About myself and diamondstar.homes

And what makes the Ironwood Home so different

I have worked in the construction industry for 38 years, starting with residential custom homes, additions and remodels but spending the majority of my years in hospital construction in California. It is the love of building homes coupled with the hospital experience which drives the Ironwood Home Design.

Hospitals, especially here in California, are built to be incredibly seismically strong, fire resistant, durable and code-compliant, no shortcuts. Hospitals are complex and very detailed to design and build. Because of this, construction efficiency becomes critical to a successful project. Plans must be detailed and correct, advanced planning and scheduling, utilizing prefabrication for repetitive tasks and components all go into building a hospital. Taking what I've learned over several decades, I started to look at residential home construction again. At first, just to design a better home that I could build myself.

Then in 2017 the Tubbs Fire started near Calistoga Ca. and burnt through northern Santa Rosa in less than 48-hours, a straight distance of over 10 miles. That fire came within 8 miles of my home. The very next year, in 2018, the Camp Fire devastated the town of Paradise almost overnight.

I turned my attention to making homes extremely fire resistant from wildfires while still using standard building materials and keeping costs down. Hospitals incorporate materials and construction details not typically used in home construction but with no reason they shouldn't be.

Seismic safety has always been a priority. The issue was how to standardize the components used to make the home earthquake proof. Scaling down systems used in hospitals to a buildable and repeatable system for home construction turned out to be pretty easy. Homes of any size and shape can be built using these structural frames. This introduces the primary limitations to the home design though. Structural frames must be assembled correctly with little room for modification. When they are stacked they must be vertically aligned. Even with these limitations, we can design and build homes better than anyone has done before.

Diamondstar and Ironwood Homes

What is Diamondstar Homes and Ironwood Homes?

The original design is a hybrid metal and wood frame system where each material is used where it works the best. This is the origin of Ironwood Homes name. Unfortunately, there are so many builders, real estate agencies, even neighborhoods named Ironwood I didn't want to get lost in all that noise so Diamondstar homes became the parent name. Ironwood remains the name on all my plans and other documents.

If the future brings more advancement in home design it may take on another name but all under the Diamondstar name.

features:

The Structural Frame

The structural frame is made of 3 primary components. Only one of them, the shear panel, must be assembled, the beams and floor trusses are off-the-shelf products.

Each frame gives you 400 sq. ft. of open floor space with up to 12 ft. exterior and interior openings. Large windows in an average home is possible. Affordable homes can have large open floor plans.

Frames make a home

The Structural Frame

Multiple frames are arranged and stacked to create your home size and shape. The options are nearly unlimited.

This example shows a modest 1300 sq. ft. home with a 320 sq. ft. 2nd floor roof deck. That deck can be covered for shade and to support more solar panels.

Each frame is an independent structure, design your home to fit the property and capture the best views while blocking out the bad ones.

Bays

The Structural Frame

Seismic & Wind Resistance

Bay extensions are typically 12' wide by 4' deep however they can be deeper. They are intended to fit into the opening between the shear panels.

Roof levels can vary to create interior and exterior architectural features.

A customized Bay Extension is designed for stairs that wrap around the exterior of the frame. Each wall section is prefabricated in your shop, on-site or even in your driveway.

The 12' wall panel used in a Bay also fits between the shear panels as an exterior wall panel.

Seismic & Wind Resistance

Fire Resistant Construction

Seismic & Wind Resistance

The strength in an Ironwood Home starts with the shear panel. This is not a new technology, just a better way to use them and eliminate additional shear walls.

Every shear panel is made the same, regardless of where it is used in the structure. Shear panels can be mass produced for several homes at once since they are the same in every single Ironwood Home.

Fire Resistant Construction

Fire resistance starts with non-combustible materials but also requires high-quality construction. How fire resistive assemblies are built is just as important as using the right materials.

Wind-driven embers lodge in cracks and recesses and into attic spaces, this is where your home may catch on fire.

Whether building with wood framing or light-gauge steel, every home must use light-gauge steel for roof truss framing and any exposed members.

High Energy-Efficiency

Fire Resistant Construction

The Fire resistant construction is part of the overall energy efficiency of this home. The exterior is covered with a minimum of 1-1/2" insulation. This insulation is mineral wool or Polyisocyanurate type, non-combustible. The exterior insulation is in addition to wall cavity insulation.

As in fire resistance, energy efficiency comes down to quality construction.

Besides insulation, this home is easily designed to use Passive solar and natural ventilation.