Intro to Green Prefabs

jchait — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:44:39 -0400

One type of green home that's all the rage are prefabs, or prefabricated houses. Prefab 101 is fairly easy to catch up on. Prefabs, sometimes called modular homes differ wildly but all have one thing in common; they're built, or mainly built off-site. Instead of building a home from scratch you could have a pre-built prefab sent your way, and basically assemble on your lot. Of course there's more to it, but that's the gist.

The prefab is not a new deal; they've been around for a good long while. I didn't used to like them much, but as the designs have become greener, and the details more unique, they've really grown on me. Another thing to note is that prefab in itself is a little misleading.

Many designs and home types tend to fall under the all encompassing title "prefab" and while not everyone is thrilled with this lack of distinction, it is what it is. There are manufactured - (i.e. classic manufactured prefab), log cabins, containers, large office shed, prefabs made of cedar, domes, and way more. Then there are the greenies. Green prefabs have popped up a lot lately and if you're considering building green, prefab may be just what you need.

Some of the pros include; less expensive than traditionally built homes (not always but often), most now look so great you can't even tell it wasen't built on site, some are made heavily with reclaimed or recycled materials, prefabs tend to leave a smaller footprint size-wise, and of course there's the time savings. It may take a while from ordering your prefab to actual set-up, or construction, but once a home arrives at your site, it's not a multi month process. You can usually count in days, how long it takes to get a prefab up; with some companies claiming three days max. It's amazing. And if you've ever built from scratch, sounds pretty darn nice.

If you want to learn more about green prefabs visit some of the following architects and companies that design them:

One of my faves - Michelle Kaufmann Designs - beautiful homes.

Hanger Prefab who designed the The Joshua Tree - my new favorite prefab!

miniHOME SOLO

Olgga Architects

Check out some prefab videos

PLACE Houses

There are plenty of other green prefab options out there though - this is a tiny sample.

[image of Joshua Tree via Hanger Prefab]