In flood prone areas, we use the pier block/beam foundation, commonly known as the raised floor system.  This foundation allows for a crawl space and also makes for a stately facade.

Key Advantages of a Raised Floor System (adapted from the Southern Pine Council)
Classic Style. Drive through the older neighborhoods of your community, and notice that the homes with ageless grace and beauty are most likely elevated on a raised floor foundation. Visually, the raised foundation functions as a pedestal, enhancing the curb appeal of many architectural styles.

Built-in Amenities. If it’s not raised, a porch is not really a porch. Porches and decks can serve as attractive amenities of a raised floor system, adding usable living area to your home. Consider the charm and hospitality of a front porch, the pest-free privacy and comfort of a screened back porch, or a backyard deck. On a slab, a “front porch” is just a front patio.

Simple Foundation. Any foundation can settle, but a raised floor system makes leveling or repairs simple. Repairing or leveling a damaged concrete slab can be very expensive. With the raised floor system, leveling is as easy as jacking up the floor and adding shims.

Easy Home Improvement. Installation, maintenance and modification of utilities such as plumbing air conditioning, and electrical systems are simplified with a raised floor. If you want to move the location of a toilet or bathtub on a slab foundation, get the jackhammer! Routing and rerouting of wiring for electrical, telephone, television and computers is relatively easy and less expensive.

Natural Insulator. Why live on the cold, damp ground? Wood is a natural insulator. A properly constructed and insulated raised floor system isolates the home from potential moisture problems.

Reduced Flood Risk. Here’s the solution to raising your home’s foundation above base flood elevation required by the National Flood Insurance Program. The raised floor may be the most practical and cost-effective way to protect property and meet local building ordinances in flood-prone areas. Savings in flood insurance premiums are substantial.

Pest Control. Most pests are ground dwellers. With proper barriers to control termites and other insects, your raised floor home will prevent unwanted guests.

Uplifting Comfort. Inside the raised floor home, there are special qualities that nurture the body and soul. The feeling is warmer, more intimate. Remember that special place when you were a child, a tree house perhaps, where you felt cozy and safe? Raise the floor above the ground and your perspective changes. An ordinary view from the window becomes a vista. There is a calm and quiet above the din of street noise. The subtle “give” of a wood floor system provides a more comfortable walking surface, putting less stress on your back, legs, and feet.

Our crawl space foundations exceed the standards of other builders. When we build a pier block/beam foundation we use CMU block walls to rest on the concrete beams on the exterior walls, then we rest Southern Yellow Pine floor joists connecting to pier caps on the interior wall system. This provides a more stable foundation for the home’s sub-floor. We use termite shields to prevent termite movement into the wood portion of the raised floor system. We also reduce moisture in the crawl space through our innovative process that waterproofs the underlining of the subfloor and maintains a stable moisture content in the crawl space. All our foundations are designed, certified, and inspected by a professional engineer.

Air Conditioning systems are rated using a numbering system. The higher the number the more efficient the system. Stone Acorn Builders uses only 14 seer units. Most builders use 12 or less. We meet and exceed the ordinary. We use all “LENNOX” air-conditioning and heating equipment. 

Prior to insulating we foam seal all openings from the exterior to the interior. This makes for a tighter, quieter, more efficient home.

Insulation is very important for energy efficiency. We insulate with up to R-30 for greater comfort and lower utility bills. Insulation: R30 Batt in attic living area, R15 Batt at 2x4’s and R19 Batt at 2x6’s on exterior walls, R22 Batt at vaulted ceilings, R19 Batt at crawl space.

We also do sound Batt insulation around the utility room to reduce noise from laundry appliances.

Zoned air conditioning so you can cool and heat every square foot of the home with efficiency and little waste.

Double paned insulated windows and doors are standard in a Stone Acorn Home, not an upgrade. They block the cold in the winter and the heat in the summer.

Continuous sofit and ridge vents adds more air flow throughout the attic to move the hot air out quickly. This is much more efficient than a wind turbine.

As you can see Stone Acorn Builders goes the extra mile to build a more energy efficient home.

Stone Acorn Builders practices solid framing techniques such as using metal joist and truss hangers to lock ceiling, wall, and roof framing in place. All the walls are built with #1 yellow pine studs with a maximum of spacing of 16”. Most builders use #2 or #3 yellow pine studs which have excessive knot holes and come from the lumber mill crooked. #1 Douglas fir studs are consistently straight, have fewer knot holes, and are sturdier. We use treated plywood around the home the first 4 feet from the slab to reduce termite infestation and wood rot. Stone Acorn also puts plastic behind the treated plywood around the entire home to provide a moisture barrier. First floor ceilings are a minimum of 10 feet and the second floor ceilings are a minimum of 9 feet. Tyvek house wrap is used around the entire house to provide a durable moisture barrier.

We screw down the sub-floor with a screw gun instead of nails. This reduces squeaky or noisy floors dramatically due to better fastening of the sub-floor to the joists.

Wiring (Security/Audio Visual/Phone/Cable)
Each Stone Acorn home is prewired for stereo sound (volume control prewire included) in all downstairs rooms including the back porch. Each family room is prewired with surround sound as well as each game room if applicable. The master suite (bedroom and bathroom) is prewired for stereo (volume control prewire) as well.

We also prewire for a standard security system with motion dectection/monitoring prewire.

Virtually every room has phone/cable (cat5e) hook ups in order to network the home. The study always has an office drop that allows for cable, phone, data line, and fax

Finishes
Stone Acorn Builders trims out each house with top of the line finishes that fit the distinct character of each home.

All cabinet boxes are job built, and the cabinet doors and drawer fronts in the kitchen, powder room, butler pantry, breakfast room, family room, play room (if applicable), master bath, and other choice rooms are pre-fabricated to give a consistent look and feel. Most builders would lead you to believe that job built cabinet doors and drawer fronts are a sign of higher quality, but that just is not the case. Job built doors and drawer fronts have irregular cuts and show gaping seams. Custom Art Glass is used typically in the front door sidelights and often on the study doors or play room doors.

As a standard, Stone Acorn Builders installs all stainless steel appliances in the kitchen with brands such as Dacor, Bosch, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Uline, Sharp and Vent A Hood. Most builders do not include a refrigerator, leaving an opening that has to be customized prior to move-in.

Countertops are either marble or granite in the kitchen, powder room, master suite, and all art niches. Stone Acorn builders DOES NOT use any formica (even in the utility room) on countertops. The utility room counter will have tile or concrete.

Stone Acorn Builders uses different plumbing and lighting fixtures in each room of the home.

Stucco Application to Exterior Wood Stud Walls