Contractor of the Year Award

R-Home MagazineNews/C.L. Shade Drafting/October 2012: Contractor of the Year Award. National Association of the Remodeling Industry Central VA Chapter: C. L. Shade Drafting won the Grand Prize Contractor of the Year Award for a whole house remodel in the Richmond home market. This home will be featured in the upcoming November/December issue of R-Home magazine. Thank you to all who made this possible.

In other news, our latest addition has started construction in Westham. Please check back for updates on its progress.

New Homes: These homes have been created especially for clients who are looking for a unique and personal space to raise their family. Careful attention to detail and listening to the needs of the client are the hallmark of our success. (please see our Custom Homes section for details)

Additions: When a family finds that it needs more space C. L. Shade Drafting has the experience and knowledge to provide design for these spaces that will meet the clients growing needs.

Garages / Outbuildings: If you need a Garage for that special car, RV, or just a place to put all the kids bikes, C. L. Shade Drafting knows how to help. Or maybe a Pool House or backyard studio for relaxing is what you need? Give us a call so that we can help you create these spaces to your specifications!

For more information, please contact Charles Shade.

Welcome to C. L. Shade Drafting

Welcome to C. L. Shade Drafting! We are located in Richmond, Virginia (RVA), and we provide residential drafting and design services. C. L. Shade Drafting creates fully engineered plans for new and existing homeowners, contractors, builders, real estate professionals and architects.

Owner Charles L. Shade, has over thirty years of residential drafting, computer aided design, contracting, and framing construction experience. All work is completed to YOUR specifications!

We offer a variety of drafting and design services for custom homes, additions, garages, and more.

CAD Drafting

  • New residential homes that include detailed construction drawings and roof plans
  • Stock plan conversions
  • Outbuildings
  • Additions & Renovations

Construction details for other plans, including plats and interior sections are also available from C.L. Shade Drafting.

For more information, please contact Charles Shade.

Conditioned Crawl Space

Conditioning a crawl space along with air-sealing the exterior envelopes are two items that should be implemented by all homeowners and builders that would like to bring “Green” construction to their project. These two items alone can account for the most energy saving benefits that you will see as a homeowner.

One thing is true especially in older homes: There is a forced air heating and/or cooling system that was either added 30 years ago or placed when the home was built and it is in the crawl space or the attic. Either way one of two things is happening. 1. The system’s ducting was never insulated or was built using duct board. (If it’s duct board run away!) 2. The duct system was held together using Duct Tape, now called Duck Tape because it did not work on ducts and this tape has failed and the ducts are leaking air all over. A third option especially with 30+ year old systems is mechanically fastened galvanized ducting that is not sealed in any way but also is not potentially coming apart. Trust me this stuff would stay together in a tornado. This latter type of duct is a great candidate for a conditioned crawl space. It is already leaking enough air to keep the crawl space pressurized therefore keeping ground borne pollutants at bay. And it’s easier and better to condition the crawl than it is to mastic seal and insulate the duct. Create a conditioned space around the duct; allow it to be brought into the building envelope that is already full of conditioned air much as a Mechanical Room inside the building envelope is.

Most old homes (and a lot of new ones) are leaking air around windows, doors, walls, electric outlets, light boxes, overhead fixtures, at wall corners, thru plumbing penetrations, floor joists at the exterior, attic access stairs and doors to attics, fireplaces, chimneys, kitchen and bath exhaust fans, dryers, what did I miss? Because of this the home is essentially one big chimney where hot air rising creates a need for cool air to fill this void. Conditioning the crawl space is one way to help plug this chimney and keep ground pollutants out of your living space.

Parade of Homes Gold Award

The 58th Annual Parade of Homes (2009) showcased 71 new homes throughout the Greater Richmond and Tri-City areas. These homes feature the best selection in home designs, construction techniques and materials.

Click here to visit the Parade of Homes website.

The Gold Award Winning Home was created by C. L. Shade Drafting for J. R. Walker and Co. Jim Walker’s unique vision for homes brought this design to life and we are happy it received recognition from the building community.

ADDITIONAL AWARDS

Housetrends Greater Richmond, VA

One of C.L. Shade’s Designer Homes was featured on housetrends.com in their Feb./Mar. 2009 magazine. The article, Life In The Fast Lane by Lee Rhodes, can be found on pages 49-54.

The following is an excerpt of the article and a link for those interested in reading the full article:

Life In The Fast Lane by Lee Rhodes

A sleek interior paired with envious riverfront views create the ultimate contemporary home.

Bill Barnes has an enthusiasm for automobiles.The purr of an engine puts a smile on his face, not unlike the smile he gets when he walks into his remarkable kitchen. In fact, many components of his kitchen share similarities with luxury automobiles.

With its metallic mix of textures and shiny surfaces and its unique combination of traditional and contemporary elements, the kitchen sets the tone for the rest of this spectacular home.

Lure of the James

For years, Bill lived two miles from his current residence, vowing never to move unless given the opportunity to live on the James River. “Sometimes you get what you ask for,” he says with a laugh. [Read full article here.]