Rectangular Footprint: In this article, we talked about basic house design. You can save a tremendous amount of money on both the design of your home and its construction costs by staying as close as possible to a rectangular footprint. You will save money on footings and beams for your foundation, as these add up quickly for every deviation in the design. Then look at the impact on the structural wall and roof design for each of those projections or turns-these can also really add cost. Again, every time you complicate a design, it requires more materials to build and you create an opportunity for wasted resources. The roofer attempting to frame a corner may cut several new pieces of lumber for the angles needed.
- Designing on Two-Foot Modules:
Also in this article, we discussed that most building materials come in two-foot incremental lengths or widths. Even materials that are only available in four-foot width work with this strategy. If you only need three feet of plywood or OSB to finish off sheathing to the corner, cutting that off a 4 x 8 sheet leaves one foot of waste, or 25 percent of the material. The same is true for interior room dimensions. An extra inch or two can mean cutting into an extra plank of wood the entire depth of the room, or even worse, an extra 12- foot- or 15-foot-wide piece of roll goods. Multiply this by every place you have odd feet and inches of materials in your home and that is a lot of waste in the dumpster!
- Mechanical Design:
Again in this article, we discussed the advantages in designing for central core plumbing and central location of the water heating appliance for less water wasted down the drain while waiting for hot water delivery. The same is true for a central location for the furnace/air handler and a compact duct design. The added advantage of centralized design of these conventional systems is that making these systems more compact requires fewer materials that equates to fewer pieces to cut and fewer wasted remnants.
- Detailed Framing Diagrams:
A detailed framing plan and materials take-off lists each piece of wood, sheet and roll goods and every other material to be used in the construction of the house, as well as locations for all other items such as wiring, ducts and pipes. Detailed plans will help eliminate conflicts between trade contractors over how frame assemblies are utilized, preventing setbacks of installation schedules and cost overruns. Detailed framing plans will also help to ensure that any special structural bracing will be installed during framing and not have to be added later at higher expense. The architect should provide this level of detail on the plans. It will serve as a basis for knowing exactly what materials are required, in what quantities and how they should be installed. This knowledge can significantly reduce the amount of waste generated by contractors over-engineering structures to make up for lack of guidance.
- Advanced Framing:
Wood waste typically represents 40-50 percent of all jobsite waste. Advanced Framing techniques use less lumber which means less lumber waste. Framing 24 inches on center, two-stud corners, eliminating unnecessary studs for window and door framing all equate to fewer studs to cut, which means less scrap created. In-line framing minimizes the amount of waste generated from bracing and specialized framing materials that would otherwise be required to support loads.
Additionally, studies on construction using two-stud corners with drywall clips have shown that this method results in fewer cracks in the drywall. This saves waste not only during construction, but also over time by reducing waste generated by repair and replacement of damaged components.
