Brandywine in North Carolina Development Stage:  Under Construction Bed/Baths:  3 / 3 Square Feet:  2144 Location:  Eastern North Carolina Project Images The Story Brandywine 3248 plus Garage Red Clay is a hallmark of Eastern North Carolina where this Brandywine Enertia home will be built. The excavation for the foundation is complete, and the footers will be poured soon. This basement is half dug into the ground and half will be bermed up, with a walk-out on the South. This is the 4th day of kit construction. The walls are going up quickly, due to the precision factory pre-cutting of the components. The optional attached garage iwill be on the East, and those timbers will be set after the timbers for the house are all in place. In about 3 weeks the kit is nearly complete. The glulam timber walls rise all the way to the peak of the gables. Rafters still need to be set in the house. Trusses (not part of the kit) will be set on the garage walls by the general contractor. The heavy timber main beam and floor beams are a structural and eye-catching feature of an Enertia home. From the main level, two sets of doors lead out to the Sunspace on the South. The gable ends and double North wall are structural features of the upstairs. At this point in construction, you can look down the double North wall and see the metal struts that connect the two walls and stiffen the entire structure. Pre-cut rafter pockets are also visible. The ridge beam and rafters are set, and the Enertia kit is complete. There is a Dormer on the North where the upper level bathroom will be located. The horizontal boards connecting the North and South rafters are collar ties, which are not part of the kit. The Roof panels are SIPS from Eagle Panel, cut to the sizes and thickness specified for this home. The panels are crane-set from the North side of the house. Each panel is lowered into place and attached to the rafters with long screws. As one of the crew noticed, the panels look like large ice-cream sandwiches. As the panels are screwed in place on the South, first the Sunspace and then the upper level are roofed in. Doug Herring (left) and Mike Sykes discuss the progress of the building. Doug is the contractor, and his company is Doug Herring Builders in Goldsboro, NC. On this day, all the South panels were set by mid-afternoon. Now the standing seam metal roof has been installed. One great advantage of this type of roof is that solar/pv panels can be clamped to the standing seams. This automatically leaves an airspace under the solar/pv panels for ventilation, and there is no need to pierce the roof with screws or other fasteners to install the panels. This image on the left is taken from the doorway to the main-level master bedroom on the West end, looking towards the open plan living room/dining/kitchen area which opens to the sunspace, and has a door to the garage on the far end. The image on the right is taken from the East end, looking toward the door to the master bedroom. At the top you can see the railing of around the loft area of the upper level. The Brandwine Sunspace is a full 7'6" deep for the entire length of the South side. It will be the focal point of the home, both in pleasure of use, and as the heating/cooling engine of the structure. Upstairs there is a central loft, and a bedroom/study on each end of the house. In the basement, Reflectix™ insulation reflects the back-up heat from the in-floor radiant heat back up to the main level floor of the inner shell. The uninsulated area is the floor of the Sunspace above. Stairs lead to the main level, and at the East end there is a door leading to stairs up to the garage. The crew from Efficient Home Construction is doing a great job designing and installing the photovoltaic system that will keep the homeowner secure and comfortable no matter what happens with the energy grid or energy prices. The large garage on the East end can host additional solar/pv panels.