Wall Systems

Finished Walls Abound

The PATH Concept Home Omaha is designed to be as dynamic as the family that lives there. To accommodate the changing needs of the future homeowners, the Concept Home needs to be flexible as well as comfortable, healthy and livable.

Consolidating the HVAC, vent stacks and plumbing into one area - the mechanical core - facilitates more straightforward floor plan changes because mechanical systems are concentrated in one area and not hidden in walls throughout the house. Designing the house to use a centralized system like this also speeds installation - supply runs are shorter and fewer materials are required. Here we see the mechanical core with PEX water supply tubing (red & blue), the radon mitigation stack (white), and spray foam insulation sealing the gap between floors to cut off any air leakage. The back side of the core shows the home's paperless drywall from Georgia Pacific. Paperless drywall was selected for the Concept Home because it is mold resistant and offers one more layer of defense in managing moisture and providing a healthy indoor environment for many years to come.

With durable interior wall coverings and the mechanicals neatly tucked into a centralized core, it's easy to visualize how the Concept Home can adapt over time. And many technologies are already in place to make these changes easy. Wireless switches control lights through radio waves instead of wires. This system greatly reduces the need to hard-wire new switches, and also lets homeowners controls lights and other plug loads in any way they want to. A busy Mom can to turn on the coffee downstairs while getting ready for work in the master bath, or a tired Dad can use master switch by the nightstand to turn off the lights the kids left on downstairs. Changes like this take just a few minutes to set up and require no wiring or contractors.

For those electronics which are still hard-wired like computers and entertainment systems, the upstairs flex-room has WireTracks' channels behind the baseboards. These removable channels discreetly conceal cables behind the baseboard, enabling the homeowner to easily add or change the wiring used for audio, video, and data. Pop off the molding and lay in the new cable - no drilling, wire fishing, or raceways required.

Speaking of trim, WindsorONE provided the Craftsman-style baseboards and window trim for the Concept Home. The window trim arrived at the construction site pre-assembled and ready to install. Brighton Construction's trim carpenter, Ron Carroll, installed three window trims in less than 5 minutes - and Ron doesn't rush his work. Normally this process takes 45 minutes per window, not to mention bringing all trim materials to the site and construction waste - which is minimized using factory fabrication.

The Concept Home is flexible, healthy, comfortable and a beacon of construction efficiency.