How to Utilize Modeling Software and Mock-ups When Designing Construction Assemblies

Missing a detail when working through an unfamiliar assembly can be easy to do.  Getting your head around the movement of water, air, and the thermal boundary with all of the parts and pieces that are required to make the structure often requires more information than can be shown in a simple plan or elevation.  I often find myself drawing in 3-D using a modeling software or even going as far as building a mock-up of the assembly.  Sometimes both are needed.

If you are an architect, which I am not, you’ll have the software tools to make professional, photo realistic drawings.  I do have some formal training in drafting, but that was decades ago, CAD was new, and my instructor believed in drawing by hand first, then move to the computer.  Some of my past designs were simply done on paper or with an inexpensive CAD program, which can work, but not very impressive when trying to sell a client on a design.

This hand drawing is my original design for the concreteless slab on grade home showing the floor system.  Later, with the help of SketchUp, the design was transformed to this.

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What to Know About Construction Sequencing in High Performance Projects

This post first appeared on the Green Building Advisor website.

I was a builder for more than 10 years before I attempted my first above code building project.  There was an order in the way I built early in my career that usually kept my projects moving smoothly.  That schedule went out the window with my first attempt at constructing a higher performing home.

Integrating high levels of air tightness, greater R-values, along with other elements to improve performance can result in assemblies and installation details going out of order from traditional construction practices.  The easiest and most logical construction schedules often need adjustments.

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