Westwood Modular Cabin Factory Tour Part 2

Westwood Cabins builds prefab cottages or cabins that are a single complete unit, one module modular homes.  It took less than two hours to drive to the warehouse they are built in. We looked at everything and took a lot of photos. Here are more of the things that stand out.

Construction

The houses are built inside a warehouse, so nothing is rained on during construction. (Unlike our house that filled up with water over and over until they got it dried in, with the roof, walls and windows keeping the rain out.)

Some of the pre-fab cabins we looked at are made with SIPs, structural insulated panels. Westwood Cabins are built more like a traditional home, with 2×4 framed walls wrapped with Tyvek or Home Guard House Wrap by OX.

I had never heard of Home Guard House Wrap by OX, so I looked it up.

Protecting you from the harsh elements of mother nature, HomeGuard housewrap excels in air and water resistance, moisture vapor permeability and durability. HomeGuard housewrap is an engineered, woven, polyolefin material designed for use as a secondary weather resistive barrier.

The strong woven fabric ensures jobsite durability, even in the harshest conditions. HomeGuard’s micro-perforations allow damaging moisture as a vapor to escape while shedding bulk water.

I found a lot about the differences, advantages, disadvantages and current availability of Tyvek and HomeGuard. They both seem like good products and I have no opinion.

The interior construction looks good.

The interior insulation looks good. I especially like that they insulate the floor.

Siding

Westwood Cabins have siding that is real board and batten or real lap siding.

The siding is prepped completely before the cabin is painted.

You can compare these two photos. Above are Westwood Cabins. Below is a shed. A lot of pre-fab cabins use the same siding as sheds.

This is a shed from Westwood Sheds. The siding is LP SmartSide. LP SmartSide is a type of particle board. It is made out of smaller pieces of wood glued together and sealed. It is a perfectly good siding. We have it on our sheds and we had it on the Classic Manor New Day Cabin.

LP SmartSide siding is very inexpensive, that’s why so many pre-fab cabins use it.

Westwood Cabins have real lap siding or board and batten siding put on in individual pieces, not in big pre-made panels.

Windows

Windows and the trim around the windows makes a big difference in the looks of a cabin. You can’t really tell a lot about the windows just from looking at the floor plans and that’s where I had spent most of my time. I was interested in seeing how the windows are put in.

In the warehouse where the cabins were being built, the trim was built, ready to put into the cabins.

This is what the window trim looks like installed on the house. Shutters are an option.

We saw different styles of windows from different manufacturer. Atrium windows are made here in North Carolina.

The Schumacher Home we are in has Ply Gem windows. We’re happy enough with them.

This cabin has a transom window. A transom window is great to let in light without covering the lower part of the wall. I love them over a bed.

Hot Water Heater

Westwood Cabins uses tankless hot water heaters. They take up much less space than a tank. I saw two different brands, Navien and Stiebel. Both are legit brands.

This cabin has the hot water heater tucked into a panel in the back of the bedroom closet.

Unlimited Supply of Hot Water

A Stiebel Eltron Tempra^® responds directly to your demand for hot water without interruption. Showers will always be hot, even if there are several taken in a row and they run long. A tank water heater may be able to deliver more water all at once, but once the tank starts to deplete things get cold and pretty quickly come to a standstill while waiting for the tank to recover.

Power

One of the cabins we looked at had the walls up and the wire run, but the interior siding wasn’t on yet, so we could see the wiring.

They were installing the wire in this cabin while we watched.

The cabins get a lot of recessed lighting.

This is the cover that is built for the power box.

Heating and Cooling

The Westwood Cabins we saw all had Samsung Multi Zone Mini Splits. They put one indoor unit in the living room area and one in the bedroom.

A ductless mini split system consists of a wall-mounted indoor unit connected to an outdoor unit, and they’re a simple way to heat and cool your home without the ductwork of a traditional central air system. For homeowners with a single room or addition that has different heating and cooling needs than the rest of the house, a mini split system can be the perfect solution. They are often more efficient and less invasive than a ducted system and offer greater control over the temperature of these types of spaces.

You don’t have to keep replacing Samsung Mini Split filters. They can be cleaned and reused.

All of our mini split systems come with a washable, reusable filter located on the top of the unit, making it easy to remove, clean and put back. Ensuring you have a clean air filter on a regular basis can help improve your air conditioner’s efficiency and boost the air quality in your home.

These photos are from the Samsung Ductless Mini Split Info PDF.

WindFree™ Cooling Technology

Samsung’s exclusive WindFree Cooling technology maintains the desired temperature in your home and eliminates cold drafts and reduces energy use by delivering air through micro holes on the indoor unit to produce a dispersed and gentle flow of air defined as “still air.”

This is the outside compressor/condenser. One outside part can run all of the indoor air-handling units.

Porches

Cabins can be delivered with a porch on one end. This porch has a loft over it. We will add a porch after the cabin is delivered.

Interior

The interior is finished with Johnson Pine Pre-finished Wood. If you choose to have some things painted, they use Sherwin Williams paint.

Once the cabin is completed, they deliver it and set it up on our land.

Are you wondering about that piece of wood sticking out? When they drive your cabin onto your land to set it up, this pushes any low hanging branches up and over the cabin roof so they won’t scratch it up.

You can see more photos and floor plans at www.westwoodcabins.com and www.facebook.com/westwoodcabins.