The Fort Collins Service League presents the 33rd Annual Kitchen Kaper Homes Tour to benefit Foothills Gateway in April. This is a great chance to see our featured home by SIS Design Services and support a worthy cause at the same time. Open to the public on April 27, 2012 from 10am to 4pm. Tickets on sale now, or pay at the door on tour day. For more information, please check here.
Affordable Accessibility
There is a common misperception that ADA accessible design is more expensive than standard, inaccessible design. Some builders will quote you at a 10-15% increase for accessibility. This is just not necessary.
Indeed, because accessible design does require slightly larger spaces in some areas, there will be a commensurate, slightly higher cost. However, I think we can keep that cost well under 5%. Think about that. A $100,000 inaccessibly designed house could become a fully accessible home for just $5000.
What a big difference that 5% means to quality of life, though! An accessible house is a gracious home, ready to accept any visitor or resident at any stage of their lives. A home is a place designed to shelter people and to keep them feeling comfortable. An inaccessible house just can’t perform the way an accessible one does. You don’t have to think about having a major disability in order to appreciate an accessible home. What about your friend who sprained her ankle– does she want to try to navigate 15 steps from the curb just to come over for coffee? How will Grandma maneuver with her cane on Thanksgiving if the dining room door is just too narrow? Isn’t it so much more convenient to be able to enter the laundry room while carrying the laundry basket instead of having to put the basket down and shuffle sideways?
The bottom line is that an accessible house is almost exactly the same as an inaccessible one in terms of building technique and materials. The differences are mere tweaks from the contractors’ point of view. For an accessible house you need to add 4″ more framing to your door header and a slightly wider standard door. You add a little extra blocking in the bathrooms for optional grab bars. Add some fill dirt to gradually slope your path to the front door and just eliminate the steps you no longer need.
There’s no need to make things expensive just to keep them usable for people of all abilities. Careful planning can create a beautiful, accessible home at a reasonable price every time.
Posted in ADA Accessibility, Architecture
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Article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan
Our flagship residence has been featured again. Check it out in this Coloradoan article.
Posted in Sustainable Architecture in the Press
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SIS Design Featured in Northern Colorado Business Report Article
We recently had the good fortune to be included in a front page article of the Northern Colorado Business Report’s business section (2/14/2011). It’s called The House that Rain Built.
Owner Scott Scherbarth’s design incorporated “green” elements that Brinkman, known for sustainable building practices, was happy to construct…Project manager K.C. Martin pointed to a number of green design elements such as SIPS (Structural Insulated Panels) whose superior insulation value, R-38 compared to R-19 in standard wood construction, will save energy. Electro-chromatic glass allows the user to change the window from clear to opaque with the flip of a switch. This reduces heat loss.
In fact, Martin said, the house is built so tight, it doesn’t have or need central air conditioning. In-floor radiant heat and the home’s two-part solar thermal system (one for hot water, one for electricity), will reduce the family’s energy costs.
You can read the full Northern Colorado Business Report article by Michelle LeJeune here. The contractors of the project was Brinkman Partners in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Posted in Green Building in Home and Business Design
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