Leo Rosario

• Position: Design Coordinator
• Education: BA Civil and Environmental Engineering at UW-Madison 2014
• Years in Summit County/ Colorado: 1
• Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Favorite Things: Exploring new places on my skis, bike, and feet; live music; and spending time in quality places with quality people
• The best thing about working here is: Getting to be creative and use my degree while living in the mountains
• The best thing I’ve learned is: Organization and persistence are key
• Where do you want to be in 5 years: Enjoying my work and surroundings with good people
• Most Notable Memory While at Trilogy: Leaving client meetings knowing that everyone is inspired and satisfied 

Rough-textured raw stone is a popular trend in bathroom design. A rough stone bathroom can have one or all walls in natural or engineered stone. The unfinished textures work with contemporary or traditional bathroom designs.

Raw stone has subtle color variations that bring the mountains into your home. The look is natural and can be combined with any type of lighting and plumbing fixtures. The raw stone can be used effectively in a master bathroom, guest bath or mudroom. The rustic look and feel make for a great outdoor bathroom and spa next to a pool deck. Raw stone combines well with rough, natural wood.

A truly rustic bathroom can have stone walls, and a simple wood vanity and counter with a stone or ceramic vessel sink. Raw stone can line an alcove for the shower giving it the appearance of a mountain cave. Stone can also be used to build an obelisk or pyramid with a shower head for a curb-less shower.

Contact Trilogy Partners, an award-winning custom home builder in Breckenridge, can design and build the perfect rough stone bathroom for your custom home or vacation lodge in the Summit County area.

We wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays from Breckenridge, Colorado. We are so fortunate to live and work in such a beautiful setting like Breckenridge, where it is always a winter wonderland. For those of you in parts of the country who won’t be having a White Christmas we wanted to share some of our favorite “snow” top moments from Colorado.

We hope you enjoy…

Trilogy Partners

Trilogy Partners

Trilogy Partners

It’s not surprising that today marks the first day of winter. It is after all a cold, snowy day here in Breckenridge, Colorado with a low tonight of -6 degrees. In honor of the first day of winter, we complied a list of ways to help you stay warm this winter season. From radiant flooring to ventless fires, see how you can beat that winter chill!

We love Planika’s remote-controlled, smoke-free, eco-friendly, ventless fires. Since there is no need for any kind of ventilation, this “fireplace” can be installed anywhere. In an existing hearth or even in the middle of your coffee table.

Photo via Planika

Photo via Planika

Radiant floors will help keep your toes nice and toasty this time of year. It can even be used with hardwood floors, but be careful of which type you choose, it could possibly expand from the heat.

Photo via Elle Decor

Tired of stepping out of a hot shower and wrapping yourself in a cold towel. Towel warmers in the bathroom will help solve this problem.

Photo via Trendir

How do you stay warm during the winter months?

Tuesday, December 13th will be a milestone for Kevin Pearce. He will once again strap on his snowboard and take to the mountain with friends and family here in Breckenridge, Colorado. This ride down the mountain will be Kevin’s first since his life-changing accident back in 2009 in Utah. Pearce, a shoe-in for the 2010 United States snowboarding team, was practicing a difficult move in Park City and sustained a serious trauma to his head, which left him in a coma.

Pearce promises there will be “No tricks. No big air. No spins or double corks. No halfpipe.”

Photo via ESPN

“I really couldn’t be much happier about the way things turned out,” Pearce said. “Even the smallest things, like jumping on a snowboard. It has totally changed my perspective.”

New reports have revealed that the remodeling industry is bouncing back and is ahead of the building industry in the recovery curve. According to Builder magazine, national spending on remodeling reached $300 billion in 2010, as reported by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The report offers predictions that remodeling spending will increase at a rate of about 3.5 percent this year and in the years to come. While that is below the 12 percent annual pace of the housing boom that occurred from 2003 to 2007, it is quite higher than the downturn from 2007 to 2009, in which remodeling spending dropped by nearly 13 percent.

Gwen Biasi, spokesman for the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, said “It’s picking up somewhat out there. We’re hearing from members that their phones are ringing again and people are coming up with money for remodeling projects. The project aren’t as huge as they might have been five years ago, but [remodelers] are seeing an increase.”

Perhaps this news is a sign that the building industry will see an increase in spending in the next few years, too.

Photo credit: Nchsa.org.

As I’ve posted before, when we started building homes we knew a lot less than we know today. Each day brought with it new lessons. I can remember the first day I met the building inspector from the Town of Breckenridge. His name was C and he was in a foul mood the moment he got out of his car. He’d come out to our building site to check to see if there was frost in the ground. We were installing pre-cast foundation walls, which are bedded in a gravel footer. Beneath the gravel was compacted dirt, and the building department had stipulated that we must lay our foundation walls on ground that was unfrozen. It was about 5 degrees that morning, and per agreement we’d called in our frozen ground inspection, and C had arrived thermometer in hand. After sticking the thermometer into the ground and consulting it, he told us in no uncertain terms that we were not going to be putting in our foundation walls that day. Determined to get the walls in (we had a crane on site charging us by the hour) I commenced to debate with C. I had gone on with my carefully crafted argument for about a minute when he gave me the blackest of looks and turned and walked away. And it dawned on me that I had just managed to completely annoy the one person who held sway over our entire project. I’ve previously posted about how we’d erected a plastic tent over the entire site to keep the soil from freezing. And how the wind had blown the tent away. Big mistake. And now another big mistake. The building inspector hated us. For minutes afterward my brother and I just paced in silence wondering what to do next. Because it certainly wasn’t going to be getting any warmer for months. How were we ever going to get those concrete walls installed?  Then someone suggested that there was a miraculous device called a ground heater that was usually used in situations like this. And so we rented one, and when C came back the next day, the ground heater had thawed the ground and we were allowed to proceed. I went out of my way to apologize to C telling him that I was doing the best I could to figure out how to build my first house. And to my surprise, C told me about feeling totally miserable the day before because of a terrible cold, and how he was feeling much better today, and we had a chat about colds, cold weather, and building in the cold winter. From that day on, C and I got along just fine. Over the years my brother and I grew to know, to respect, and to appreciate all of those who worked in the Breckenridge Building Department. They can be your greatest allies, or, should you decide to cut corners, your worst enemies. They are our partners in standards of quality and safety. And we are proud to join with them in producing the best product possible.

Colorado Building Company, sister company to Trilogy Partners, was founded in 2007. Whereas Trilogy is a Design and Build construction company, Colorado Building Company is construction management/general contracting company. CBC specializes in projects where design oversite is the parameter of architects and interior designers not working under the design-build model. Trilogy Partners uses CBC for general contracting services.

The team behind CBC has more than half a century of combined construction experience. CBC is experienced in the construction of high value custom homes.  But smaller projects and remodels receive the same attention to detail and customer service as large projects. CBC also has a commercial division to service non-residential projects.

CBC leads the way in sustainable building and cutting edge construction technologies. CBC built the first zero net home in Breckenridge. CBC leadership is experienced in Structural Insulating Panel construction, advanced green framing technologies, timber frame, log, and conventional framing. CBC is committed to the highest level of quality and customer service.

Timber Frame Construction, compared to stick built or conventional framing, is a very sustainable building technology. Unlike stick building, the materials used in a timber frame will inevitably be reclaimed and recycled. In fact, many timber frames are made from reclaimed and recycled frames from barns, bridges, warehouses, and factory buildings. An argument is sometimes made that Timber Frames use old growth lumber. In fact, some do. But Timber Frame homes typically last much longer than conventionally framed homes. Timber Frames in Europe and Asia are more than 1000 years old. One way to preserve old growth forests is to build homes that last a lot longer so fewer trees will be cut for construction purposes. One other fact about Timber Frames is that they are frequently build from fast growing farm raised southern yellow pine which is kiln dried. Farm raised Southern Yellow pine is a renewable resource.

Further supporting Timber Frame as a sustainable building method is that Timber Frame combined with SIP panels provides a highly insulated, tight structure that uses much less energy for heating and cooling than conventionally framed structures.

A Timber Frame home, though generally more expensive to build than a conventionally framed home, also brings with it the beauty of posts and beams, open floor plans and soaring ceilings. So Timber Frame construction is not only good for the planet, but beautiful as well.

Boiler Room with Geothermal Heat Exchange System

From earlier writings we described the environmental commitment of Breckenridge homeowner Kyle M. to build an 8,000 sq. ft. luxury zero energy home. We continue today with the inside story of this net zero home. This writing focuses on the renewable energy systems chosen including solar electric and geo-exchange, along with an integrated lighting and electronics program that dually functions as an energy management system. Once Ambient Energy produced the energy modeling for the 8,000 sq. ft. home, the engineering and building team went to work to choose materials that would conserve as much energy as possible. Step one: Design and build a tight well-insulated energy-efficient home. Step two: Incorporate renewable energy and smart-home control systems geared to energy conservation.

The environmental heating and cooling solutions for the Breckenridge Timber Trail home demonstrate a high degree of integration among experienced professionals not unlike the workings of a well trained sports team. This team’s goal: design and install an efficient geo exchange heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system to provide 100 percent of the home’s space heating needs with a natural gas boiler backing up system. First up to bat was Barry Engleman of George T. Sanders Companyof Silverthorne. George T. Sanders did the heat calculations for the home to determine how much radiant floor tubing was needed to keep the house warming properly even down to 20 degrees below zero. Engleman designed the layout and Tekmar control systems that control the radiant floor hydronic system. Next to bat was Eric Atcheson of E.W.A. Mechanical Inc. based in Silverthorne. E.W.A worked closely with Engleman, and was responsible for the home’s plumbing, heating, and automated Tekmar control systems. Following Engleman’s layout and his own expertise, Atcheson installed the plumbing system for domestic hot water production, radiant floor heat tubes to supply heating for the home, and the optional snowmelt system for the driveway. The house received two high efficiency boilers that integrate with the ground source heat pumps and ensure the home’s comfort on the coldest of Breckenridge nights. Our third and fourth batters were Jim Dexter from Summit Professionals of Silverthorne and Bob Major of Major Heating and Cooling in Wheat Ridge. The two companies managed the installation and integration of the ground source geo exchange heating and cooling system, heat pumps, air handling and humidification. Summit Professionals designed systems and duct work to provide a fresh supply of air to the home and comfortable environment. Dexter installed an integrated air handling, humidification and Energy Recovery Ventilator which gives the homeowner complete control over the indoor environment. The Breckenridge home receives 100 percent of its space heating and summer cooling from a geothermal heat pump system. Geo exchange uses the constant 50 to 55 degree temperature of the earth to warm the home when it is cold outside and to cool the home on hot days. Before excavation of the home, the geo exchange wells were drilled. Major Heating and Geothermal in conjunction with Can-America Drilling Inc., installs a closed loop system consisting of 19 boreholes, each 300 ft deep, around the foundation and under the driveway.

Solar PV System

Photovoltaic Panels

SolSource, Inc., a solar engineering and installation firm based in Denver, was engaged to design and install the solar photovoltaic system, through their partnership with Breckenridge-based Colorado Building Company.

The Making of Breckenridge’s First Custom Net Zero Home

Dave Lyskawa, Sol-Source VP of Residential Sales, met the homeowner’s goal of designing a solar electric system that provides 100 percent of the home’s electrical needs. For phase one, SolSource installed a 9.89 kW solar PV array. The solar energy installation consists of 43 SolarWorld 230-watt panels with black frames. SolarWorld modules are 100 percent manufactured in the U.S. The solar panels are connected to Enphase micro inverters and an Enphase energy management unit which provides 24/7 system monitoring. Enphase increased the energy production of the solar array by maximizing the energy generated by each individual solar panel. SolSource also selected Enphase to allow for system expandability and is pre-wiring the home for an additional 7 kW system in phase two. The energy produced by the 9.89 kW array prevents an estimated 29,907 pounds of C02 from entering the atmosphere every year.

Lighting and Energy Management Systems

A final component to creating Breckenridge’s first custom net zero home was integrated lighting, energy management, and whole house automation system. Players were Chad Ballard of Paradigm Systems, Inc. based in Denver using the Vantage Control system and Daniel Stern with Electronics by Design in Broomfield. All lighting fixtures installed were evaluated for functionality and energy efficiency. “We focus on correct color, intensity, dimming and usage of the lights required in a luxury residence, while ensuring that the house is performing at the minimum energy consumption,” said Ballard. The Vantage system was chosen for its ability to provide automated and remote control of the home’s lights, HVAC, shades, fans, audio/ video and home theater distribution systems, security through sensors, timers, keypads and energy consumption meters. Lights in high use rooms were programmed with occupancy sensors that turn on when some one enters the room at a set intensity and turn off when motion is no longer detected after a set time interval. This simple house-wide lighting/motion sensor system enables the homeowner to masterfully manage the home’s electricity usage and significantly conserve energy. This Breckenridge residence is likely the “smartest home” in town. If homeowner Kyle wants to, he can press a button on his cell phone as he is driving up to his mountain chateau and engage a “Welcome” mode. With one button the lights turn on, the blinds go up, the garage door opens, and music begins to play.