Happy New year 2016!

2015 gave us twelve months of blessings that include gracious homeowners, talented architects and designers, skilled craftsmen, honorable merchants and the joy of sharing the experience of creating a home with all the wonderful people at Merlin Custom Home Builders.
This year we renovated and remodeled homes both on the ground and in highrises.  We completed some  projects and started others.  Our office interior was refreshed (1st time in 12 years), we found three new team members (in a challenging market for quality employees) and we rebuilt our accounting database.  All these improvements in staff and  working environment along with some great new trade partners helped us build and deliver a positive custom homebuilding experience to our homeowners.

We thank all of our homeowners for the opportunity to build and remodel your homes.  We thank Merlin Custom Home Builders’s team and our trade partners for your heartfelt commitment to giving our clients great homes and great experiences!

Happy Holidays!  Steve, Bart and the Merlin Custom Home Builders Team.

Building Success 101

 

Q: What is an “infinity-edge” pool?

 

A: An infinity or disappearing edge pool is one in which the water at one end appears to “drop off” into nothing, without a border. In fact, that’s exactly what’s happening. Along that edge, the pool water spills into a trough, from which it is filtered and recycled back into the pool. The look is very sleek and contemporary, especially if you are fortunate enough to have a back yard that overlooks a desirable, natural view.

Creating a durable and efficient Las Vegas home is no job for amateurs.

In 1985 Las Vegas was home to 562,280 Southern Nevadans.  In that ancient time—30 years ago—someone with basic construction knowledge could build a serviceable home. No more. Today, the combination of contemporary building materials and code-mandated construction practices have made homes more complex with less margin for error.
Custom homes Las Vegas have always existed in an extreme environment.  They can include 30 degree temperature swings within 24 hours, very hot summers, pretty cold winters and gale force winds possible at all times of the year.
Today’s Las Vegas home builder must first consider the evolution of materials. Suppliers used to sell framing lumber cut from mature trees that would stay straight and absorb a lot of moisture without problems. Builders put that lumber into poorly insulated, drafty walls where any moisture absorbed by the wood could escape before it caused problems.
But those mature trees have all been harvested. Today’s homes use a combination of engineered boards and dimensional lumber cut from fast-growing species—neither of which can store and release as much moisture as old-growth wood could. To complicate things further, energy codes mandate that those materials be put into well-insulated, nearly airtight walls.
These are not drawbacks. Engineered wood offers real structural advantages, is consistently straight while well-insulated walls make homes more comfortable and efficient. No modern custom builder or homeowner would want to do without them. The materials and insulation aren’t the problem; the problem is builders who don’t know how to work with those materials and Southern Nevada’s new building codes.
That makes it crucial to hire a builder who understands the basic principles of structure, insulation and moisture-related building science. Yes, good design and construction is now a science as well as an art.
Professional custom home builders in Las Vegas use bulletproof roofing, siding, and flashing that keep water out of the structure. They also know how to craft an efficient wall system that can handle the large amount of moisture put into the home’s air by a typical family (from activities such as cooking and showering) without problems.
These builders understand that drying potential is as important as moisture resistance, and that wall systems must be optimized for our climate. For instance, if any of that airborne moisture works its way into a wall, it needs to dry primarily to the outside in a heating climate but to the inside in a cooling climate. The educated pro knows how to make sure that happens.
The bottom line is to build the home so that its structure stays dry no matter how wet the weather or how many long, steamy showers the occupants take. A lot of older homes did that on their own, so builders and designers could get by without much knowledge of building science. That is no longer the case.
Merlin Custom Home Builders’s team understands this and understands the science of building a great custom home in Las Vegas.

Warm Regards,

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Steve Jones & Bart Jones
Merlin Custom Home Builders
6408 S. Arville Street
Las Vegas, NV 89118

702.257.8102 – Phone