3 Key Elements of a High-Performance Home
Building a custom home in Texas is an exciting journey, but it's important to understand the unique challenges the state’s diverse climate presents.
Texas is so large that it encompasses six distinct climate zones, ranging from very hot and humid in the southern tip to hot and dry in the west. San Antonio and its surrounding areas fall within Climate Zone 2, which is characterized by hot and humid conditions. With recent shifts in our climate, rising home insurance costs, and the increasing amount of time spent at home, building a home to standard code simply isn’t enough. At CM Lifestyle Homes, we prioritize resilience and long-term durability, ensuring your home is prepared for the demands of our climate.
Building Process
At CM Lifestyle Homes, we are committed to safeguarding your comfort, lifestyle, and one of your biggest investments—your home. Our approach focuses on providing long-term solutions that offer both durability and peace of mind. Here’s how the three key elements of our high-performance homes—A Solid Structure, Water Management, and Indoor Air Quality—work together to protect and enhance your living experience.
01. Solid Structure – Building a Home That Lasts
A strong and durable home starts with understanding the site conditions and collaborating with professionals like geotechnical engineers, topographers, designers, and builders to determine the best approach for your foundation and framing structure. Using high-quality materials and skilled labor is essential to ensuring long-term durability. Additionally, integrating building science principles and properly executing the engineer’s details is crucial, along with conducting thorough inspections during the foundation phase to ensure everything is up to standard and beyond. Even though we are not located in a high wind or coastal area, we still design our homes to withstand higher wind loads by minimizing wind uplift forces and adding more hardware components during the framing phase. At CM Lifestyle Homes, we prioritize building solid foundations with proper soil preparation and grading, reinforced steel rebar for added strength, 15-mil vapor barriers, and high-quality framing materials to create homes designed to stand the test of time.
02. Water Management – Protecting Your Home from the Elements
Water management is essential to protecting your home from costly damage. Just like wearing the right gear in the rain, your home needs a solid design to keep water out. Features such as large overhangs, proper flashing, and well-planned drainage systems play a key role in preventing moisture intrusion. Choosing a high-quality weather-resistant barrier (WRB) and minimizing roof penetrations also help protect your home. By incorporating building science techniques, you not only manage water but also improve air infiltration, keeping your home energy-efficient and comfortable. At CM Lifestyle Homes, we highly prioritize water management and conduct thorough inspections during the framing and mechanical phases to seal penetrations at the source.
03. Indoor Air Quality – Creating a Healthy Living Environment
Maintaining healthy indoor air quality (IAQ) is essential for your comfort and well-being. In Texas, with high allergens like mountain cedar and grass pollen, managing air infiltration is a priority. Poor IAQ can result from air leaky homes and improper mechanical design, such as oversized HVAC units that don’t run efficiently in airtight homes. Partnering with a professional residential mechanical engineer early during the design phase ensures proper equipment selection minimizes changes and costs during construction. Using sustainable, nontoxic materials also plays a key role. At CM Lifestyle Homes, we prioritize your health by incorporating heat pump systems, whole-home ventilation, dehumidification systems, and MERV-13 air filtration to optimize indoor air quality for your family.
Ensuring Long-Term Performance: Questions to Ask Your Builder
In summary, the three key elements of a high-performance home—A Solid Structure, Water Management, and Indoor Air Quality—are essential in creating a durable, comfortable, and healthy living environment. By focusing on these aspects, we ensure your home is built to withstand the challenges of our climate, protect against costly water damage, and provide clean, breathable air for your family.
As you consider building your custom home, it’s important to ask potential builders key questions: How do they approach highperformance construction? What building science techniques do they apply during the build to ensure a lasting, well-built home? These insights will help guide you toward making informed decisions for your future home.
Your Partner in Building a High-Performance Home
At CM Lifestyle Homes, we integrate these principles into every custom home project, offering you peace of mind and long-term value. If you’re ready to start your custom home building process, or simply have questions about how to achieve a high-performance home, feel free to reach out. We’re here to help, whether you choose us as your builder or not, and are happy to guide you in making informed decisions. Our goal is to ensure your home prioritizes performance, comfort, and lasting quality, and we’re ready to assist in bringing your vision to life.
