Buyers of luxury homes are used to ultra-efficient airtight homes. PentaVia Custom Homes, builder of Fort Worth Magazine"s 2018 Home of Dreams, is one-upping expectations in this modern traditional hacienda in Westlake's Granada development.
The Home of Dreams" energy-efficient features include a unique heating, ventilation, air conditioning system and foam-encapsulated thick walls. It starts with small-duct, high-velocity HVAC from Unico System designed to move air around more evenly and with less humidity. One of the results, besides being able to cool your home with greater comfort at higher temperatures, is that dust doesn't sit around any longer.
"The filters pick up more," says Curt DuBose, of PentaVia. "The air exchanges better."
The 2018 Home of Dreams is a 6,465-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bath home, designed by architect John Hathaway of Austin's Vanguard Studio, and expected to be completed later this year. Dona Robinson, of Allie Beth Allman & Associates, the magazine's official Dream Home and Home of Dreams Realtor, has listed the home, 2210 Costa Del Sol, at $2.895 million. Upon completion, the Home of Dreams will be open for tours that benefit the magazine's official charity, a Wish with Wings.
It's the magazine's second luxury feature home in Granada; a PentaVia predecessor built our 2017 Dream Home in the luxury custom development, just minutes from Texas State Highway 114 and amenities like Southlake Town Square.
AIRING IT OUT
Unico System is unusual in that it uses 4-inch-diameter air supply tubing, instead of what it refers to as the "intrusive" ductwork of conventional air-conditioning and heating systems or the "unsightly" high-wall units of split systems. Unico's flexible tubing can be run through wall cavities, or in floors and ceilings, making it an easier installation than traditional HVAC in existing homes, Unico says. The big grilles used by conventional HVAC are replaced by small outlets. "The Unico System fits where conventional systems and high-wall units can't," the company says.
Unico bills its system as providing the same cooling power as traditional systems three times the size, with quiet performance and up to 30 percent lower humidity. That means you can jack your thermostat up a bit in the summer and feel just as comfortable as you did with your traditional system, Unico says. "I can run my system at 77, and it's going to feel like 73 inside the house because the humidity's been controlled," DuBose says.
Unico's supply tubing has a nylon inner core and insulation that absorbs sound. "Our air handlers isolate noise and vibration with closed cell, sound-deadening insulation," the company says. "The resulting sound level is the equivalent of a soft whisper."
The system swaps bad air for fresh air. Better energy building codes have meant tighter homes.
"Now we've got entirely more efficient homes," DuBose says. "The problem with tighter, more-efficient homes is they've got to learn how to control the air quality better. That's what this system does."
INSULATION:FOAM ENCAPSULATION
Also contributing to the energy efficiency of the Home of Dreams: the exterior walls, 2-by-10 inches deep. They're framed by 2-by-6- and 2-by-4-inch walls and enclosed by ZipWall structural sheathing and moisture barrier. Then foam encapsulation insulation throughout the Home of Dreams is installed by Red Oak Insulation, a Home of Dreams and Dream Home partner of the magazine. Insulation might seem the least sexy thing to talk about in a luxury home, but PentaVia loves showing it off; and DuBose has figured out a way to show it - and other physical attributes of the Home of Dreams - off for tours. Physical is one of five attributes of luxury homebuilding that PentaVia sells.
"People are going to be able to see inside the walls of this house," he says. "They're going to see the foam encapsulation; you're going to see the hurricane clips tying down the house."
Home of Dreams 2018
Fort Worth Magazine teams with the finest builders, designers and vendors to build our long-running series of Dream Homes and Homes of Dreams. Here are our partners that have signed on so far for our 2018 Home of Dreams in Westlake.
Fort Worth Magazine teams with the finest builders, designers and vendors to build our long-running series of Dream Homes and Homes of Dreams. Here are our partners that have signed on so far for our 2018 Home of Dreams in Westlake.
Builder and interior designer:PentaVia Custom Homes
Furniture and accent decor:The Design Center/WesternHeritage Furniture
Roof: Texas Tile Roofing
Gutters and downspouts:Loveless Gutters
Stone materials:Metro Brick and Stone Co.
Stucco: Centurion Stone
Foam insulation: Red Oak Insulation
Iron front gate: Durango Doors
Floors, hardwood and carpet:Vintage Floors
Tile material: Daltile
Cabinets: Mike Conkle"sCustom Cabinets
Countertops: KLZ Stone
Audio/video/security:H. Customs Audio Video
Light fixtures and plumbing:Ferguson Bath, Kitchen& Lighting Gallery
Fireplace inserts: Trinity Hearth & Home
Door and cabinet hardware:Pierce Fine Decorative Hardwareand Plumbing
Appliances and accessories:The Jarrell Co.
Interior painting and wallpaper:J&V Painting
Paint materials: Sherwin-Williams
Landscaping: Guardado Landscaping
Deco pavers: Whiz-Q Stone
Kitchen cabinets: The Kitchen Source
Countertop fabrication: Absolute Stone
Fencing: Magnolia Fence