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| Crane installing special Rand
Soellner Architect-designed "SpaceSaver" attic trusses
on mountain home. |
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CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATION SERVICESRand
Soellner Architect offers Construction Administration services on
many of its projects. These services are typically hourly, and
include:
- Shop Drawing & Shop
Submittal Review (for conformance to project documents)
- Substitution Request Review
(for possible value engineering or project improvements)
- Construction Site Visits &
Reports
- Construction Coordination
Communications
- Construction Problem Solving -
Construction Document Addenda Creation & Distribution
- Construction Document Updates
Conforming to Actual Construction & Addenda
- Document Reproductions
- Coordination of Engineering &
Other Disciplines For Construction Site Visits and Issues
- Additional Detail Creation and
Condition Clarifications
- Punchlist Walk-Throughs and
Reports: Multiple Progress, Substantial Completion, Final
Completion
- Selection of Appliances,
Fixtures (Plumbing & Electrical), Colors, Finishes, Cabinets
& Cabinet Hardware, Door Hardware and other items.
Rand Soellner, Architect
recommends that you always have your architect involved in the
construction process of your home. Going into construction without
your architect is like having an operation without your surgeon. The
value of Good Design will pay you back many fold when you have your
home appraised and sold. Similarly, Good Construction helps you to
insure that the quality you thought you were getting during the
design process is what you receive during the actual building of the
project. |
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EARTH COVER & DRILLING PREPARATORY TO
BLASTINGBlasting is a site
preparation that can occur quite often in the mountains. Shown
here, one of Rand Soellner Architect’s projects has recently
had a clay & sand mix of earth cover 6’ tall compacted over
the proposed blast zone, with a buffer of 5’ beyond. The
drilling & blasting subcontractor is onsite with their drill rig
pounding their bit down from 1’ to 15’ deep. Soon,
they will insert small dynamite charges timed microseconds apart to
minimize the seismic disturbance. The thick fill earth
prevents the blast surge from ejecting fractured rock into the air.
Adjacent homes had a pre-blast survey with cameras to document
existing conditions inside and outside. During blasting, the
surrounding homes will be monitored with seismographs, to document
the actual seismic shock at the nearest exterior wall to the
blasting. In this fashion, the blasting subcontractor can
prove that their blasting had minimal effect on adjacent homes,
thereby reducing liability. It is extremely important to have
responsible subcontractors like this, who have in their agreements
liability for any damage done to surrounding homes caused by their
work. Since they are experienced and responsible mechanics,
the precautions they take reduce the likelihood of any damage to
surrounding facilities. Make sure you have a capable, licensed
mountain architect knowledgeable in matters like this, and
state-licensed specialty subcontractors with adequate general
liability insurance and specific coverage for your project, as well
as worker’s compensation for their employees. As always,
consult with your attorney for guidance in contractual matters for
serious operations. |
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Blasted cliff face on steep siteHere
you can see one of the Rand Soellner Architect project sites with a
blasted side slope. This granite face is about 10’ to 14’
high and was sheared off by several hundred pounds of dynamite,
delivered in 4 separate blasts, with each charge several
milliseconds apart to control the seismic disturbance. The
boulders quarried from this were used to build a large boulder wall
and will also be used by stone masons on the main elevation of the
home, saving the owners hundreds of thousands of dollars. |
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Mountain Sites Often Require Septic SystemsA
plastic septic tank cost a little more than a concrete tank, but is
easier to move and position on site, particularly steep sites, where
a heavy septic tank truck would have difficulty maneuvering. A
concrete tank is frowned upon by health departments too, as they
feel that the concrete is porous and therefore seeps into the soil,
also there are joints between concrete pieces through which fluid
can leak. Gravel is placed around the tank to allow rainwater
to filter through it without hydrostatic pressure from the
surrounding clay earth, removing the possibility of the tank popping
up from saturated soil. The drain lines for this system
required Rand Soellner Architect to negotiate two separate easements
across 3 different pieces of property. The system is standard
gravity and was very economical. |
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SITEWORK & MASTER PLANNINGOne
of our estate-home projects involves extensive culvert piping so
large a person can walk through them. A 1/3 mile-long road that we
master-planned is being constructed on a mountain site in Franklin,
NC. |
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BOULDERWALL FOOTINGIn
mountain environments, it is not uncommon for boulder walls to fall,
because their substrate and manner of installation was not properly
designed. Structural engineering consultants have informed us
that the method indicated here (on a Rand Soellner Architect
project) is one of the best methods of securing this extremely heavy
loading condition. A very wide, steel-reinforced high-strength
concrete footing is excavated to solid earth or rock, pins
installed, rebar mat placed and special curb detail provided to
secure the first boulder course. Note the vertical diagonal
steel hooks that Rand Soellner added to the engineer’s detail,
to handle tension stresses imparted to the curb steel.The entire
assembly is tipped back towards the slope to guard against
over-turning, and a special geotextile fabric used to secure the
various courses back into the slope. Kids, don’t try this
at home! Engage a structural engineer in your area to properly
design to your circumstances.
Here
you can see a backhoe laying down a scoop of earth onto the main
horizontal and intermediate vertical geotextile fabric. The
fabric is extremely strong, invented for this purpose and has a
tensile strength more than 6 times that of normal geotextile
fabrics. It contains the vertical clayey earth fill and keeps
it from seeping through the rear of the boulders and the horizontal
fabric acts like massive “brick ties” to secure the
boulders and keep them from moving. If you look closely, you
can see that the boulders are leaning slightly back to the earth
side, to resist overturning, also you can see the overall
racking-back of the exterior face of the boulder wall. It
takes a lot of coordination and supervision to do this correctly.
This is just one of the reasons why you should have your architect
perform Construction Administration services. |
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Geotextile FabricIs
used between boulder coursing to act like large brick ties, helping
to stabilize the boulder wall and the earth behind it. |
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20’ Tall Boulder Wall over 100’
longRand Soellner
Architects sees this quite often on mountain home projects. It
takes a seasoned mountain architect to know how to handle this,
working in association with structural engineers. Notice how
the wall angles back toward the earth fill, to resist over-turning. |
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FOUNDATIONSIn
mountain environments, it is important to probe the geology of the
site to determine if bedrock exists near the surface. If so, we may
recommend pinning the foundations to the rock with epoxy-coated
re-bars, to resist the tendency of the soil above from developing a
shear plane during heavy rains. Also, quite often on mountain
slopes, distances and slopes exceed the accessibility of concrete
truck chutes and must be pumped, as the workers are doing on one of
our projects to the left. |
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SOME MOUNTAIN FOUNDATIONS CAN BE TALLparticularly
on steep sites. Our consultant structural engineers work with us to
optimize and strengthen cast-in-place reinforced concrete walls with
buttresses to handle the height, wind load and bearing conditions.
This is one of our large mountain estate homes now under
construction in Lake Toxaway, NC. Over 10 miles of reinforcing bars
were used in this foundation. |
WE SCHEDULE & ADMINISTER YOUR PROJECT,
FAST-TRACKING THE WORKRand
Soellner Architect creates detailed schedules if you desire, working
with the Contractor and Subcontractors to stack construction
activities, assisting the coordination of the project. |
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ROOF FRAMINGRoof
framing and exterior moisture barrier installation on the Coram
Renovation & Addition, Scaly Mountain, NC. |
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ROOF SHEATHINGFalcon
Cliff Lodge under construction in Cashiers, NC. Special roofing
underlayment will soon waterproof the entire structure, accelerating
interior building activities. Large log front posts enhance the
lodge image of the home. |
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HYBRID SYSTEMS ENSURE STRENGTH WHILE SAVING
MONEYHere we are using
prefabricated economical gang-nailed scissors roof trusses, which
are typically installed in just one day. Afterward, we often come
back inside after the structure is dried-in and add large softwood
timbers decoratively, to give the real look and feel of post and
beam timber and log construction, for pennies on the dollar. We also
design authentic mortise & tenon timber structures as well, in
association with structural engineers. |
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MANY HANDS MAKE THE WORK OF INSTALLING
LARGER POSTS LIGHTERRand
Soellner Architect, in association with its engineers, has developed
a unique and surprisingly economical method of reinforcing tall
gable window walls with timber posts that knit those 24 foot-plus
tall wall framing members together to resist the 120+ mph winds that
mountain homes can experience. The result is a wonderful exposed
timber post detail that has a nice mountain lodge appearance that
adds warmth to the space and value to the home. |
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12x12 posts & beamsdefine
a structural coffered ceiling in a Kitchen-Breakfast-Keeping Room in
one of Rand Soellner Architect's homes now under construction in the
mountains. |
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LOG SETTING
7,000 pound, 35' tall 2' diameter debarked log post being set on
Soellner mountain home project. Contractor used 23-ton crane to
place the rear log posts and made short work of this mountain
man-sized job. |
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INSTALLATION OF HIGH ALTITUDE WINDOWSRand
Soellner is the featured author of an article in Keller-Williams
Spring 2005 Issue of On The Mountain. The article is called "The
Do's & Don't's of Mountain Design & Construction: Windows"
-- In this issue, Rand explains why thousands of windows in
high-altitude locations have fogged, and how to prevent this. In the
photo to the left, workmen install a clad wood double-hung window in
one of Rand Soellner Architect's projects. After installing special
polymer sealant to bond the window's nailing flange to the water
barrier, special metallic tape is applied over the flange to further
improve the substrate's water-repelling characteristics. During
Construction Administration visits, this is the sort of process for
which we look on your behalf. |
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ROOFINGHere
is one of our projects receiving one of the industry's latest
innovations (as featured on HGTV): Slate composition roofing tiles.
It looks just like the real slate for a fraction of the cost and
weight. This particular pattern was developed to resist 120mph wind
load. Workers are using our value-engineered copper-oxide kynar
coated metal (looks like copper for half the cost) for flashing over
EcoStar's GlacierGuard waterproof underlayment (which seals around
nails for a watertight peel & stick system). We are using
stainless steel nails, which will last the life of the roof. This is
a 50 guaranteed roof! Yes, the warrantee is transferable! Our
clients are demanding low-maintenance materials and systems. We
created a special mix of black, midnight gray and earth green to
approximate real weathered slate roofs. |
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ARCHITECT MANAGES 50-YEAR ROOFING WARRANTEE
INSPECTION & CERTIFICATIONOur
clients want homes that are as maintenance-free as possible. At the
top of this list is usually Roofing. Rand Soellner Architect likes
to specify EcoStar's Majestic Slate composition roofing tiles and
Glacier Guard underlayment on many of its projects, as Carlisle,
EcoStar's parent company provides a 50-year warrantee on properly
completed and inspected installations. Our desire is to satisfy
clients' dreams of a luxury resort mountain home. One aspect of this
means we can provide Construction Administration activities like
coordinating and managing the certification-warrantee inspection
above by the roofer and roofing system provider to provide you with
not only peace of mind, but a significant resale feature with a
transferable half-a-century warrantee on your roofing! Where else
can you find that? |
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INSULATING MOUNTAIN HOMES, LOG HOMES,
TIMBER HOMES, CASTLESOur
log homes, timber frame homes, castles and other home designs
featured significant insulation values to lower your operating
costs. In this particular Rand Soellner Architect home design, we
used stick and truss framing with thick fiberglass roof insulation
to result in the most economical insulation and structural solution.
We are adding large timber members under the ceiling level to give
the post and beam and log home feeling for cents on the dollar. Many
people do not realize that a 6 inch thick pine log is only worth
about R=7.5. The type of insulation we typically use in a 2x6 wall
is R19 and in a 2x4 wall, a special high-efficiency R15. |
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CRAFTSMEN INSTALL COPPER GUTTERS &
DOWNSPOUTSOld-world
craftsmanship is exercised when Rand Soellner Architect administers
a project. Here, coppersmiths measure and cut copper gutters and
downspouts on a Rand Soellner Architect log home and timber frame
project. Rand Soellner value-engineers his projects so that you
receive the maximum bang for your buck. Mr. Soellner has found that
when specified appropriately, copper gutters and downspouts can be
affordable to many clients. |
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SLATE TILE ROOF AND COPPER GUTTERS &
DOWNSPOUTSThe beautiful
slate tile roof above is actually a value-engineered slate
composition roof tile from EcoStar that is a fraction of the cost of
real slate, and comes with a 50-year warrantee. Contact Rand
Soellner for log home, timber home and home designs that result in
solutions like this! |
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HIGH TECHNOLOGY COMPANY WIRES SOELLNER
HOMES ComTec, one of the
Carolinas' leading structured wiring companies, outfits many of our
projects. |
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TECHNICIAN RUNNING HIGH-TECH CABLINGOur
homes are typically prewired for:
- Satellite TV-Digital
Cabling-DVD
- High-Speed Internet
- Whole-House Music Speaker CD
Systems
- Surround Sound Media Centers
- Security Systems through their
consultant companies
- Whole-house air-conditioning
and heating remote phone adjustment via computerized controlled
equipment
- Whole-house lighting control
system for dramatic light dimming settings and timed lighting
sequences
They also trim-out the systems
with state of the art flat screen TVs, multiple CD players, DVD
players and other systems to satisfy your every need and dream. |
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HEATING, VENTILATION & AIR-CONDITIONINGRand
Soellner Architect will be on-site if you wish, to coordinate HVAC
supply and return air outlet locations. We work with subcontractors
to locate ceiling and floor diffusers as part of the overall pattern
of lighting, speakers, security and other systems to result in a "designed"
pattern that reinforces the concept for your project. We also
specify such outstanding features as flush hardwood floor diffusers
and 1911 decorative ceiling and wall cast iron and brass grills to
have all aspects of your project of a high-design quality. Also, we
coordinate with your subcontractors to help them locate runs for
supply and return and condensate piping through structure and
crawlspaces to result in an efficient system for you. We also insure
that noisy outdoor compressors are located away from your bedroom
and deck areas.
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STONE MASONS WORKING WITH RAND SOELLNERWe
enjoy participating during construction to see that you receive the
quality of design conceived in our documents and maximum
cost-savings for the best appearance and function. With this
particular craftsman, a 3rd-generation stone mason, we guided the
aesthetic placement of a combination of cultured stone and a new
product, native stone which has been cut thin, which resulted in a
magnificent Appalachian Lodge-Style fireplace that looks better than
most native-stone heavy fireplaces for a fraction of the cost,
weight, time and foundations. Our signature huge log "Fireplace
Arms" will soon be supporting a massive maple mantel.
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© Copyright 2004-2008 Rand Soellner,
All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Photo background
of historic timbers courtesy of: Antique Cabins &
Barns (antiquecabinsandbarns.com)
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