JULY 9, 2009 ISSUE
Affordable Green Home Design Finds Local Interest
Meridian Timberworks’ Low-Cost, Efficient Timber-SIP Home Coming to Catawba
Young professionals living in Catawba chose Meridian Timberworks to build their first home after reading about the company’s affordable green home designs in High Country Press. The couple chose the Sugar Grove design, which features 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in its 1,180 square feet of heated living space, and customized the structure with 400 feet of additional living space. Meridian Timberworks’ Timber-SIP Synergy Home Line is a collection of timber-frame designs that are affordable, energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing.In October 2008, High Country Press researched affordable green housing in a series of stories called “Rethinking What Affordable Housing Looks Like.” One focus in the series was on Meridian Timberworks and its Timber-SIP Synergy Home Line, a collection of timber-frame designs that are affordable, energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing. This week, Meridian Timberworks and its owner, David H. Bryan, Jr., are announcing that the first energy-efficient home in the line will be built in Catawba, just outside of Hickory. The new construction will serve as a physical example that green building can be affordable—while seeming anything but.
“Typically, timber-frames are only marketed to high-end clientele. We’re trying to bring timber-frame construction to a broader market by making it more affordable,” said Bryan. “Basically, we’re simplifying the structures without sacrificing their character.”
Meridian’s Timber-SIP Synergy homes merge timber-frame construction with structural insulated panels, or SIPs. SIPs feature a foam core sandwiched between two pieces of oriented strand board. SIPs are twice as energy efficient as normal bat insulation and stronger than normal stick-built walls. Combined, SIPs and timber-frame produce a strong, energy efficient and architecturally unique home.
Meridian offers three Timber-SIP home designs that start at $40 per square foot, dried-in, or without doors, windows and siding. The Sugar Grove design features 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in its 1,180 square feet of heated living space; the Beech Mountain design features 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in its 1,592 square feet of heated living space; and the Laurel Ridge design features 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in its 2,380 square feet of heated living space.
“We want to try and reach the outdoor enthusiast with these designs. They are geared toward 30-somethings that want a more efficient home, want a timber-frame look but historically have not been able to afford it,” said Bryan.
Bryan succeeded in attracting a 30-something couple living in Catawba to his Timber-SIP home line after they read Bryan’s story in High Country Press. The couple chose the Sugar Grove design—construction begins this week—and customized it by adding 400 additional heated square feet and an unfinished basement. Even though the couple customized the plan by adding additional living space, the price for the home still comes in at approximately $40 per square foot, which includes timber-frames, walls and a roof system. The completed project will include a total of 1,568 square feet of heated living space and an unfinished basement, and the plan is ENERGY STAR certified.
Not only does the project create a green home at an affordable price, it also does it fast. Now that a concrete foundation has been poured and dried, a four-person crew from Meridian will take four days to stand the timber-frame, and then a four-person crew from Meridian will take four days to install the SIPs. In total, Bryan’s crews will use just more than a week to dry-in the home—a very quick span of time in comparison to the time needed to dry-in a traditional stick-built home.
What’s more, Meridian building sites are kept clean because no timbers or SIPs are cut onsite. All of the timber-framing and SIPs are cut and engineered by hand in Meridian’s workshop on Highway 421 in Boone. By handcrafting all the components in the shop, waste is minimized, as well as disturbance to the homesite, said Bryan.
“Everything is pre-cut in our warehouse. That means less destruction of the jobsite by work crews and less waste because it’s all pre-engineered,” said Bryan.
According to Bryan, Timber-SIP Synergy homes are 60 to 70 percent more efficient than log homes and up to 50 percent more efficient than stick-built homes. Once dried-in, the homes’ ceilings are rated at R38 and the homes’ walls are rated at R24—both are more than double what the building code requires.
“We, as a company, are constantly trying to take advantage of great green products that are out there,” said Bryan. “[This project] shows a great shift toward green building and that a lot of people up here are interested in taking advantage of it.”
In addition to the Timber-SIP home line, Bryan and his company are introducing turnkey home packages that utilize Forest Stewardship Council-certified and reclaimed wood. The wood is salvaged from fire-damaged trees and trees killed by invasive beetles from the West Coast and is used for flooring, siding and paneling. The new turnkey home packages that use these woods, as well as Meridian’s solar-thermal water heating system, are ENERGY STAR certified and also help homes reach the classification for N.C. HealthyBuilt Homes.
For more information, click to www.meridiantimberworks.com or call 828-773-4496.
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