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Learn both the difference between  Pervious  and Impervious Coverage as well as the difference between a Slab vs. Crawlspace Foundation in our video.

Q: What is the typical cost per square foot to build?

A: varies greatly depending on what type of home you’re building. The average is between $120 and $160 per square foot in this area, depends on: slab construction or crawl space construction, 9 or 10 foot ceilings, large open spaces, type of roof, external home features such as screened porch or front porches, size of garage, etc. A smaller home is more expensive per square foot than a larger home because there is less of an area to divide the cost by.

Q: How long does the construction process take from ground-breaking to completion?

A: It takes about 2-3 weeks (maximum of 1 month) to get it approved by the Home Owner’s Association. Once you have the building permit, it takes about 5-6 months to build a 3,000 square foot home, depending on the weather.

Q: What does Impervious coverage mean?

A: There are two types of coverage on the ground, impervious and pervious. Impervious means whatever material is on the ground will not let water penetrate. Water won’t penetrate the surface, it will run off into the storm water system. The impervious amount is mandated by the county and the county bases this number accordig to the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR). Pervious Material lets water penetrate, like sand and slotted wood decking. Your house, roof, porches, driveways and walkways are considered impervious and included in your calculations of maximum impervious allotted by the developers.

Q: What is the difference between a Crawl Space Foundation and a Raised Slab Foundation?

A: A Raised Slab Foundation is a normal concrete foundation, filled with sand, the sand is compacted and concrete is poured over this. On a Crawl Space Foundation, normal footings are poured and a traditional flooring system is used and there is an air space between the flooring system of your home and the earth below.

Benefits of a Slab Foundation: there is no space underneath the floor, therefore no moisture problems or possibilities of mold.

Benefits of a Crawl Space, the home can be a bit higher creating the opportunity for more of a view, especially with a pond or golf course. A Crawl Space also provides a softer floor to walk on than  raised Slab Foundation, which has a little bit harder impact on your legs.

Thanks for watching and please feel free to contact us with any questions! Click Here to Contact Jeff Satterwhite

Watch Jeff Satterwhite’s video to learn more about the process and materials involved with Framing a home.

(Watch the first two steps of Home-Building in Jeff’s other Centerline Construction Chat episodes, the Footings and the Foundation.)

Framing – The exterior and interior walls that build the frame of a home.

This is a typical wall section. Most walls are built laying flat on the floor because they’re easier to build and then you can erect them into the vertical standing walls you see. The basic construction material is called a Stud, which goes from the bottom plate to the top plate.

The other is called a Corner which is where another wall will come up and marry to the wall and they will be joined at the top.

Jacks sit underneath Headers which hold up the openings. So the headers are the support for the entire system in the Framing section. Jacks are essentially used to hold the Headers up.

The header is typically designed with two 2-by-10’s which are the main support of the Header with plywood spacer and the bottom is a 2-by-4 which gives the Header strength and makes up the Header unit. The header sits on top of the Jacks and will be nailed at the side and the top. Normally there is a double-top plate, so there will be two 2-by-4’s for strength to make the unit.

The bottom plate on a slab construction home is a pressure-treated item. It is code in NC that any wood that comes in contact with a concrete surface has to be pressure treated. Therefore, the bottom plate on the entire structure is pressure-treated.

The other items are made up of framing materials that are not pressure-treated. There are a lot of species of wood used for these. These particular pieces in the video are made of Spruce.

This home will be a 10-foot high home, with the height on the first floor being 10 feet and the second floor being 9 feet.

The framing crew will take the basic dimensions of the floor plan and lay out the walls to build the home.

Thanks for watching! For more information or questions, go to www.gocenterline.com or contact Jeff Satterwhite at (910) 620-8883 or Jeff@gocenterline.com

Centerline Construction Chat, Episode 2 – Foundations

Watch as Jeff Satterwhite explains the process and materials involved with building the Foundation of a Home, the second step in the home-building process.

(The first step is the Footings, which is explained in Episode 1 of Centerline Construction Chat.)

There are Several types of foundations and materials in the foundation.

The blocks in the video are Masonry blocks, a 12-inch block and an 8-inch block. There several other types but these are the 2 main materials in Foundations in Coastal North Carolina.

They are used in several different areas. The 12-inch blocks are often used in porches or other areas where there is a slab. You can set an 8-inch block on top of a 12-inch block which gives you a ledger to hold the concrete.

In this case, we used the 12-inch block at the bottom to create a ledger for the brick. This will be an all-brick home so the bricks will set on the ledger of the 12-inch block and will follow up the face with a 1-inch air gap between the wall and the back of the grip to create the exterior wall.

The other type of block is called the Header Block, which is a special type of block designed for slab construction, the slab will be poured in the middle all the way to edge and the notch part of the header block will catch the concrete for the floor.

With the 5-inch threaded rod and the 8-inch block, the holes are filled with mortar. The type of material that is between each head and bed joint in the foundation and that gives it strength.

We use an S-type mortar whereas on veneer, you use an N type. S is stronger than N.

This is going to be a Slab Construction Home, the other type is called a Crawl Space, where the space at the bottom would be open rather than filled with sand – otherwise known as an Open Crawl Space.

The threaded rods in the exterior walls of the Foundation are for wind hold-down. So each one will have a big square washer with a 5-inch nut to hold down the walls of the home for the 130-mile-an-hour wind zone.

What we did on the inside of the garage is called Parging. This is a cement treatment that is put n the face of the foundation which will give it a smooth appearance.

For more information or questions, go to www.gocenterline.com or contact Jeff Satterwhite at (910) 620-8883 or Jeff@gocenterline.com Thank you for watching

Watch our video to learn about one of the first steps in the construction process, the footings, what they’re built from, how they work and why they need to be there.

The first step in building a home:
The Footings of a residential coastal home

We use threaded rods to build he footings. Here, there are 5/8 inch galvanized threaded rods which are used to assist in holding down the foundation and for wind protection.

The rods are welded to a piece of rebar underneath the support structure and placed strategically around the wall of the location with a nut and bolt on top to lock it down.

In the ditches of the footings is a series of chairs, with rebars placed on top to elevate them in the ditch so that when the concrete is poured, they will be suspended in the middle of the column for strength, holding the concrete together better.

The rebar is tied onto the chair with a small wire during the footing operation to stabilize it while the concrete is poured.

During construction, we dig the footings according to the engineer’s specifications. These footings are 24 inches wide and 12 inches deep. The size and total weight of home determine how wide and deep the footings are. There are a lot of rods in the foundation here because of the 130-mile-an-hour wind-zone in this area of North Carolina.

On the corners of the footings, there are small nails which will locate the foundation and framing walls on that part of the footing.

We pour 3,000 psi concrete, and it takes about 7 days for the concrete to cure to about 90% hardness and another 28 days for it to get to about 95-96% hardness. Normally you can start laying the foundation within 2 or 3 days of pouring the concrete, depending on weather conditions.

The wood pieces around the outside perimeter of the lot are called batter boards which establish the height of the foundation wall and allows the contractor to line up the cross-footing with the actual plans.

If you have any questions, please contact Jeff at Centerline Development at (910) 776-0044 or Jeff@gocenterline.com

Be on the lookout for our next episode of Centerline Construction Chat to learn more about the process of building a home. Thank you!