Comfort, Functionality, & Safety

As your go-to partner for Custom Home Builds, each technician and expert on the Sobieski team understands the importance of comfort, functionality, and safety in your new dream home. 

Our technology and years of experience lead the industry in creativity, sophistication, and user-friendliness. Building a house that fits the needs of your family is a big undertaking – make sure your partner for HVAC, Water, Waste Management, and Air Quality is ready to accept the challenge. 

Our HVAC systems are equipped to deliver comfortable temperatures, fresh, clean air, and precise humidity control to every corner of your dream house. Responding to outdoor air conditions in your exact location, our systems respond quickly and effectively to your needs to provide a high level of comfort. In addition to delivering a perfect setup, we take safety very seriously – you and your family are worth the best equipment we have to offer, and we make installation decisions with your safety in mind before all else. After an installation from our Sobieski team, you can rest assured that your home will be safe, comfortable, and configured with care!

Design & Creativity

In addition to the functionality of your new home, we are excited by the challenge of fitting your home’s HVAC, water, and other systems to the design you have in mind. While you’re crafting a perfect living room or kitchen space, Sobieski is there beside you planning a detailed installation process that will compliment your space visually and effectively. 

Having served homes that are Art Galleries, homes with ultra-modern design features, homes with expansive storage spaces in basements or attics, and even homes that seek a historical feel, we are experienced in fitting your systems and fixtures to a variety of styles. We’ve installed HVAC vents that remain completely hidden from view, classic-but-sophisticated bathroom fixtures, under-floor plumbing that’s silent and reliable, and geothermal air systems, working around tin roofs, brick or stone work, steel structures, and challenging external design features. No matter the challenge, our expert design and installation teams are up for the challenge to ensure your house can be livable and lovable.

Efficiency & Planning

While we do have years of experience, a team of problem solvers and creative thinkers, and the best installment practices in the business, there is one crucial element to the success of a custom home build – careful, coordinated planning.

With a wide gamut of tasks and considerations for each specific project, our ability to commit hours of planning and a dedicated design team to every project set us apart. Exacting layouts, making far-in-advance decisions about fixtures and visuals, and choosing the perfect mechanical system configurations for your home help our installations to be seamless. No square inch should be overlooked – all mechanical installations require full coordination with other trades and clever problem solving. 

Custom ductwork, geothermal equipment, high-end zone-dampers, energy recovery ventilators, and state-of-the-art pumping stations / heat pumps can ensure your home is comfortable and functional. Expert planning and installation of Indoor Air Quality systems and creative water delivery, including custom showers, kitchens, and drainage solutions, help us to flawlessly serve your home and your family. 

A large custom home may have some particularly large hot water demand, including custom master shower arrangements with overhead rainfall fixtures, body sprays, hand-held pieces, and specialty diverters and controls. Never-ending domestic hot water heating and hydronic heating can be accomplished by a modulating boiler with an indirect hot water storage tank. Well thought-out and planned routes for all Drains/Waste and Vents would be required to avoid all the lighting and ceiling registers perfectly laid out in all areas. Additionally, we optimize the space available in the Basement Mechanical Room for Geothermal Pumping Stations, Geothermal Heat Pumps and Storage Tanks – even the creative use of wall brackets to open up some floor space for equipment has been done during our past projects. We’re ready for any challenge presented, having planned and workshopped every move we make in your home.

PROJECTS

An Earth-Friendly Solution For Heating and Cooling

Project: Wilmington, Delaware,

Square feet: 8,876

THE CHALLENGE

Design a heating and cooling system for an environmentally conscious family that lives in a home with high ceilings throughout the first floor and will host large events in a great room with a cathedral ceiling. Energy recovery ventilators were requested to bring in fresh air and to ventilate the bathrooms, powder rooms, laundry room and dog wash area.

THE SOLUTION

Heating and cooling would be done through geothermal heat pump and forced-air systems, as well as a geothermal water-to-water system that would use in floor hydronic heating to supplement the great room and other areas with high ceilings. The forced-air geothermal system would support the hydronic heat in the heating season, and the forced air would handle all of the cooling requirements during the cooling season. The hydronic heating systems utilized Uponor Controls and outdoor sensors that allowed the system to operate based on the outdoor temperature. The ventilation designs took time and coordination of many trades to coordinate the control’s exterior duct terminations. The energy recovery ventilators would use zoned register boxes with in-line 24-volt dampers to operate individually with an IAQ control timer that is set to run the energy recovery ventilator fan on high speed at intervals. When one zone would call for ventilation, a timer switch would turn on the energy recovery ventilator fan and open the damper to the zone. The zone would run until the humidity level was within ASHRAE standards or the timer was satisfied, when the damper would close and turn off the energy recovery ventilator’s fan. During the energy recovery ventilator’s run time for ventilation, fresh air would be introduced to the return duct of the geothermal heat pump and cycle through the home.

THE RESULT

The use of the geothermal water-to-refrigerant and water-to-water systems and the energy recovery ventilator resulted in a unique and environmentally forward design.  A major benefit of using the energy recovery ventilator drastically reduces the amount of termination points in the exterior of a home. This home had 12 rooms to ventilate. Using two energy  recovery ventilators required only four terminations.

“We would recommend the team at Sobieski to anyone designing a geothermal or radiant system”

– Custom Home Owner

For The Most Discerning Homeowner

Project: Greenville, Delaware

Square feet: 17,351

THE CHALLENGE

Designing and installing a HVAC system for a large home with a focus on entertaining and comfort, all while maintaining the highest efficiency and lowest utility bills. This craftsman-style home boasts a large family room, an owner’s retreat room and the Belvedere Room, with millwork to rival any home in the area. The immaculate handcrafted woodwork would require precise humidity control. And with the large crowds at dinner parties, a system that would respond quickly to temperature changes was a must. The domestic water piping for several kitchens and large showers would require a large system  with ample flow.

THE SOLUTION

Variable-capacity and variable-speed geothermal heat pumps, fresh air via two energy recovery ventilators, and steam humidifiers. The geothermal heat pumps are American Standard 7 Series models that have an additional ton of capacity for large crowds, meaning the 5-ton system for the basement and first floor of the west side of the home can go to a 6-ton system when the additional people load is encountered. That allows all guests to enjoy comfort, no matter what the weather is outside or the number of people at the event. The domestic water piping was professionally designed and sized by Uponor and J.F. Sobieski based on the flow rates of all plumbing fixtures and would require a 2-inch domestic water main. The water system would also include three tankless hot water heaters with built-in re-circulation pumps and adequately sized return piping.

THE RESULT

A truly comfortable and fresh air-filled environment during large gatherings. Guests never feel too hot or too cool. The steam humidifiers provide perfectly balanced humidity for the millwork and home in its entirety. The tankless on-demand hot water system keeps the cost low and delivery levels high.

EQUIPMENT

HVAC

• American Standard 7 Series and 5 Series Geothermal Heat Pumps
• Honeywell ERVs
• Honeywell Steam Humidifiers
• Wilo Pumps

Plumbing

• Navien Tankless Hot Water Heaters
• Uponor Water Piping

“I am thoroughly satisfied with the system that was designed and installed in my home – it is efficient and reliable and more importantly keeps my family comfortable regardless of the outside temperature. I would not hesitate to recommend Sobieski, Inc.’s Custom Homes Team.”

– Tim Dewson,
Dewson Construction Company
& Custom Home Owner