DelBiondo Homes

Building codes are pushing us.

Nearly all the new homes we’re building are integrating exterior insulation to reduce thermal bridging, sound transfer, and improve energy consumption. For this application, our go to is 2” comfortboard as provided by Rockwool for a few reasons.

1- We appreciate simplicity, taking the same insulation product from top of footing to top of ridge and below slab means one vendor, one order. The fasteners we use change whether above or below grade, but that’s about it.

2- Pests hate it. Being made of stone, the fibers of nearly all rockwool products will not attract bugs, and is actually exceedingly difficult (I don’t think I can say “impossible”) for them to burrow through.

3- It’s v***r open. Our wall assembly can dry, unlike many v***r closed products that encourage condensation (think cold glass on a summer day, same concept). Ohio is part of a complex climate zone, and it demands an insulation with drying potential.

4- It’s stable. Water and fire won’t bother it (see the video I posted a while ago where I tried to melt it with a propane torch), it doesn’t expand or contract depending on the conditions it’s exposed to.

5- Not a performance indicator, but it gets people talking. Which is precisely what moves the needle; education and conversation, and I’m here for it.

***ropen

Once a trim carpenter…

You know the rest- there’s something about a well executed two piece casing assembly that really gets me goin’. For scale, that baseboard is 10”. Double stud wall to house plumbing to the second floor just makes for a more dramatic cased opening into this private office.

The gentlemen at are absolutely murdering this paint job.

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I made this hood today…

It’ll get covered with blue board and Venetian plaster, which is why the crown is spaced off the hood by 1/2”. Curving material that isn’t intended to be curved is always a good time.

I’ve always love being on site in the evenings to catch little moments of sunlight like this that you don’t typically see before 5-6pm. It almost feels intimate knowing that it’s only the homeowners that’ll ever experience these moments. Consequently- I’m the homeowner here but that doesn’t make this less impactful.

Thankful for the opportunity.
Have a great week everyone.

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Throwback to stucco prep at my house.

We’ve clad the entire exterior of my house with two inches of Rockwool’s comfortboard, and immediately started working through the minutiae of the cladding assembly. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder when it comes to proving building methods, so we stuccoed the house. Every trade (with the exception of my stucco guys) involved in the project scoffed when I told them I was putting stucco on my house because it’s notorious in my region for being detailed poorly and causing major structural damage.

Truth is, the assembly doesn’t have to be overly complicated to be successful, conversely it’s actually preferred that we simplify it as much as possible to ensure it’s installed correctly. Because setting our tradespeople up for success is top of mind, we chose materials that are readily available to complete the assembly, and available in (likely) every market. The photo shows the back of the house, where the second floor is prepped with our WRB (it’s redundant, because we have zip system as our primary WRB) and install of traditional stucco lath. We opted for Tyvek’s stucco wrap for a couple reasons. For one, it’s available; we also had concerns with using traditional tar paper, the pressure required by the fasteners and washers would rip straight through it if the fasteners were overdriven- for which there are thousands. Once the Stucco Wrap and lath are installed, you’ve effectively reset to a standard stucco install, the process is the exact same.

Keeping with the theme of my last post, building science doesn’t have to be complicated and in most cases it’s preferred to keep the assembly simple, especially in a market where you’re pioneering.

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Low tech : High performance

High performance homes don’t have to be expensive just for the sake of being expensive. Seen here is the south elevation of the garage at , where we’ve prepped for cladding install. The dimensional lumber attached to our Zip system is padded out to maintain the plane of the cladding above, but is predominantly acting as a rain screen. I.E. we’re providing intentional means of drainage, and improving our drying potential of the cladding and sheathing behind it. A simple insect screen ensures no bugs nestle their way in and chew up our framing or prevent adequate drainage. All of which is dead ending into a base flashing which is taped to our sheathing and sheds water away from the home.

High performance doesn’t alway have to mean high budget, and engineered solutions can (and probably should) be simple.

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A fancy miter saw won’t make a great carpenter out of a good one.

But it sure does take me back to the days of making sawdust. Forever thankful for this opportunity to build this home for my wife and daughter.

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Rounding the corner.

Our Panda windows and doors got delivered early this week and we’ve been all hands on deck getting them installed. Floor to ceiling lift and slide doors at the great room will open to create a truly immersive indoor/outdoor environment. If you’re not familiar with how lift and slide doors work, stick around and I’ll show ya.

Architecture:
Interior Design:
Rendering:

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Belt and suspenders.

Understanding where your air control layers are is helpful; and knowing that when detailed properly, drywall is an inexpensive and effective way to manage air intrusion. We’re well detailed on this wall assembly, zip system is our primary air and water management layer, our window rough openings are flashed and insulated properly- but this detail seems too simple to not include. Siga Fentrim tape to the rescue- sticks tenaciously to raw drywall.

I like to justify little like this by saying to myself “I can’t think of a scenario where I would regret doing this”.

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We started digging a pool today.

We also insulated, and documented every single old work wire, plumbing line, low voltage location, etc and uploaded photos of each into BuilderTrend so there’s no guess work on the back end.

No soap box today, no long winded speech, just dope renderings and doper buildings.

Architecture:
Interior Design:

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Fancy a record player?

Or is it a turntable?

Working through our six month follow up items at this New Albany renovation where we address cabinet adjustments, nail pops and any touch-ups needed to make our projects look mint.

Most of the shifting in new homes and renovations is due to the initial moisture load of building materials (which actually puts more moisture in a house than just about any man(or woman) made load i.e. showering, cooking, etc.). Turning on the heat or air conditioning can/will enact on that load causing building materials to dry out and contract. Boom- cracking caulk joints, settling millwork, etc. renovations generally aren’t as bad because they’re not subject to the same levels of moisture as a new home.

Look at that- somehow managed to spin a picture of a record player into a building science Ted talk. But for real, this room is sweet.

Have a great week.

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I posted this to my stories yesterday.

And despite all the kitchens, architecture, building science, cabinetry etc. this photo saw more engagement than just about any story I’ve ever posted.

What is it about this that you all love?

I can tell you what it is for me -

This photo embodies integrity. The electrician that wired this (he’s tagged) knows that this panel, in the best case scenario will probably never be seen again once these walls are closed up. But despite this, lays out and twists his wires in a way that’s organized, efficient and aesthetically pleasing. Much of (if not the overwhelming majority) our work is like this- never to be seen again until it’s time to renovate which is typically 20-30 years down the line when the styles change or you just want to update things. And I don’t know about you, but when another tradesman tears apart my work I want him or her to know that my team and I really gave a s**t, it’s clear here that we do.

Strong work Cory, thanks again.

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I mean…

Some kitchens just speak for themselves, but that hickory ceiling really ties this whole thing together. If you zoom in on the cans- you’ll see we made a veneer on site and epoxied them to the can housings to make them blend as much as possible. Would’ve done it over the lens too if not for the whole “blocking out the light” thing.

A chilly rainy day in central Ohio calls for some braised short ribs and I’d be tickled to let those simmer in this kitchen with a little Perry Como playing.

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Listen, all the insulation is great;

But it doesn’t mean much if we’re not controlling air as well. Pictured above is part of our window detailing as it relates to air infiltration, more specifically how we’re managing air intrusion at the brackets provided by Marvin with these larger pane windows. Imagine insulating an airplane hangar really really well, then just leaving the bay doors open all the time- it doesn’t make a ton of sense, does it? We’re looking at things here on a much smaller scale, but the principles don’t change. So we’ll do our best to keep the air we pay to condition (heat, cool, humidify or dehumidify) inside the envelope.

Happy to engage in the “houses need to breathe” argument in the comments if you’re feeling brave.

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Give me all the natural light.

Perfectly oriented east and west, this two-story foyer will only be made more stunning by the finishes we have planned. While you wrestle with your anticipation, we’ll keep plugging away.

Stick around, it’ll be worth it.

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Talk about office views.

A built-in white oak desk will truncate this view, minimally. But these east facing windows will flood this space with natural light above the foyer of this custom modern home.

Thrilled to be nearing the end of mechanicals and getting to a point where we can start installing finishes.

Architect:
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Would you believe me if I told you…

This photo was taken in the middle of a workday, with a bunch of people on site?

Most people outside the trades don’t know the difference between decent, good and great work. But everyone knows when their house is messy.

Keep it clean boys and girls.

📸:

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We’re applying exterior insulation to all areas on my house,

But you could probably argue that this area probably needs it the most. Immediately above this rear covered porch is the primary suite, and nothing ruins my morning quite like cold toes. We’ll leave the floor system open until we close out our rough mechanical inspections, but then we’ll treat this ceiling just like a wall system. R38 in the floor joists, zip sheathing to maintain our air barrier, and 2” of comfortboard to ensure we reduce the probability of thermal bridging.

Skip the slippers, they’re not necessary.

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Comforboard

Given the quantity of glass in this house and the energy (comfort) requirements, the most reasonable solution was to add exterior insulation. Rockwool provided the best solution for an otherwise pretty difficult climate to design for, with a product that integrates seamlessly with an already robust control layer system.

Continuous exterior insulation allows us to reduce the probability of thermal bridging, and while it's great that we won’t have cold spots showing up on a thermal imaging camera, the main thing we’re looking to combat is the effects of thermal bridging. In this case, we have more steel in this house than most residential buildings in the state; and despite easily combatting deflection, accommodating load criteria, and establishing low massing roof and floor systems, the drawback to steel is that it’s a really effective conductor of thermal energy, and in a warm house, frozen steel means condensation, and condensation with the inability to dry means mildew and mold. Essentially what we’re doing with Rockwool on this project is bringing our otherwise exposed steel behind our thermal control layer, giving it an opportunity to stay as close to “room temp” as possible and avoiding condensation buildup.

The best analogy for exterior insulation is- it's like putting a coat on in the winter as opposed to packing fabric in between your ribs. Don’t do the latter, please.

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I realized earlier today…

That I haven’t posted a picture of a finished product of ours in over a year, I’ve somehow managed to keep an audience engaged via posts about building science, framing and excavation sites.

Well…

Today’s no different. This is a new product we’re trying out in my house from , it’s a line-set flashing boot, which is otherwise a pretty difficult thing to flash. It’s not sexy, but it’s helping us build a better product for our clients, and in this case- me. We’re targeting passive levels of air tightness on this house, and this is just one of many pieces that should help us achieve that.

Bonus points to anyone that can tell me why it’s bucked out from the framing.

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Seldom photographed…

The back side of my house.

Overhangs like this always pose a question related to air tightness and insulation, and nine times out of ten the right answer is to treat it as a wall. We’ll get our mechanicals in, insulate the joist bays, zip the underside, then cover with 2” of comfort board. The only difference here, compared to the rest of the house, is we won’t stucco the ceiling so we’ll strap and apply our ceiling trim.

We’ll be shooting for sub 1 ACH50 on this house- so the air sealing details will be plentiful, and professionally documented.

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Last week…

and I were on site with a potential new client, when she said the following:

“Nature is the new luxury.”

And I couldn’t agree more. For those of you unfamiliar with the site in this picture, (which I expect will be 99% of you) we’ll be putting a new home here next year. And if you look at it you might scratch your head and say “but Rob, where the heck will you do that?” Which is a reasonable ask considering when I took this photo I was standing about 2/3 the way up a very steep hill (it’s basically a cliff) facing what will, in due time, be the bottom of a stunning house that we’ve chosen to hang over the edge of the aforementioned cliff, nestled at the end of a stunning ravine street in the heart of Clintonville. One of the many things I’ve come to truly appreciate about modern architecture is how immersive your experience can be with your surroundings; and when those surroundings look like this- just sign me up.

It’ll be a challenge, but it’ll be worth it.

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We started designing this house about a year ago..

And when it came to deciding on our thermal barrier, the choices we plentiful but none as qualified as rockwool.

We chose to move forward with 2” of comfortboard on the exterior, R23 batts in the exterior wall, yielding an R32 in our exterior wall assembly(which exceeds code in a very aggressive way); but the continuous R9 is really the star of the show here and the reason for the post. Reducing the probability of thermal bridging, improving our ability to attenuate sound, and improving our overall thermal efficiency are the main objectives in using out-sulation. The more tangible reality here is that we’re moving to this house from the country where we have no neighbors close enough to hear and replicating the tranquility of a rural environment is important to me. The long and short of this is I don’t want to hear my neighbors, and the sound deadening properties of Rockwool will make that possible. We also chose to insulate both floor systems, and all interior walls, so if I’m home and you need me- you better yell, real loud.

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Few things have had the impact on this build…

Quite like setting rough grade. Yeah, the steel and framing is cool and the windows are expansive and beautiful, but getting a sneak peek at how this home will interface with the landscape really is a treat. Much of the design intent of this great room is to feel immersed in the surrounding landscape of the house- pure, rural and beautiful- and really experience indoor/outdoor living year round.

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I just love carpentry.

I started this company in 2017 after trying to force it through years of school. I was studying engineering, and with the exception of higher level math and science courses absolutely hated school. It’s not a dig at the education system, I just wasn’t going to apply myself to courses I wasn’t interested in and despite the appeal a degree and having “PE” after my name, I dropped out. So here I am, forever labeled- “a dropout”.

The pressure to grow as a young business (not to mention Covid) has forced me off the tools and behind a desk more often than not. In the last couple years despite the growth, I’ve found myself frustrated with my day to day because I never intended on spending more time on a laptop as opposed to the tools. Compound that with the ridiculously cool projects we’re working on, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So a couple weeks ago I decided I need more sawdust-making time, and here we are. I started working on this yesterday and I’m pretty thrilled with how it’s turning out. I bought this trailer a couple years ago to transport cabinets, but our new cabinet maker delivers- so she’s been sitting for about a year.

Looking forward to wrapping this build up so I can hop in with the boys more often. Happy to post more on this if the interest is there.

For the record, and for the 20-something that might be reading this confused and lacking direction; school isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. And with the way things are going you’ll likely make more money and be more satisfied in the trades than 90% of your college friends, with little to no debt and that’s better than “okay”.

🖤-Rob

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Advanced framing.

I got a question on here a couple weeks ago about load stacking when framing at 24”oc and this picture represents it perfectly. This framing condition is replicated at all load points in the house, where an incoming load from above (floor joist, truss or point load) is directly supported below as opposed to indirectly relying on the tensile criteria of a double top plate for load distribution. Framing like this allows us to frame with a single top plate instead of a double, but I’ve always appreciated the rigidity that a well joined top plate provides over metal strapping, plus- it would interrupt workflow to grab strapping and associated nailers/fasteners; so for now we’ll stick with the double top plate.

Framing at 24” on center allows us to reduce the amount of lumber in our exterior walls, increase the amount of insulation, while maintaining our deflection criteria for floor systems, shear for wall systems, all while reducing thermal bridging. We save a marginal amount on the lumber bill, not enough to be a factor in the decision. This house will be also wrapped in two inches of comfortboard, further reducing the possibility of thermal bridging and overall making for a much quieter, comfortable home.

Not sure if you can tell- I’m pretty jazzed about this framing assembly.

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Chances are…

If you don’t know who Perry Como is we won’t be friends.

But! The windows went in at our DelCo new build- and I’m beside myself with joy. This is one of two phases of glass going in, the second will be a real show stopper.

Bring on the mechanicals, we’re ready.

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Roof? Decked.

Approaching the final days of framing at our DelCo build, and with each passing day I’m more impressed with our framing teams attention to detail. For the longest time we self performed our framing because I felt it was something I never wanted to give up, but here we are, and I’m tickled.

Windows and flat roof:
🚧LOADING…🚧

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Floors: protected (2x)
Cabinets: paint on site
Millwork: crispy 👌🏼
Appliances: installed today
Windows: tilt & turn (and badass)
Flat surfaces: occupied during a mid-day pic
Finish line: approaching

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We have a dance floor.

Ya know, for the longest time I *thought* I really liked and preferred historical architecture. Victorians, Greek Revivals, Colonials and Georgian’s, sign me up. I’ve come to learn over the years that it has less to do with a specific style and more to do with their respective challenges. When I first saw the plans for this house I was taken back primarily because it appears pretty simple, but like most modern architecture, there’s way more than meets the eye.

One thing that I realized pretty quickly when making the comparison between modern and traditional architecture is that for the most part, traditional architecture is executed in two dimensions. I.E. you apply things to the wall, floor or roof to give it depth, interest and character. Where modern architecture is designed in three dimensions, we’re manipulating elevations at every corner of this house to ensure that our materials are coplanar, with extraordinarily tight margins of error. What’s more, we’re given an opportunity to celebrate materiality, the rawness of steel, concrete, wood and glass are appreciated rather than being covered up, painted or protected.

Overall, I dig it. I’m not entirely sure if Columbus has the interest yet, but I think that’s due primarily to the absence of good modern architecture. I look forward to everyone’s feedback as this project progresses and comes to life in the coming months/weeks.

Rob, out. ✌🏼

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Finalizing the framing at our UA addition this coming week and moving into mechanicals.

So thrilled with the quality of the Marvin Ultimate window package and how seamlessly they’ll integrate into the classic lines of this beautiful home.

Architecture: Stock and Stone

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