Houston Home Designs
Home | About Us | Contact Us
3) Square Footage versus Cubic Footage
OK, what am I talking about? I am talking about the fact that every home is built in three dimensions. No one talks about this. Everybody talks about square footage. So, if you want 10' ceilings or 12' or vaulted ceilings, does it matter? Does it cost more? Of course the answer is yes, for many reasons. First of all, longer lumber cost more. It also costs more per foot to get longer straight pieces of lumber. If the ceilings are higher, now you might be working on scaffolding all the time. This can certainly take more time and cost more. You also use more sheetrock, texture, paint, etc. Don't forget air conditioning and heating! You have more space to heat and cool. That takes more capacity in your HVAC system.
Since we are talking about ceilings, there are many designs that you may see as opposed to a plain flat ceiling. On a custom home, you should really have some interest in the ceilings. Maybe some less used rooms or extra bedrooms might not need anything special, but many of them may have exposed beams, trayed ceilings with crown moldings for recessed lights, circles and cloverleaf patterns, domes, barrels, groin vaults, and more. They can have a dramatic impact on the visual beauty of a home and can affect the budget as well. Here are some examples from recent projects:
OK, what am I talking about? I am talking about the fact that every home is built in three dimensions. No one talks about this. Everybody talks about square footage. So, if you want 10' ceilings or 12' or vaulted ceilings, does it matter? Does it cost more? Of course the answer is yes, for many reasons. First of all, longer lumber cost more. It also costs more per foot to get longer straight pieces of lumber. If the ceilings are higher, now you might be working on scaffolding all the time. This can certainly take more time and cost more. You also use more sheetrock, texture, paint, etc. Don't forget air conditioning and heating! You have more space to heat and cool. That takes more capacity in your HVAC system.
Since we are talking about ceilings, there are many designs that you may see as opposed to a plain flat ceiling. On a custom home, you should really have some interest in the ceilings. Maybe some less used rooms or extra bedrooms might not need anything special, but many of them may have exposed beams, trayed ceilings with crown moldings for recessed lights, circles and cloverleaf patterns, domes, barrels, groin vaults, and more. They can have a dramatic impact on the visual beauty of a home and can affect the budget as well. Here are some examples from recent projects:
| Create A Free Website With webstarts.com |