08 Sep January 2019
Willis Sinclair Homes
“The Lowcountry’s Premier Custom Home Builder”
This is a before (left) and after kitchen remodel we finished in 2018. Does your kitchen need remodeling? Call us!
24 Gabriel Road
Lodge, South Carolina 29082
843 846 2500
January 2019
Number 59
From the desk
of Willis …
Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful and safe holiday season! Now that the holidays are behind us we can set out to conquer the new year! We are for sure looking forward to what 2019 brings us!
The year 2018 was a very busy one for us. We had a lot of small and large projects and many of them were for new customers. Brays Island added a lot of new owners and several of those called on us to do work on their “new” homes. It was great to see so many new arrivals and to be able to meet their needs as new owners.
For this next year we plan to do very much of the same things we have been doing. As always, we hope to improve our quality of service as well as our response time. This year we greatly expanded the number of service providers we utilize for service and construction work so that we can better serve our customers. We now have multiple good sources for whatever service you need for your home.
Often one of the first questions that potential customers ask us is “what services do you provide?” It is almost easier to list the services we do not provide, but I will attempt to briefly explain what we do for those who are curious.
We advise home owners on how they should service their home. We inspect homes to determine if there is a problem and then we determine the proper solution for the problem. We then either offer to repair it in-house or we find the right person to do the repair. We check houses in the owner’s absence for any problems that might arise. We make sure houses are in good condition and that all systems function as they should upon the owner’s return.
In addition to the above we also offer many convenience services such as: unlocking your house and preparing for guests, delivering packages, meeting service providers, checking internet and Wi-fi services to be sure they are still active, monitoring or caring for your vehicles, etc. We understand that Brays Island is where you want to come to relax and enjoy the amenities and we want to help you do that by taking care of the mundane day-to-day tasks of home ownership.
We also provide new construction and remodeling services. We try to bring the same level of service to this area of business as well. We believe that home building projects should be enjoyable and geared toward the owner’s complete satisfaction in the end. We like to be involved as early in the process as possible so that we can better influence the final outcome. We work hard to make sure our customers are completely happy with every project we complete!
That was a quick rundown of what we do but if there is something you need that is missing from the list, just ask. We can likely take care of it for you!
Construction terms you may hear
Any field has its own peculiar set of terms or jargon. Home construction and residences are no exception. Here is a list of terms you may hear when people talk about homes.
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Allowance: an amount of money in a proposal or contract to cover the cost of an item where details are not available yet. Allowances provide the homeowner with an accurate final cost of the home. The final cost could change depending on how much is spent on allowances.
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Astragal: A vertical trim piece between double doors.
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Batten: a narrow strip of trim (often wood) to cover joints in wide boards or plywood.
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Bearing wall: a wall that bears a load greater than itself such as a roof or second floor. Bearing walls cannot be moved easily.
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Casement: a window that hinges on the side and opens out.
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CMU (Concrete Masonry Unit): a concrete block.
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Coped joint: Cutting and fitting wood trim to an irregular surface.
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Corbel: a ledge or brace to hold a flat surface. Corbels can be made of brick, stone, wood or even steel. They typically hold mantles or counter top overhangs.
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Cricket: a second roof built over the primary roof to increase the slope and divert water out of low areas.
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Double Hung: a window where both sashes (top and bottom) will move.
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Drip cap: molding or flashing over exterior doors and windows to cause water to drip off rather than run down the door or window.
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Escutcheon: a trim plate or ring that fits around a penetration such as a pipe, faucet or door knob to hide the hole.
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Fascia: a trim board at the edge of the roof.
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Finial: the decorative cap on a pointed roof or on door hinge pins.
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Frieze: a trim board at the top of exterior walls.
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Hardscape: non-living items outside of a home such as walkways, driveways, fountains, benches and fire pits.
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Heart pine: slow growing pine that was common in the south years ago. It has a large percentage of heart (dark) wood.
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Hearth: area directly in front of fireplace made of fireproof material.
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Home run: an electrical circuit that runs directly back to the circuit panel box.
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HVAC: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning.
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Impact windows: Impact windows are designed to withstand flying debris. Code requires impact rated windows and doors or protective shutters in hurricane prone areas.
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Miter joint: a joint of two pieces with an angle that bisects the joining angle.
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No-see-ums: (Not strictly a construction term.) This is a very small, annoying biting insect that seems to be about 90% mouth. A fine mesh insect screen is necessary to keep them out of porches.
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OSB (Oriented Strand Board): also known in the past as wafer, chip or flake board. Made of carefully oriented wood strands and glue. Used by many for floor, wall and roof sheathing. It has disadvantages compared to plywood so we rarely use it.
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Pergola: a framework over a walk or patio area. Can serve as a support for vegetation, to partially shade an area or simply for decoration.
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Permeability: the measure of how much or how little water penetrates a material.
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R: a factor indicating the resistance to heat flow. R13 insulation allows more heat flow than R19, for example.
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Rebar: REinforcing BAR – ribbed steel bars embedded in concrete to add tensile strength (resistance to stretching).
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Reclaimed wood: Wood from old structures (barns, etc) that usually has flaws (nail holes, bolt holes, and such). Reclaimed wood is often 100+ years old. Species can be heart pine, oak or other species.
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SDL (Simulated Divided Lites): glass openings in a window or door are called lites. SDLs consist of one large pane of glass that is divided by grids which are applied to both surfaces of the glass. In the case of double-pane windows a grid is also placed between the two panes.
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SEER: (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) a measure of the efficiency of an air conditioner during the cooling season (cooling output vs. energy used). A higher SEER = greater energy efficiency.
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Tabby walks: concrete walks with oyster shells embedded in them. #1 tabby is made of small oyster chips. #2 is more common and a bit larger than #1. Tabby is attractive, but not easy on bare feet.
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Tie-down hardware: Steel straps, rods and cables that help a home withstand strong winds. In the homes we build there are numerous steel rods that tie the top plates of exterior walls to the foundation. Building codes require tie- down hardware in hurricane-prone areas.
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Transom: a small window above a door or larger window below. Some transoms are fixed and some are operational.
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Turnkey: a term describing a job where the contractor provides all labor and materials for a finished result.
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Walk-Through: an on-site inspection of a house, usually with the homeowner, to determine fixture locations or to detect any changes that need to be made.
This remodeled kitchen has a tray ceiling where the center of the room is higher than the perimeter.
Willis Sinclair Homes
We make building and remodeling easy!
Call Us
Willis: 843 599 9056
Bill: 843 846 2500
Abbey: 843 599 2302
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