. Or, more importantly, when you deactivate a room, you’re wasting little to no electricity.
Psychologically Comforting
Nearly every room has natural light. The open concept allows smaller spaces that seem larger. Using the outdoors to expand the indoors is prevalent throughout all quiet homes.
Green
Any amount of ‘reduction’ is a larger step towards green than efforts in safer greener materials. But Quiet Homes use both methods.