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2003 Archives
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Modular's 'Flip' Roof is a Winner
By ALLEN NORWOOD, Charlotte Observer
A roof that "flips" — and design ideas borrowed from a subdivision house in Mooresville — helped R-Anell Homes win a national modular home design award.
R-Anell, based just west of Lake Norman in Denver, was recognized this month by the Building Systems Council of the National Association of Home Builders for the top modular home of more than 2,200 square feet.
The council consists of builders who use new construction methods, including log, panel and modular techniques. "You can enter designs of your house to compete with your peers," said R-Anell President Dennis Jones, "so that's what we did."
The judges cited the home's curb appeal — its full front porch and roof dormers — as well as its large rooms and open interior. In other words, you might not recognize it as a modular home.
The open interior is made possible by new roof technology, Jones said.
Modular homes typically consist of two sections, or modules, that are 12, 14 or 16 feet wide. The two halves are made in a factory and then shipped to the site, where they're placed on a foundation. They're attached to each other, but each supports its own portion of the roof and the interior layout is still defined by the individual modules.
The winning home, the Savannah, features three modules — and the center one doesn't get a roof at the factory. Instead, hinged roof panels are attached to the front and rear modules, and are flipped up when the house is placed on its foundation.
"We don't have to have walls where the modules come together," Jones said, "and it removes a lot of other (interior design) restrictions."
The technique also allows for a much more sophisticated roofline, which is one reason the Savannah doesn't look like a typical modular home. Factory-made homes — in fact, affordable homes of all types — often have low, plain rooflines to keep costs down.
Jones said the winning house was modeled after a traditional site-built model that R-Anell folks admired in a Mooresville subdivision. "We said, 'Hey, that is a good-looking house. With our new technology, three modules side by side, we could do that.'"
The house contains 2,219 square feet on the first floor, and an additional 1,398 square feet of unfinished space upstairs for future expansion. There are three bedrooms and two baths, plus separate study and dining room.
The house that won — with cherry cabinets, granite countertops and stainless appliances — was displayed at the manufactured housing convention in Charlotte this fall. It was sold to a Durham dealer.
But you can see exterior and interior pictures of the house on R-Anell's Web site. Go to www.r-anell.com and click on the streaming banner that says "Founder's Collection." Click on model 798.
R-Anell is the largest modular home manufacturer in the Carolinas. It employs 350 people in the Denver plant.
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