What Every Home in a Cold Climate Needs
Location is important when choosing a home, but that isn’t just about finding a nice community – though we do build quality Wasilla homes in great communities. It’s also about paying attention to the weather aspects of the location and choosing a home that is thoughtfully built to handle the local weather and be energy efficient. With winter approaching, it’s important to understand the features of a home that every cold climate home should have.
A gabled roof – sloping sides creating a triangular shape – is important in snowy areas, because the shape helps gravity work to pull the snow off your roof. You want a design that prevents snow from staying on your roof and piling up, because the added weight and the water can damage your roof.
Another important feature to consider is the entrance to your home. While mudrooms that connect the garage to the interior of the home are always a good idea to avoid the worst of the elements, you still need a safe and welcoming front door for guests, deliveries, and more. This is why it’s important to have a covered front entrance. This helps to protect you and visitors from rain and snow while waiting for the door to open. Additionally, you should look for walkways that are flat for easy access and ease of clearing. You want something that can stand up to shoveling and de-icing. Our homes feature both covered entrances and concrete entry paths that make it safe and easy to navigate from the driveway to the front porch.
To avoid drafts and keep heat contained, it’s important to have good insulation, which is why we use R-21 Batt insulation in all exterior walls to help keep the warm air inside and cold air out. Equally important is the quality of the windows, because they can contribute to 10-25% of the loss of heat in your home. This is why we use double pane, low-E Argon windows that are specifically designed for Hall Quality Homes and Alaska. These windows help bring the warm solar gain inside, while keeping heat loss to a minimum.
You’ll also find in our homes that the furnace provides heat to the crawl space, which helps protect your appliances and keeps them running smoothly during freezing temperatures. Plus, there’s the added bonus of the heat warming your floors, making them more comfortable on your feet during the chilly months. These are just some of the ways we carefully build our Wasilla homes to ensure you’re warm and comfortable while still saving energy. A five star energy rating is standard for all homes we build so you can feel confident in the ability of your home to be a healthy, affordable, and cozy place to be throughout the year. To learn more about where we build and the extensive array of floor plans we offer that stand up to winter weather, reach out and contact us today.
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