Today we are looking at how the HRV unit is installed in our newly completed case study house. The HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) is a piece of mechanical equipment that is mounted to the ceiling of the mechanical room. It’s functions as an air exchanger where the warm the exhaust air from the furnace is passed by the cool incoming air from the outside and thus pre-heats the outside air – this reduces the amount of heating demand placed on the furnace. It is also connected to the furnace and to vents located in each of the bathrooms in this house. This type of installation is known as an active HRV which serves to circulate fresh air through out the house and air exchange in the bathrooms. (more…)
In our recently completed case study house, we have used a see through fireplace as the spatial division between the living and dining rooms. We wanted it to read as a monolithic object and therefore we have clad the entire floor to ceiling volume in a 12 inch by 24 inch limestone tile. To maximize the sizes of the tiles used and minimize the grout lines, we have had to set the height and location of the fireplace unit itself based on the dimension and proportion of the tile. (more…)
Our case study house has two islands in the kitchen – each one has been detailed slightly differently. Today, we are looking specifically at how the legs of the island have been put together.
The first island has a raised leg detail. The intention is to make the island look more like a table. The legs are on the corners of this island and are 3 inches by 3 inches square and sit proud of the adjacent drawers and gable ends by about one inch. The leg detail is further emphasized by the toe kick, which is recessed and has been detailed in a different finish from the island itself. (more…)
A kitchen island is a great feature to have in your home, but for some people, there is a concern that the inevitable mess around the kitchen sink will be visible from other rooms in the house. In our recently completed case study house, the open plan kitchen is located adjacent to both the living and dining rooms and the clients were concerned about views towards the kitchen sink. (more…)
Our wet bar is located just to the side of the kitchen in our case study house. There is a large side yard window located above the wet bar that we wanted to incorporate into the overall design of the wet bar cabinetry. To do this, we created an upper cabinet for glass and bottle storage that also becomes the trim of this side yard window. We thickened and extended the gables of the upper cabinet to surround the window above on three sides. (more…)
We like to detail our front entry closets like pieces of millwork as opposed to just passage doors with standard trim. In our case study house, we have created a millwork composition with the front entry closet that merges the trim and closet doors and includes an off-set display niche. (more…)
The open riser stair in our newly completed Housebrand house has a carpet inlay on each tread as well as a carpeted landing which requires some specific attention to all the connection details.
First, at the top of the stairs, a custom wood nosing has been installed across the entire top of the last riser. This provides a clean edge for the upper floor carpet to terminate against without having to have the carpet wrap over the nosing. The nosing extends about an inch past a solid wood trim board which has been installed to cover what would normally be left as exposed drywall – which is not a very durable surface for a stair riser. (more…)
For durability reasons, it is a good idea to detail a resilient flooring at your front door. One elegant solution is to create a tile inlay because it visually allows the hardwood to flow through to the entry while simultaneously providing the durability of a floor mat.
An inlay simply means that the tile surface is set into the hardwood as opposed to having tile laid wall to wall. There are three critical details to take into account if you are considering a tile inlay in your home: the first is to “picture frame” the hardwood around the tile inlay, the second is to reinforce the joint between the hardwood and the tile using a metal edge and not rely on the strength of the tile grout and the third is to extend the tile all the way to the sill of the front door so to avoid any chance of direct foot to floor contact with the hardwood at the threshold. (more…)
In today’s episode, we are reviewing the floor plans of our recently completed Housebrand house that will be featured throughout the month of February for our “on location” segments.
This three storey, 3,000 square foot home features a sunken courtyard on the lower level and a main floor terrace off the living and dining rooms taking advantage of expansive views to the west. (more…)
We are very excited to announce that for the month of February, Slow Home will be on location in one of our most recently completed Housebrand homes. The house, designed and built by John and Matthew, is a 3,000 square foot infill house in one of Calgary’s established inner city neighborhoods. (more…)
