Open-Built® — Heating/Cooling
In all of our homes, energy efficiency is a top priority; we design and build homes to minimize equipment requirements and fuel consumption. By using superinsulation, heating and cooling systems in our homes can generally be downsized. The systems that are used can be hidden, yet are still left easily accessible using Bensonwood's Open-Built® design methods.
Our design process, and the components that we supply, take into account the requirements of mechanical systems. The open joists provide a space for the ductwork. Ductwork can be accommodated in floor systems, vertical chases, and dropped ceilings.
Open-Built® — Heating
We've found that a simple, well-insulated, three-bay timberframe home with an open area in the middle, usually requires a single, small central heat source. It could be the sun, a wood stove or a furnace. If a hot air furnace is used, we typically run ducts under the first floor to a few strategically located registers. The upper levels are heated automatically because they use the open area as a plenum (space in which air is at a pressure greater than that of the outside atmosphere), receiving heat through conduction and convection.
We often recommend hydronic (hot water) heat systems because of their flexibility and many options for delivering heat. Hot water systems are easy to accommodate in a timberframe home. The small diameter of pipes used in hydronic systems make them easy to run through partitions and in floor systems. Radiant-floor hydronic heat is easy to use in our Open-Built® system and has been a popular choice for clients in recent years.
Open-Built® — Cooling
The same design concepts that keep a heating system small in a timberframe home can make a cooling system unnecessary. The size of air conditioners means that space for them, and their requisite ducts, usually must be designed into the plan. While air handlers and horizontal duct runs for air conditioning can be easily accommodated in our floor systems, we have to make space for the vertical ducts during the design phase.