Twin Cities home, Savage, MN, USA

A brand new home in Savage, Minn. located in an up-and-coming community south of the Twin Cities is a show-stopping 4,696-square-foot house of a long-time builder and his family of six. Construction began in the fall of 2015 and was completed in the summer of 2016.

When any builder constructs his or her dream home, they want to include the best possible products to keep their family comfortable and safe. Using Uponor for the PEX plumbing, fire sprinkler and radiant floor heating systems ensured the homeowners they were getting the highest-quality products to complement their impeccable home.

According to the homeowner, Uponor offers the complete package—they take a lot of the leg work off the builder. It’s a great opportunity for a builder to use the same product throughout the entire home. The flexibility and thoughtfulness that goes into the design of an Uponor system is second to none.

The contractors on the project were from Signature Mechanical and had installed Uponor systems in the past for both commercial and residential buildings. The crew was familiar with the benefits of using PEX over other less durable materials, especially when it comes to the flexibility of the tubing.

“If I had been running copper, I’d have tons of 90-degree turns just to get from point A to point B, but with Uponor PEX, I can just pull the tubing through easily,” explained, Doug Kupp, plumber/foreman at Signature Mechanical. “I have to work with a lot of tight spaces and Uponor PEX helped me with the process.”

One of the most appreciated aspects of the systems was “the ease of installation and the fact that it is way easier to install—it’s fast and efficient,” said Kupp. “The exterior radiant was a piece of cake.”

The project did not come without its challenges. The home incorporates vaulted ceilings on the top floor which gave the installers a bit of trouble when laying out the Uponor AquaSAFE™ fire sprinkler system. Signature Mechanical received help from the Uponor Design Services team to help them navigate each nook and cranny in the home.

“The building’s design was a challenge. It’s just figuring out where we are going to put everything that’s the hard part because of the extreme pitch of the vaults,” explained Kupp. “Installing the fire sprinklers isn’t bad—that will be the easy part.”

And for the homeowner, he feels confident that the Uponor products installed in his home will keep his family comfortable, but more importantly, safe for years to come.