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Photos! Stratton Modern is nearly complete
I visited a recent ski home project near Stratton mountain ski area to get some photos. The house is nearly complete. As usual there are things I would do differently next time and things that didn't quite follow the drawings but that's for me to know and no one else to notice. I really like the "presence" of this house. The coloring and materials are first rate. It is very "touchy feely" and very responsive to the changing light as the clouds raced across the sky. I can't wait to do the local, green hemlock over Solitex Mento again. and better. Click on the photos for big screen enjoyment.
Green Hemlock Siding on a Modernist house in Vermont
Construction is underway on this super insulated modern house in Vermont where we are trying out some very cool things.
Siding for instance. The lower siding is 1x3 green hemlock, unfinished from a local mill over insect screen over coravent strapping over Solitex mento 1000 building wrap from 475 supply over Vantem Sips..
The Solitex is a beautiful product, black and with UV protection which allows for an open gap siding treatment. I spec'd 1x3 local green hemlock because it is beautiful to work with when green, will shrink and gap in place as it dries and turn gray, The individual pieces are somewhat irregular so the overall effect is like a fabric. Very sexy and at a fraction of the cost of some other wood sidings. Hemlock is a very durable wood when left to weather. When I was a teenager working in a sawmill in Maine we cut a lot of hemlock to build a bridge over the crooked river. I also used it for much of the framing for my barn and I have many staging planks of hemlock. Because it is untreated all waste can be burned as kindling, or even tossed into the bushes to provide habitat for red backed salamanders. The photos show the window holes boarded up in preparation for the coming storm. I was there the day the glorious windows from Unilux were delivered. Next up: installing the windows - a very different affair than the standard American window with flanges.
Chris Corson, a builder in Maine working in the Passive House arena used raw pine in a similar fashion on this neat little project
Tiny House in Context
Until I have as built construction photos this will have to do. I put the Brattleboro tiny house in context replacing the garage behind Vermont Simple House 1 on sale at houseplans.com. I am readying tiny house for sale there as well.
Energy Star House
A new picture of an Energy Star House I did a few years ago. There is a New England tradition of using the porch during cooler weather for other purposes then cleaning it off in the spring. I often use concrete for porch floors. The porch trim is unfinished (life happens)
Perry Road Project
okay, enough talk, lets see pictures. This is a house that I have just finished tuning and tweaking. Construction will start next month. see my website for more information. We may set up an independant blog for this project. We are going for LEED certification and of course, Energy Star. We are pushing the low cost limits as well. I designed it so that the owners can do most of the labor without getting into too much time and complexity. Materials and subs costs are coming in at a little over $50 per square foot not including site work, well and septic. The shell is made of structural insulated panels from Foard Panel.
Oh, and of course, being in Vermont, there is a sleeping porch.
