With extensive professional experience in home construction, Morton Buildings owner Tom knew exactly what he wanted when the time came to build a home of his own in the coastal town of New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
“Now that I’m older and needed a place for myself, I wanted something that would withstand the hurricanes here in Florida and I was very excited to learn more about the Morton construction,” Tom explained of his new Morton home.
Tom initially sketched his vision of the home on a sheet of paper for a Morton sales consultant, who promptly used Morton’s custom clear-span construction process to put the wheels in motion on the project.
“(Morton) took that sketch, listened to our needs, listened to what we wanted and within a day emailed me back drawings to scale that were almost spot-on what we were looking for. With that … Morton went to work.”
The final product is one of the more unique Morton Buildings structures you’ll find.
“Our house is actually … six different Morton structures all married together to come up with the roof lines, to come up with the ceiling heights that we wanted and the functionality to make that home work the way we wanted it to work.”
The six buildings, including a three-stall garage, combine to make up a 4,566-square-foot space. The main living space includes an 18-foot ceiling and a spiral staircase. The left side of the home is made up of the family’s personal living space – a bedroom, bathroom and laundry room. The opposite side has two guest suites.
The home also includes a second-story loft that overlooks an enclosed pool. Five large windows also provide ample natural sunlight throughout the home.
It is worth noting Tom’s home is not his first Morton building. His initial choice to build Morton was for a 60’W x 16’4″H x 105’L hobby building, or what he affectionately refers to as his “party barn”.
The party barn has three 14’ x 12’ overhead doors, allowing Tom to easily move his classic cars in and out of the building. The opposite end of the building showcases Tom’s “man cave”. The second level was built for a fully furnished one-bedroom apartment and separate storage space.
Perhaps the most notable portion of the party barn is a wrap-around breezeway.
“The way this building is positioned, we get a breeze all the time and it’s very enjoyable. We have a pond that we dug here and we can sit in the breezeway and be bug-free and enjoy that. We can enjoy it, we can barbecue out there, we can relax, we can listen to the fountain and enjoy our Morton building.”
Both buildings are protected by Morton’s classic Energy Performer insulation package, guaranteeing controlled energy costs for more than 10,000 square feet.
And while Morton and its innovations have been known for strength and durability for generations, even the local experts couldn’t believe the quality of the building.
“When we built this building here, the immediate building inspectors were not that familiar with this style of construction. After they learned through the people at Morton helping them, all the inspectors came out here because they were so impressed and wanted to know more. They have since recommended this building in this area to other people looking for (clear-span) types of buildings.”
“One of the important things here in Florida – since 2004, we’ve had four big hurricanes, so the building codes changed to require 140 mile-per-hour wind. We have to withstand 140 mile-per-hour winds. This building, of course, will withstand 140 mile-per-hour winds.”
All in all, Tom and his family have been more than pleased with their new home and “party barn”. So much so, Tom has plans for new construction at an out-of-state industrial park he owns.
He’ll build Morton again with a smile on his face every step of the way.
“It has all the things that a person should want in their new construction … it’s a very solid structure. It’s a safe structure. I’m very, very pleased with my Morton building.”
