Is Anybody Home? Quiz | Humanities

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Step 1: The Building Site You're ready to move out of the densely packed urban city and into the suburbs. Not finding any homes that suit you and your needs, you decide to build your own. It will be perfect! You find an empty lot in a quiet neighborhood and can see yourself in the home of your dreams. You notice that all of the houses on the street are set a distance back from the road and realize it must be due to a residential zoning ordinance. At least you know you're going to have a large front yard! What is the term for the distance between your home and the street?

Answer: Setback

Zoning is important to keep in mind when designing any type of building, whether it's residential, commercial, industrial, or mixed use. Zoning laws and ordinances tell you how high you can build, how close to the lot lines you can build, and much more. In residential neighborhoods, building setbacks determine how close to the street you can build your house. Setbacks are measured from each lot line to each facade of the building. What this means in a residential setting is that the setback influences the size of your yards (front, side, and back). Zoning laws are also important to consider when you plan to put a porch or deck on your house, or if you plan on building a treehouse. Zoning laws are not universal, and change from country to country, state to state, and city to city.

When choosing a site on which to build, there are many factors to consider. Site conditions are more important to keep in mind when designing non-residential buildings, where you have the opportunity to orient your building in a variety of ways and place it in a number of different locations within the site itself. Factors to consider when choosing a site are the soil conditions and make-up, site drainage, wind, and solar angles. Knowing how environmental factors relate to the site allows designers to use them most effectively and to work around and with them whenever possible.

2. Step 2: Making Plans You have the site for your new home and are happy with the location. You're excited to have all of the yard space, and can't wait to start working in your very own garden. With the lot chosen it is now time to work on the plans for the house. You hire an architect to design your new home and work with her until the design is exactly what you had in mind. The architect shows you floor plans and rendered pictures of the interior and exterior so you can better visualize the final product. What are the technical drawings the architect made that show you views of the walls of your new house?

Answer: Elevations

Architects and engineers use several different types of technical drawings to represent building designs in meaningful ways, and they each have their own purpose and value. Floor plans are drawings that show rooms seen from above, and walls, windows, and doors are cut through mid-way up. Floor plans are especially useful in construction as they include information on room dimensions and floor layout. Reflected ceiling plans show light fixtures, fans, different ceiling heights and materials. Such plans are drawn so that they line up exactly with floor plans. They are not viewed as if you are looking up at the ceiling, but rather as if you are looking at a reflection of the ceiling.

Elevations can be either exterior or interior. They are images of vertical walls drawn without perspective, as if you were seeing them from far away. Interior elevations are shown from floor to ceiling, and wall to wall. They do not show cut walls, ceilings, or floors. Sections usually cut through an entire floor or building, in the same orientation as elevations. Sections, however, show the inside construction of floors, walls, and ceilings, as if you sliced the building down the center. Details are technical drawings of a small portion of the design, such as the connection between a doorframe and a wall. They show the materials to scale and include information on material specification in terms of size and manufacture. All the information on types of doors, windows, wall types, paint finishes, and more are put into schedules for easy use, and are numbered and indexed into plans, sections, details, and elevations.

3. Step 3: Thinking Green You've always been one of those people who cares about the environment and you are looking into building a sustainable house. You want to reduce your electric usage to lower that electric bill! You want to conserve water, reusing what you can, and you want to use local materials and renewable resources, reducing greenhouse gasses. You know that there are programs out there that award green building designs and are certain that your home can become certified! What is the name of the US Green Building Council rating system that awards certifications for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Designs?

Answer: LEED

LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is a green building certification program as part of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) that consists of five different paths to certification: Building Design and Construction, Interior Design and Construction, Building Operations and Maintenance, Neighborhood Development, and Homes. Points are earned throughout the rating process for implementing green design features, using green materials, implementing green strategies, and much more. Depending on the number of LEED points you earn, you are awarded one of four different certifications, either LEED Certified, LEED Silver, LEED Gold, or LEED Platinum.

In the United States, LEED's biggest competitor is Green Globes. Green Globes is a less strict third-party certification program that is backed by chemical companies that reward the use of their own products. Energy Star is a government-run certification program in the United States that is backed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. Beam is a program out of Hong Kong that is managed by the Business Environment Council and assesses performance in site and material aspects, water and energy usage, and innovation.

4. Step 4: A Solid Foundation The designs are finished and you're ready to start building. If all goes according to plan, when your home is complete, you'll have a green certified house! The construction crew starts work on the lot, digging deep into the ground. You need to dig five feet down to be below the winter frost line, so you decided while planning that you wanted a full basement. The foundation is being poured into wooden forms to make the walls, but you notice that under each section of the basement wall is a wide flat concrete slab, running along the entire perimeter. The contractor explains that the slab is called a wall footing. What does the contractor tell you is the purpose of the concrete wall footing?

Answer: To spread out the wall load

A footing is used at the base of walls and columns where they meet the ground to distribute the forces of the building into the ground. Homes and buildings are designed to carry loads from floors to walls and columns that end in a foundation to be dispersed into the ground. The larger the surface area of the footing, the less force per square foot (or meter) of area there is. If the footing did not exist under a load-bearing wall or column, all of the force that the wall or column carried would be released through a small square footage of space, and would cause the building to sink into the ground.

International building codes stipulate that building foundations need to extend below what is called a "frost line". A frost line is the depth to which the ground freezes in the winter. In tropical climates this is not an issue and homes can built on slabs that sit on the surface. In colder climates, the foundation of a building extends below the frost line to eliminate the chance that freezing ice will cause upheaval of the building. Houses tend to have shallow foundations, built of walls that can be turned into basements or crawlspaces. In larger buildings, foundations are often made of large columns called piles that extend deep into the earth, ideally to bedrock.

The ground around the outside of a foundation wall is normally filled with gravel in which a perforated pipe sits to drain water away from the building. The foundation walls are usually reinforced with steel rods called "rebar", and the footings of small buildings and homes can be either reinforced or non-reinforced. One of the most common materials for foundations is concrete. Stone and brick are also popular, and can be effective foundation materials when properly sealed.

5. Step 5: A Floor to Stand On The basement walls are set and cured and the concrete wall forms are removed. You're ready to start putting in the first floor! To reduce the amount of wood you need to use, the floor has been designed to use trusses instead of solid beams. Trusses provide the strength of a solid beam, but eliminate the unnecessary material in the middle. At the site, you hear the framers use a special word for the floor trusses. What is the word for a solid beam or truss that is part of a closely-spaced array, like those used in a floor to support the decking material?

Answer: Joist

Joists are beams that are part of closely-spaced arrays. Floor joists are used to support floor decking material and ceiling joists are used to support low-slope roofs. A girder is a second type of beam that is used in floors. Girders are generally very large and heavy beams that are sometimes built from smaller elements. Girders act as central support beams, and are defined as being horizontal beams that support other beams. In residential construction, a deep girder beam will span from one exterior load-bearing wall to another, and the floor joists will span perpendicularly from exterior walls to the central girder.

Pre-made trusses are sometimes used instead of solid beams in wood-frame construction. They have top and bottom members called flanges, and have a web of smaller members that form the familiar truss bracing in-between. They are much lighter in weight than solid beams, which makes them easier to maneuver. They also require less material than solid beams, which makes them more cost-effective, and more favorable for residential construction.

Rafters are slanted framing members that form the structure of roofs. When rafters are used they are often notched to connect in the center ridge of a roof, joining with a horizontal ridge beam. Studs are vertical framing members that are used to create walls.

6. Step 6: Up the Wall You can see the house coming together now; the walls are going up and the rooms are being defined. You notice that the exterior walls are being covered with plywood sheets before they are put in place, but the interior walls are not. The plywood on the outer side of the exterior walls provides a surface to attach blue board insulation, vapor barriers, and siding. The plywood also provides a backing for the interior insulation of your house. Since you're going green, you have opted for recycled cellulose blown-in insulation. You know that the insulation has an R-value and it has something to do with heat flow. What does the "R" stand for in "R-value"?

Answer: Thermal resistance

There are a variety of different insulating materials that can be used both on the exterior and on the interior of a building. Everything from plywood sheathing and blue boards through blown cellulose and fiberglass batt insulation, to windows and doors, are given thermal resistance values, R-values (or RSI values in the metric system), that allow designers and contractors to provide adequate insulation to buildings. The higher the R-value of a material, the better the material is as an insulator.

Thermal resistance is important in building design when planning exterior wall and roof construction. Having properly insulated walls can lower heating and cooling bills by reducing the heat transfer between the interior and exterior of a building. Proper insulation and air flow in roof design is important to prevent ice dams (solid ice caused by refreezing of melted snow on roof eaves) in the winter that can cause water to infiltrate through a roof and into the interior of a house. In addition to physical insulation on the inside and outside of exterior walls, air spaces and moisture barriers are added to the walls to provide extra protection.

7. Step 7: A Roof Overhead Your house is now ready for the roof to be completed. The framing is done and the plywood is in place. You decided to use traditional asphalt tiles for roofing, but you notice that along the edge of the brick chimney, metal strips are being nailed into place. You panic, thinking that the roofing company has been given the wrong instructions for shingling your roof, so you call someone over. He calmly explains that before the asphalt shingles can be nailed in, the metal strips must be put in place. The metal strips will prevent water from entering the joint between the chimney and the roof. What did the roof installer call the metal strip that is nailed over the roof-chimney joint?

Answer: Flashing

Metal flashings are used at joints in roofs, chimneys, and exterior walls. Flashings are usually-continuous thin sheets of metal, rubber, plastic, or waterproof paper, and they prevent water from passing through a joint on the exterior of a building. Water infiltration is a huge problem in buildings, and steps are taken from foundation to roof to prevent infiltration as much as possible. Sealants and waterproof barriers are used on the exteriors of non-porous wall materials to prevent infiltration. In cases where bricks are used on the exterior of a building, it is impossible to prevent water from wicking through the wall. In those cases, air spaces are left between the porous brick wall-construction and the interior wall (covered in waterproof sheathing) where the water can drip down inside the wall and escape through small "weep holes" in the exterior brick.

Fillets are rounded interior surfaces where two flat planar surfaces intersect. Finials are ornaments that top roofs and spires. Fascia are the exposed vertical faces of roof eaves, which are the horizontal edges at the bottom of sloping roofs.

8. Step 8: Windows of Opportunity Until now, there have been empty holes where your windows and doors are supposed to be. You watch as the windows and doors that you hand-picked are put into their proper places. You had your home designed with a variety of window types - simple double-hung windows, bays, bows, and skylights. You're getting plenty of light and natural ventilation in your new home, which in addition to being aesthetically pleasing will also cut down on energy costs. To allow for more light inside the house, and to facilitate natural ventilation, you requested windows above all the interior doorways and along non-load bearing walls where the walls meet the ceiling. What is the name for those interior windows that are sometimes called transoms?

Answer: Clerestory windows

Choosing windows and doors can be just as important as designing wall and roof structures in a building. Windows and doors come with a variety of energy ratings, fire protections, frames, materials, and patterns. There are simple single-pane windows and solid doors, and there intricately patterned and layered windows and doors. Windows can come in all shapes and sizes and open at the top, bottom, sides, or in the middle, and they can slide, flip open, or be fixed in position. Windows are given different names based on the shape and style of the window, and also on its location.

Clerestory (or transom) windows are usually interior windows, and they appear over doors or where a wall meets a ceiling. Because glass is poor in compression, such windows cannot be used in load-bearing walls. Clerestory windows can be fixed in position or open to allow air to circulate.

9. Step 9: Simply Electric Since you're designing green, you have all your lights on dimmers and sensors and you have a system that collects rain water which can be used later to water your plants. All of your windows are operable to let air circulate naturally through your house to cool it in the summer months. You're still worried about electric costs but have discovered a way to produce some of your own electricity. The back of your house faces the south (for a northern hemisphere dwelling), so solar panels can effectively capture the sun's energy and use it to fill some of your electric needs. What is another name for the solar cell that is used to convert sunlight directly into electricity?

Answer: Photovoltaic cell

Solar panels are comprised of photovoltaic cells that convert direct and indirect sunlight into electricity. They can be used on a large scale in commercial or government buildings and also on a small scale for residential use. Photovoltaic (solar) cells are made of a semiconductor material, such as silicon, that has arrayed imperfections arranged to produce junctions where electric current can pass. There are a number of different compositions and arrangements of solar cells that produce varying efficiencies from around 10% to just over 30% efficient. Having solar panels on site means that at some times you can use the energy of the panels to power your building instead of (or in conjunction with) electricity from the power company, reducing costs.

Some buildings can produce so much energy on site that during some months of the year they actually produce more energy than they need and send it back to the grid (as opposed to taking it from the grid when they receive electricity from a power company). When a building produces enough of its own energy on site to cover its energy needs, it is called a net-zero building. Net zero energy is a goal for many green building designs.

10. Step 10: The Finishing Touch Your house is almost complete, with just the finishing details to go. The walls have been painted and the bamboo floors have been installed. You're ready to move in your furniture and your appliances, to make the house into a home. The floor molding is going in and there is beautifully carved trim around all the windows and doors. You make a last minute decision to put trim where the walls meet the ceilings to finish off the elegant look to the rooms. What type of molding do you need to ask the contractor to install for you?

Answer: Crown

The final step of construction is called "finish details". Finish details come after framing is complete, after the exterior roofing and siding has been attached, and after plumbing, electrical, and mechanical systems are in place. Finish details include installation of finish floors (wood, vinyl, tile, or carpet), wall and ceiling treatments (gypsum wall board, plaster, paint, tile, molding), and appliance installation - everything that is needed to get the house ready for the new occupant.

Wood or plastic trim is one of the final details to go into a house. The trim is installed after the floors, walls, ceilings, and built-in cabinetry are all finished. Trim often runs along the bottom of walls where they meet the floor (base board) and around windows and doors. Trim can be simple or it can be intricately carved. In fancier designs, trim lines the tops of walls where they meet the ceiling (crown molding) and sometimes is used to form patterns on ceilings.

Once all of the finish details are complete, the house is ready to be lived in. Keys exchange hands, and the house becomes a home.

Source: Author kaddarsgirl

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Is Anybody Home? Trivia Quiz

You're driving through a quiet suburban neighborhood, admiring the beautiful homes and wondering how such houses came to be. Open the quiz door and step inside to learn how it's done. Is anybody home?

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