Mountain House Plans:
Designing your deam home in a dream spot

Mountain house plans are the beginning to creating an escape to the mountains for a break from the day-to-day grind. The beauty of current building technologies is that a home in the country can also be affordable and efficient.

One area that has come a long way is alternative energy.

Solar technologies have allowed for smaller, more efficient solar collectors that can be utilized as alternative supply sources for hot water or electricity.

Insulation has been constantly improving as well. In the past several years, different types of insulation materials have allowed for better performance.
Currently, the blown-in expanding foam is the best option for efficiency, but the cost needs to be weighed against the gains.

The use of insulating concrete forms ("ICF") has been becoming more and more popular as an alternative to traditional wood construction. These continuously poured masonry walls provide a very strong wall that is also very efficient in terms of thermal loss.

Window technology has also come a long way in recent years. The opportunity to install bigger more efficient windows really opens up new design possibilities. One thing to keep in mind is that if you design a wall of windows into your home , it will always transfer more cold as well as heat into it.

Many of the new technologies available will allow some design flexibility and efficiencies, but the way to maximize the enjoyment of your new retreat is to take the time and energy to figure out the most efficient layout on your building lot and plan accordingly. Capturing the right views with an efficient design is the best of both worlds.

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