Floor stain

We stained the concrete slab with a garden soil amendment called "copperas", which contains iron sulfate. Since the soil around here has plenty of iron and is already acidic, we had to order it from a garden shop in Texas. We got the idea from Cathy Moore. After making a series of test patches on the concrete that would eventually be covered by the shower, our procedure involved spraying on a filtered solution of copperas and water with a garden sprayer, in three dilute applications. We wanted to make the pattern more uniform and to approach but not over-shoot the desired darkness. We’re extremely happy with the final product, which looks like an earthy dark terra cotta or burnished leather with much variation. Click here for a picture.

After staining the floor, we finished it with 3 coats of Vibrance. It isn’t waterproof, and not all that tough, but it is easy to re-apply. Our experience has been that high-traffic areas could use a new coat every year (not that we do it!).

Radiant floor detail

Before pouring the slab, we installed radiant floor pex tubing in 6 separate loops throughout the house, with the expert guidance and help of our wild and enormously talented friend Kevin Meehan. It was frigid, and the cold, inflexible PEX tubing nearly strangled us a few times. The radiant floor is powered by a high capacity Rinnai instant hot water heater, which also serves for domestic hot water. Surprisingly, we haven't turned on the radiant floor yet (through three winters) because the passive solar heating and wood stove backup have sufficed, and we don't want to use the gas. Once we install solar hot water, we'll use any excess to warm the floor.

The main innovation in the radiant floor is the way we ensure constant flushing of the tubing, even when we’re not using the radiant floor for heat. One concern is that since the radiant floor and domestic hot water share the same heater, it’s possible that bacteria growing in the stagnant radiant floor tubing (e.g. during the summer) can infect the water supply, causing such horrible outcomes as Legionnaire’s disease. We solve this problem by tapping off the return for the radiant floor loop to supply one of the toilets. So, each time we flush that toilet, the water comes all the way through the radiant floor, moving it and eventually changing the water. The only downside is that when the hot water is on, we waste 1.6 gallons of hot water if the toilet is flushed. But, this can easily be avoided since the hot water is rarely on (see Instant hot water system under 100 Watt House).

Site-milled lumber

We milled about 13,000 board feet of pine from trees on our land. Many of these trees had been toppled by a savage ice storm, some were removed from the house site, and two were brought down by the power company. We used the lumber for siding, interior trim, the kitchen cabinets, and the posts and beams for the loft. The main problem we had was not covering some of the drying piles completely – water seeped in and caused stains on some of the lumber. We initially were disappointed, but now barely notice it.

The lumber was milled in 5 days by a professional with a wood-mizer band saw mill, who charged 15 cents/bd-ft. We provided our own stacking labor – thanks to all who helped! We air-dried the lumber at least 6-12 months in carefully stacked piles before using it. We also milled several large cedar trees, using the heartwood for trim details such as stripes in the loft ceiling, entry posts, and kitchen countertop, kitchen backsplashes and drawer handles, and window trim.

Post & beam

Michael and Beth integrated our desire for a loft into the design, using posts and beams from the site-milled lumber. The construction of the loft was tricky, and had to be coordinated with the stick framing, which was done by a hired crew (with "help" from Larry). After begging off on doing the post and beam themselves, the crew built the house around the loft location, leaving a prominent but precise hole in the middle of the house. Luckily, our friend Donovan Zimmerman was available at just the right time to help out. Donovan and Larry spent a couple of brain-numbing weeks building the structure using some funky metal post/beam connectors made by Simpson. The connectors, which were suggested by the engineer who approved the design, required ridiculous precision. When this wasn’t achieved, a sledgehammer sufficed.

The posts are 6x6, while the beams are 4x10 and 4x12. Attached to the top is 2x6 tongue-and-groove pine, which serves as both the loft floor and ceiling of the living room below.

Friends and family

We were incredibly fortunate to have the help of many friends, and of course our dads. Without these folks we’d still be hammering away.

Special thanks to:
Kevin Meehan (plumbing, kitchen carpentry master, million question answerer)
Jeff Dotson (upper loft, bath and kitchen tile, ridiculous statements)
Mark Perry (gas lines, wood stove, many answers, good humor)
Elia Bizzarri (siding & porch construction, trigonometry lessons)
Donovan Zimmerman (post/beam loft heave-ho-ing)
Josh Lozoff (electrical and goofy jokes meister)
Jim Chickos (nail pounding, routing, planning, large-body jobs, generous time-giving)
Brian Dobyns (bobcat man, making a pile of huge pine logs look like toothpicks)
Rick Searles (everything, especially the jobs Larry didn’t want)
Bill Bohs (everything else, especially electrical perfectionism)

Low-emission materials (no formaldehyde)

We were careful not to introduce any formaldehyde-off-gassing materials, such as OSB, into the interior of the house. The most difficult place to do this was in the kitchen, where we used solid pine (from our trees) and a product called "Extira", a waterproof, formaldehyde free composite board. The Extira was used for the lower cabinet bottoms and as a base for the tiled countertop. The Extira did smell for a while, and frankly we’re not sure what the health effects of this off-gassing are, although the MSDS indicates it is very nontoxic. The other tricky place to avoid composite materials (such as OSB or plywood) is in the drawer bottoms – here we used 1/8" black polyurethane plastic sheet material, at the suggestion of our healthy house guru Kevin Meehan. Kevin’s master carpentry skills led the construction of the kitchen.

Framing details (2x6)

We used "light" framing details as recommended by various sources, including Southface Energy Institute. Briefly, this involved 6" studs, 24" on center, and modified corner and other details to minimize lumber and maximize insulation space. The framers thought we were nuts, but the house hasn’t caved in yet.

Insulation details

We strongly considered cellulose, but were steered away from it by several sources. In the end, we used blown-in fiberglass insulation in the walls, and 12” batts in the ceiling. Both were professionally installed (we will never regret this decision). We asked the installers to staple the ceiling batt paper edges to the rafters (all the ceilings are cathedral), at the advice of our friend and building scientist Arnie Katz. This provided a more complete air barrier than if the batts were simply shoved into the rafter spaces. This also insured an air space between the rafters and the roof sheathing, which is necessary for the proper operation of the radiant barrier.

Siding detail

We installed pine board-and-batten siding, because we like the way it looks, although it took more effort than horizontal siding. First, we installed 1x2, pressure treated nailers horizontally at the top, bottom, and 2 middle locations of all walls, on top of the house wrap, which was over OSB sheathing. We created an air space behind the nailers by spacing them away from the sheathing with strips of Cedar Breather (usually used for ridge vents), cut and attached to the nailers with staples prior to installation. Then we nailed the boards, rough cut pine 1x6, 1x8, and 1x10 in a random pattern, spaced about ½” apart. We applied two nails at each vertical nailer location on each board, about 2-3” apart, rather than at the edges, to allow the pine to expand and contract. Finally, the 1x3 battens were nailed over the boards, with nails driven into the spaces between boards. This took a lot of time, and a ridiculous number of nails. Thanks Elia! We did not apply any finish to the siding. The pine will age naturally, turning eventually to a barn gray, and because of the large overhangs should last a long time.

Roofing tin

We installed the forest green roofing tin, “Master Rib” by Union Corrugating, ourselves. The trickiest part was figuring out how to do the flashings, and the most dangerous part was dealing with the showers of pollen that made walking on the roof feel like walking on a slide while wearing socks.