Sustainable cottage – 13 acres

We were planning to sell the property, but for now we have decided to keep it, and offer for rent. I think that I may move here someday.

I love the 13 hilltop pristine woodland acres – Private and secluded with vista type distant views 

Brand new LEED Certified Energy Star labeled cottage – 2 bedrooms, tile bath, kitchen, living and dining area with cathedral ceiling and skylight. Also features an outdoor sitting area and outdoor shower with hot and cold running water.

Build your dream home or live in the charming cottage. The property is BOHA with a new existing septic for second larger home on the same site for those who might wish to use the cottage as a guest house or studio/home office

The cottage has a contemporary openness with built-in storage areas, stainless steel kitchen appliances and soapstone countertop, local materials such as the deep custom bluestone interior window sills and FSC Certified cherry flooring from the Berkshires. Completely wired for cable, phone and high speed internet

The native woodland is sun filled and full of desirable species. Here you will find Red Oak, maple, beech, with wild blueberries and Viburnum under story, tons of birds and wildlife, fox and turtles, ferns and wildflowers.

by Carol Smillie, Sycamore Creek and Built by Walter Kisly Contracting Ltd.

RED OAKS FOR SALE

Kitchen is done

The kitchen is done!

Complete with an Energy star rated 18” stainless dishwasher tucked next to the oversized sink. The pull out faucet is rated for water savings, of course. Tall frosted glass cabinets and lots of base cabinets provide ample storage.

An energy star-rated stainless steel refrigerator is tucked in its’ own built in wall space, and the stainless exhaust hood vents directly outdoors.

The striking porcelain tile backsplash compliments the cabinets, lighting, wood and soapstone countertops. The soapstone is from the “remainder” pile, meaning it is a piece leftover from a larger slab. This is a great money saver and also contributes to reducing and re-using what is considered pre-consumer waste. We were lucky to find a gorgeous big stone that overhangs the peninsula to provide a sitting area.

soapstone countertop

Unexpected consequence:

Pasquale (our home energy expert) had warned us that with such a tight and well insulated building, we needed to watch the power of the kitchen exhaust hood. Too powerful of an exhaust fan can create a negative pressure that can impact the function of any combustion equipment such as hot water heater or furnace.

Note: Not only is the house rated for energy savings, but it is also inspected for proper ventilation and air quality. We installed a fresh air exchange in the attic to allow a calculated amount of fresh air to enter the home while the furnace is running and the bathroom exhaust fan has its’ own special timers to run periodically as may be needed.

Bearing all of this in mind we special ordered the exhaust hood for the stove, looking for the least amount of “cfms” possible in an attractive stand-alone unit. This endeavor became an Odyssey of waiting and eventually took me to a Dreaded big box store.

We found that we could special order a lower [200 verses 400 cfm or cubic feet per minute] fan. The CFM   designation indicates how much volume in cubic feet pass by a stationary point in one minute; the higher the CFM the more suction.

The handsome exhaust hood that had to be special ordered and shipped and was not designed to fit into the cathedral ceiling and needed customization for the exterior wall cap looks great. But guess what?!? The suction on the highest settings is still too good! It still has to be modified to work only on the lowest settings. Unexpected consequences.

built in shelves, view into the kitchen

Lots of built-in storage,

cathedral ceiling

the cathedral ceiling, skylight and the ceiling fan all create a big space feeling

Something Fun

Did I mention how beautiful, quiet, private, and peaceful it is at Red Oaks?

Birdsong Peepers Woodpeckers Silence

And there has been no better idea for the place than the one provided by Dez Ryan and Robert Murdoch for an outdoor shower.

Perfect

outdoor shower

Again we used my new favorite showerhead. We tucked the shower at the “back” southwest corner.

It’s ready to go – unless you are shy and want to add a screen, trellis or shrub …lots of possibilities.

We’re thinking of you Robert

kitchen cabinets

The kitchen has been installed bit by bit. 

I bought the cabinets and under counter lights at Ikea before winter and had the boxes in the barn outside of my office for months.

I don’t work for Ikea, but I am a fan. Ok, maybe a big fan. Most people know that Ikea strives to make good furnishings at low cost, But what you may not realize is that because they are a European company with worldwide distribution, they adhere to stricter international environmental and health standards than many products that are made or imported in the USA.

For example, there are no harmful formaldehyde glues in the cabinets. (They also don’t use any PVC or vinyl, which is very important especially in children’s toys and shower curtains.)

The upper cabinets have glass shelves which will not sag over time.

They work great. There’s a piece that clips into the back of the drawer glides to make them self closing.

They look great. They are flexible to be used in a variety of configurations. Ikea lets you be creative

I bought extra cabinet doors and hinges and used them for the linen closet and attic doors. Even the kitchen sink.

As an added bonus, my barn is ready to be a potting shed again.

Spring

The spring has arrived and we are almost done with construction.

Green/sustainable building is ultimately about the environment. Good stewardship, protecting what we have, understanding what is happening around us and how we impact the environment. Designing with a more sensitive material, watching how we design towns or create a bit less waste by being more efficient with resources.

The woodland here at Red Oaks has ferns, native wildflowers, fox, turtles, lichen, salamanders, birds, Beech, Maple and the Oak trees – I hope it lasts.

I added a Spring tab/page with more photos including some of a Box turtle that lives here.

Daylight

Daylighting is the use of natural daylight to illuminate a space.
By designing to bring light into a building interior and distribute the natural light you can provide more desirable and better-quality illumination than artificial light sources. Natural daylighting has been determined to provide healthier more stimulating work and learning environments. It can also save substantially on energy costs by both reducing electric lighting and reducing unnecessary heat gain.
Daylighting requires the correct placement of windows (and other apertures) to allow light while avoiding excessive heat gain or excessive brightness and glare. Sustainable buildings employ all sorts of features to maximize daylight and energy saving such as light shelves, light tubes, and highly engineered systems that are integrated with sensors for occupants and available natural daylight as well as shading devices.
For Red Oaks I did a solar path analysis to determine the sun angle and position at various times of the day and year.

The curved lines represent the sunpath throughout the year -around the cottage (rectangle).

We are using the existing openings in the building to position our windows and worked our floor plan around them.
Fortunately, and by chance, the cottage is positioned on a favorable east/west axis with the main walls facing south and north. This will allow for favorable daylight and solar gain in the winter, yet the roof overhang is large enough to prevent the hottest summer sun.

Daylight

The cottage is designed as an open floor plan with a kitchen and living space for two thirds of the building’s east end. The windows on three sides and exterior shading from trees will provide daylight without glare for this main area.
There are two bedrooms at the west end of the building each with windows on only one side. The lack of windows on the west end of the building is actually fortunate because it eliminates the need to control for late summer glare or heat gain. However, the bedrooms will not have direct sunlight at various times of day.
There are three steps we are using to improve light. First, the windows are set deep into the walls, providing a reflective area of deep windowsills and walls. Second, light colors will be used inside of the window walls and ceiling to reflect the light. The third element to improve light is the addition of decorative interior windows to permit light from the main living area.

We used some great stained glass cabinet doors that we found at a tag sale and have installed them as inoperable transom windows above the bedroom doors.

Sounds of Spring

The tranquil silence at Red Oaks has recently been broken by the lively chirping of peepers, a familiar herald of spring.

It’s a pleasant surprise since there are no wet lands at Red Oaks, but does make sense because of the Wooded wetland across the road next to Marge’s house. This is one of the advantages of living in an undeveloped rural area – witnessing the seasons unfolding and changing in ways you could never discern in a city.

I love the sound and cherish these tiny frogs.

It’s an emotional response, but also a reassurance of a habitat preserved and a sign of functioning ecological systems.

Sustainable Design should foster awareness, promote protection, and encourage restoration of habitats.

Flooring 3

 The flooring is finally in and done – and gorgeous.

It was many days worth of sanding using three levels of sandpaper grit. The guys that we hired to help with the flooring were unsure how to use the machine, so Walter had to do it himself. The sanding machine had a vacuum attachment, but the process still requires lots of clean up, covering ducts prior to the work, and clean up after.

We had been worried that we wouldn’t have enough flooring, but we had some cherry left over and cut it down for the baseboard trim. We also had an ongoing discussion of how the finish the floor. Walter used a low voc water based polyurethane – I absolutely love the flooring.

I’m wondering how many trees were used for the cottage – Our native Cherry is a valuable woodland and wildlife tree, so even though we bought FSC lumber, meaning that it is sustainably harvested under forest management  guidelines, I’m thinking of planting some cherry trees in my field and along the woodland edge for posterity. Not all trees are created equal – they have their own special relationships with the surroundings and ecosystem. Ecosystem function is crucial to the environment. And native trees like the Cherry perform these functions.

CORK FLOOR

I love the idea of Cork Flooring

It’s a natural material harvested sustainably from live trees in the Oak family. The cork regenerates in about 10 years.  It has great properties:  It’s durable, sound-absorbing, and naturally moisture, rot, and mold-resistant. It provides thermal insulation and cushions the feet.

Cork derives its remarkable properties from a cellular structure of hollow, polyhedral (14-sided) cells with extremely strong, flexible cell walls that are waterproof and airtight. The cells are joined together in a honeycomb fashion producing a very low-density, compressible, yet strong, insulating material.

Wow, I wanted it for the bathroom. I then spent a week researching cork flooring. Nothing is ever simple.

Here’s what I found out:

If you want to use cork, you may find that it is mixed with toxic materials: Agglomerating (gathering into a mass) the cork requires binders to hold the ground granules together. Urea-formaldehyde binders should be avoided in favor of urea-melamine, phenol-formaldehyde, polyurethane, or all-natural protein binders.

Or cork may be joined with other materials that are not suitable for moisture or heavy wear and tear, such as the “click in place” flooring that can delaminate, or may be combined with PVC in cork-vinyl composite floor tile. The cork-vinyl product has a vinyl (PVC) backing, a cork inner layer, vinyl surface coat wear layer. Ugh. Vinyl. Due to concerns with PVC avoid this.

I kept on looking

I contacted Globus Cork in NYC. They manufacture cork tiles to order and were extremely helpful and forthright with information. They supplied the Material Safety Data Sheets for all of the components with the flooring (Binder information, glue for installation and water based varnish) and insisted on sending free samples.

All pigments, finishes, and adhesives are water based, solvent free, and produce no VOC emissions. The cork granules are agglomerated with a polyurethane binder. The tiles come with a latex adhesive on their underside and are installed using a second adhesive on the subfloor. Finished with three coats of water-based varnish, the company suggests that a commercial-grade finish coat be applied in the field by the installer.

We installed their natural cork on the bathroom floor and part way up the wall. It has a golden glow and interesting patterns. The cork tiles are a bit thin, so I would not use it in an entry or heavy traffic area with dogs, but I think the insulation properties and cushioning will make a warmer softer floor than tile, and a bit of sound proofing is always welcome in a bathroom.