On windows and pilings

Q. I’m wondering why all the houses around me have smaller windows. We’re all getting permits to raise our homes after the storm last year, but I’m being told I have to put in much bigger widows than I see around me. Why? Also, I’m wondering about the difference between a steel twist-in support piling and the fiberglass tubes. It seems the fiberglass tube piles cost a lot more, and I’m trying to decide why I would want them. I realize I’ll have wood posts that look like sticks, comparatively, but the contractor will put a finished column around it, like a “jacket,” as he calls it. By the way, the jacket column is structural, and the pictures of it are pretty nice. What’s the difference, other than money?

A. The windows you describe are smaller in some rooms because of a code change that took place that requires larger, 5.7-square-foot clear openings only in sleeping rooms. Prior to the code change, all habitable rooms required the larger windows. That may be what you’re seeing, but be aware that some rooms that will be used as bedrooms are being labeled as dens, libraries, hobby rooms, etc., and unless an official places a more stringent requirement on the room use, the owner will be responsible if someone sleeping in one of those rooms perishes in a fire. Since I hear about people dying in home fires just about every day, I recommend taking this requirement seriously, although I’m amazed at how often people say, What are the chances?

As for the support pilings going deep into the ground, I recommend the more expensive fiberglass columns that are water-jetted deep into the earth and then continuously extending up to the raised floor, often 10 or more feet into the air. By using that one-pile system that works continuously above and below ground, you avoid the labor of different trades and the time it takes. With the fiberglass pile, you’re ready to connect and frame the house the next day. With steel helical screw columns in the earth (trade 1), you have to construct a concrete cap (trade 2) formed by wood (trade 3, possibly) with steel reinforcing rods, let the concrete cure 3 to 7 days, depending on the strength mix, then attach wood columns (trade 3 comes back), and finally cut and reattach fiberglass decorative columns. And the strength of the second system is only as good as the connections, whereas the strength of the continuous column is like a tree with roots. So I favor the stronger fiberglass column system, which, after you add up all the days, laborers and materials, isn’t much different, and gives you a finished result for an open area below the house to park cars and entertain. Near the beach, the open space in your neighborhood is nice to have. Good luck!

© 2014 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.