Heath Moser #2 - EDS Birmingham 2-20-21

Hey, hope everyone is doing well. The South has really had some strange weather this past week. Fortunately, Birmingham was not affected by the worst of the weather though it did snow for several hours Tuesday morning. I had to wait a couple of hours before going in to work to make sure the roads were safe, but it was fine.

Work has continued on quite well. Still trying to push some CDs out of the door on a couple of projects before we open any new cans of worms. One that I focused on this week is a residence in Mountain Brook. Mountain Brook is fully developed and lots can no longer be subdivided, but this particular client found a house that was on a double lot, so they bought and resold the house, keeping the lot. The proposed residence pretty much maxes out the setback lines on the lot, and the grading is challenging on this site. I was happy to finally get to spend some time working on the grading plan this week for the house. We just need to get a few more details finalized, finish a drainage plan, and this project should be good to start construction. The lot has been cleared so time is of the essence.

One of the house elevations by the architect. 

Not my favorite roof style but it should be a cool house.

Site visit to the lot to see the clearing progress.

Studying the existing materials on site. These stone step treads (each 8 feet long)
will be incorporated in our design.

Schematic design sent to the client/architect for a water feature. 

Hand-drawn to match the architect's drawings which will help to 

sell the design to the client and the architect.

Once the weather warms up a bit I hope to get out and do some more hiking and exploration of the many parks that are within Birmingham. The downtown has had a major revitalization the last few years and this includes the outdoor spaces.

Programs I've been using in the office (we keep it pretty simple around here):

Vectorworks
Photoshop (rarely)
Email 😜

One thing I'm curious about is what local ordinances and codes people have been working with regarding stormwater, particularly on residential sites? Mountain Brook and a lot of other suburbs of Birmingham have adopted an ordinance that states that new construction must not have more than 35%-40% impervious surface (I'm not exactly sure where that extra 5% allowance comes from). Basically, if you go over 40%, you either have to modify the design with permeable pavers, gravel, etc., or if impervious is absolutely unavoidable, an engineered stormwater detention system must be designed and installed, to capture the water from the site and release it at a controlled rate.

I've enjoyed all the blog posts so far and look forwards to seeing more updates soon!