Combating against winter weather

This past month has brought historically cold temperatures across Oklahoma. Many issues have occurred from the latest winter weather event. If you are looking for a new home, we want to remind you that we add several safety features behind the walls of each and every home to insure your home will persevere through inclement weather. Here is a list of some features found behind the walls of every one of our homes to help combat issues that can occur from winter weather.

Uponor Pex

Freezing pipes will be a thing of the past when you purchase a Home Creations home! We use Uponor Pex water pipes, which have special properties allowing the pipes to expand without bursting under extreme pressure. The fittings around these pipes cannot come apart after installed and the pipes can even be reheated to their original state if kinked.

Woodford Freeze-proof Spigot

Now let’s talk about the exterior of the home. Two Woodford spigot are installed to the exterior of your home. These spigots will not freeze if you accidentally forget to unhook a hose during freezing temperatures.  A normal faucet that freezes can cause flooding and damages to the interior of your home. Also, the manufacturer provides a $5,000 warranty just in case your pipes were ever to burst.

Insulation

The attic can be greatly impacted during cold temperatures. We surround the attic with R-44 blown-in insulation to help regulate temperature and to keep your home comfortable. The “R” is the measure of thermal resistance, the higher the R-value, the greater the insulating effectiveness.  In Oklahoma, the R-value should be at least a 30 per code. We exceed this standard, making your home operate more efficiently. For the rest of the house, we use blown-in R-15 insulation to all external walls, excluding the garage.

HVAC System

We install a HVAC system that includes a 96% efficient furnace and a 16 SEER AC unit, which is higher than code! Mastic is used to seal all joints to make these more efficient. R-8 Insulated and mastic sealed A/C ducts are important in keeping your air conditioner and furnace running smoothly and efficient. Air ducts carry hot or cold air into your home, while other ducts return air back to its original source. Having efficient ducts helps your furnace run smoother and efficiently during cold weather.

Low-e Thermalpane Tilt-in Vinyl Windows

Have you ever sat by a window during winter months and noticed how the temperature is much cooler? Our homes come with low-e thermalpane tilt-in vinyl windows with argon gas to prevent that from happening. The space between the windows is filled with argon gas, as opposed to air, which reduces the amount of heat loss that can occur when your furnace is running. We also use polycell caulk around every window, door and joints.

Navian Tankless Water Heater

The Navien Tankless water heater has many benefits, like supplying an endless amount of hot water. Say you have five people living in the house and you are the last to get a shower; no worries, you will still be able to enjoy a hot shower. But there is more! This energy efficient tankless hot water heater has a freeze-proof mechanism built within it, as long as there is electricity and gas still running in the house. Other builders do not use the same brand, or even tankless units in some cases, and have had condensation issues causing their units to not work during extremely cold weather.

We believe in building safe and efficient homes, that is why all of these items, and more, are found behind the walls of each home we build. Visit our website to learn more about what is found behind the walls of a Home Creations home.