What We Do

As your component supplier, WCH provides wood floor systems using Trus Joist engineered lumber, wood exterior and interior wall panels and wood roof trusses. From our plant in Walnut, IL, WCH serves northern and central Illinois, eastern Iowa, western Indiana and southern Wisconsin. This area includes Chicago, Milwaukee, Cedar Rapids, IA and Champaign, IL.

      
              Our 25 acre plant in Walnut, IL

Design

At WCH we can build your home based on a set of architectural plans or we will sit down with you and design your home using your ideas. Upon your approval, the plans then go to our technical department to be checked for structural integrity, using software that will analyze joists, beams, headers and trusses. Finally the shop drawings go into production, ready to meet your builders schedule.

Floor Systems

Floor systems can be ordered either pre-cut or panelized. Pre-cut floors have the joist and beams cut to the exact length required at our plant and have a joist ID written on each piece. The floor layout plan, that we provide, shows your builder where each piece goes, saving time and labor in the field. In addition, all hangers have been sized correctly, and joist locations have been adjusted to avoid plumbing drops. Panelized floors take this one step further by pre-building sections of floor that are 8' wide and up to 40' long. These panels include joist, beams, hangers, rimboard and subfloor and are ready to set in place.

Both systems speed installation and reduce exposure to the weather, which will result in a higher quality finished home. In addition, by pre-cutting all the pieces at our plant, job site waste is greatly reduced, which will reduce your trash disposal fees.

Wall Panels

Exterior wall panels can be 2x4 or 2x6 with your choice of sheathing applied. Currently 7/16" OSB is a typical sheathing, but some prefer 3/4" or 1" rigid foam to get the increased insulating value. Multi-family or commercial projects usually require Gyp-X by code. We can also apply a building paper, to reduce air infiltration, here at the plant. Interior panels are typically 2x4, with plumbing walls 2x6. All panels have panel marks that correspond to the panel marks on the wall layout plan we provide. Installation is a matter of putting each piece in the correct location and nailing it down.

Panels are built full wall height, usually 8' or 9', and up to 16' long. All door and window rough openings are framed into the panels. Any designs that incorporate great rooms, vaulted ceilings or other nonstandardized wall heights, have those elements designed and built into the panels, to further reduce field labor.

Roof Trusses

Given a choice, WCH will use roof trusses whenever possible. Trusses reduce the number of pieces that have to be handled and therefore save time and money for both the builder and the homeowner. In addition, all of our truss designs are checked and sealed by a structural engineer. With the old stick built roofs you rely on the framer in the field to determine  lumber size, grade and spacing. While it's true that thousands of homes have been built in this way, do you really want your home built on the "it's always worked before" principal?

By using state of the art computer hardware and software, trusses can be built in some amazing configurations. Steep roofs with vaults or trayed ceilings are common. Barrel shaped roofs and ceilings are possible. Usually, if you can imagine it, WCH can build it.

Other Products

In addition to the rough frame package, WCH also provides doors and windows. WCH is proud to offer Andersen windows in our house packages for over 20 years. WCH also has a full selection of steel, fiberglass and wood exterior doors and sidelights. When you're ready to trim out your house WCH has interior doors, base, casing and stair parts available in oak and pine. And to further reduce field time we can have all the trim work pre-stained to suite your taste.

Summary

At Walnut Custom Homes our goal is to build a quality home at a fair price, and to make it as worry free as possible for both the builder and the homeowner. We do that by finding design problems before the product gets to the field, and then having product on site when the builder needs it. We are a component builder, not a modular or mobile home dealer. None of our projects have wheels on them. (Although we did do one project on a barge on the Mississippi River).

We stick build in our plant under controlled conditions, using material that's been protected from the weather. Dry material is less likely to shrink or twist. Jigs for panels and component saws for trusses ensure that our product is square and true. Our product is open stud construction, meaning there is no plumbing, wiring or insulation in our panels. Your builder will still need to sub-contract out those trades. But since components go up so much faster, and therefore reduce the amount of time raw wood is exposed to the weather, your home will be done quicker and be of higher quality, compared to a site built home.

In 1996, in the parking lot of the Houston Astrodome, two identical homes were built side by side, one stick built on site, and one built with components.

The National Association of Home Builders and the Wood Truss Council of America sponsored this event and then published a brochure highlighting the savings in time and money. If you would like a copy, email us at fad@walnutcustomhomes.com and request the Framing the American Dream brochure. Don't forget to include your name and address.

Questions? Comments? Need More Information?
Contact us at info@walnutcustomhomes.com

This Page Last Updated: February 02, 2001