MODULAR FACTORIES PREFECT PLACE FOR ARTS AND CRAFTS HOMES

Since the housing recession we have seen new home buyers looking for smaller but more elegant homes. They are putting their money into building green, energy efficient homes with smaller footprints. But one of the things that is also starting to see a resurgence is the Arts and Crafts style homes of the early 1900’s.

Most of today’s modular home builders are not craftsmen. Most come to modular from site building or as someone that looks to the modular factory to take care of finding the skilled people needed to build the houses that they have no training to do. For these people to begin building an Arts and Craft home would be like learning to ice dance in Hawaii.

The modular factory would appear to be a logical place for this type of home to blossom. I know a couple of factories have done them, most prominently Haven Homes but that shouldn’t stop other factories from offering them also. The basic house is the same; it’s the trim work that needs the most attention. But how do you slow down the line in order to add this time and labor intensive work and still keep production at a pace that satisfies all of the factory’s builders? 

Many years ago I worked for a factory that had an indoor 2 slot bay at the side of the factory where individual modules that needed extra attention, like custom stairs, special kitchen cabinets, etc, were installed and finished. Two highly skilled interior finish men were dedicated to this area. After I found out that it actually existed, (they were only doing one floor a week in it before I arrived) I started working with my builders to have them include more special trim, stairs, built-in bookcases and cabinetry. I kept the area busy. More profit for the builder, the factory and ME!

The trim on an Arts and Crafts home is essentially flat, square-edged boards. Like the arms and legs of the “Mission” furniture to which they are closely related, these boards lack milled grooves or bands that create patterns of shadow and light. Nor will you see supplementary trim along edges, or devices like corner blocks or plinths where members meet. Instead, moldings rely on their relative size and thickness to create shadows and interest.

Door and window casings, too, are very often square-edged 1” boards, customarily around 4” wide. While headers may be the same material, they usually get a distinguishing treatment: made of slightly thicker stock to stand proud of the stiles, or with ends cut at 30 degrees to rest on the opening like a cap. An ensemble of flat boards and one-inch bands produced a header with interesting shadow, but still no ornament.