These certainly look nice. But I noticed during early construction that they appeared to not have firewalls. If that’s true, they seem on the pricy side, as you will certainly hear your neighbors.
There is fire separation between the units. Nowadays, they are built using a specific UL listed fire-rated drywall assembly to act as the separation as opposed to a masonry separation that extends above the roof line.
I believe the firewalls are the block walls that are protruding from the front facade and above the roofline about 6″. There is probably a previous EOTS that shows it.
I’m not 100% certain on the local code, but I believe residential construction requires a one hour rated wall between units. This could be double layers of sheetrock or a block wall.
Decatur has very strict code requirements, more strict than anywhere else in Dekalb. We have a newly-built townhouse and you can’t hear anything between the houses. There’s a cement block wall, that has cement poured inside the blocks (those blocks are what protrude out the top a few feet). The studs are then attached and then finally the drywall. The walls are designed to collapse inward in case of a fire. They really are separate units inside all the wrappings. I wish I could draw a picture to better explain. When buying, we tested by turning up the neighbor’s whole-house stereo system as loud as it would go. Then we went next door and couldn’t hear a thing. It was strange but pretty great. It’s nothing like an apartment where you hear the couch springs of your upstairs neighbors.
For geeks such as myself who really appreciate quirky traditional details, the unit at the end has a great bend in the facade right as you’re approaching the corner at Hillyer (not really visible in this photo). That’s something destined to age really well. Another “Charm City”-like detail, as smith points out.
Gone all too quickly was the old Melton&McKinney plumbing supply house now replaced by town homes. Twenty years ago, most old Decatur folks couldn’t imagine chi-chi homes being built facing the railroad tracks and around the corner from the old ice and coal company but golly gee whiz, here they are!
I took this photo on my way to meet my wife at the Kimball House. As we were leaving (after a great meal, including fresh oysters- fresh oysters in Decatur, how on earth…), we talked about how much this area of Decatur had changed. We both remembered M&M, tire store, cab stand and the animal hospital but it was I who described a musical instrument store with Ludwig drums in the front window. Man I wanted a set of those back in the mid-Sixties! I recalled that long time DHS teacher Doug Joyner said he remembered troop trains from WWII and the Korean War passing by the old depot and horses or mules pulling wagons full of mail from the depot to the post office (now Greens candy store). My wife asked asked who would want to live facing the railroad tracks and I asked, what about those stairs? But developers, builders and the city are betting that eager buyers will come. I hope so.
Personally, I would love living here. Think about how much fun it would be waving at the conductors as the trains pass through. Fun for a while at least.
In the Artisan, the walls between units are double-layer drywall on each side of the studs, but we also 1) have 100% sprinkler coverage in the units and 2) there’s nothing made of wood (concrete floors, metal studs) in the structure.
These certainly look nice. But I noticed during early construction that they appeared to not have firewalls. If that’s true, they seem on the pricy side, as you will certainly hear your neighbors.
I doubt you will hear the neighbors over the train noise.
Insurance and code requires them to have firewalls.
I can’t speak to these units specifically, but firewall requirements are often negotiated / lessened by installing sprinklers.
Could be, but hard to imagine that sprinklers would cost less then firewalls to build.
There is fire separation between the units. Nowadays, they are built using a specific UL listed fire-rated drywall assembly to act as the separation as opposed to a masonry separation that extends above the roof line.
I believe the firewalls are the block walls that are protruding from the front facade and above the roofline about 6″. There is probably a previous EOTS that shows it.
I’m not 100% certain on the local code, but I believe residential construction requires a one hour rated wall between units. This could be double layers of sheetrock or a block wall.
Decatur has very strict code requirements, more strict than anywhere else in Dekalb. We have a newly-built townhouse and you can’t hear anything between the houses. There’s a cement block wall, that has cement poured inside the blocks (those blocks are what protrude out the top a few feet). The studs are then attached and then finally the drywall. The walls are designed to collapse inward in case of a fire. They really are separate units inside all the wrappings. I wish I could draw a picture to better explain. When buying, we tested by turning up the neighbor’s whole-house stereo system as loud as it would go. Then we went next door and couldn’t hear a thing. It was strange but pretty great. It’s nothing like an apartment where you hear the couch springs of your upstairs neighbors.
This is good to hear.
Add some white marble steps and VOILA – you have Baltimore aka Charm City
A front stoop is mandatory. But if it was really Charm City, you would need to have a bar located in the corner unit.
The units at both ends do a have a permitted live/work space so, you never know…
For geeks such as myself who really appreciate quirky traditional details, the unit at the end has a great bend in the facade right as you’re approaching the corner at Hillyer (not really visible in this photo). That’s something destined to age really well. Another “Charm City”-like detail, as smith points out.
I predict many lantern parade viewing parties in these homes.
Gone all too quickly was the old Melton&McKinney plumbing supply house now replaced by town homes. Twenty years ago, most old Decatur folks couldn’t imagine chi-chi homes being built facing the railroad tracks and around the corner from the old ice and coal company but golly gee whiz, here they are!
I took this photo on my way to meet my wife at the Kimball House. As we were leaving (after a great meal, including fresh oysters- fresh oysters in Decatur, how on earth…), we talked about how much this area of Decatur had changed. We both remembered M&M, tire store, cab stand and the animal hospital but it was I who described a musical instrument store with Ludwig drums in the front window. Man I wanted a set of those back in the mid-Sixties! I recalled that long time DHS teacher Doug Joyner said he remembered troop trains from WWII and the Korean War passing by the old depot and horses or mules pulling wagons full of mail from the depot to the post office (now Greens candy store). My wife asked asked who would want to live facing the railroad tracks and I asked, what about those stairs? But developers, builders and the city are betting that eager buyers will come. I hope so.
Personally, I would love living here. Think about how much fun it would be waving at the conductors as the trains pass through. Fun for a while at least.
In the Artisan, the walls between units are double-layer drywall on each side of the studs, but we also 1) have 100% sprinkler coverage in the units and 2) there’s nothing made of wood (concrete floors, metal studs) in the structure.
Typically the house wrap on the exterior wall is fastened to plywood. I would be curious to know what was used instead.