Adirondack Cottage on the Lake: Part 1

(Frozen) Lake View from Property

Let's call this project 'Adirondack Cottage on the Lake'. Construction began this winter after demolition of the existing 50s ranch home on the property. In future posts, I'll discuss the design- a refined Adirondack style featuring wood beams, stone details, and shingle siding that focuses toward the lake with a special glass feature in the double-height living room. We'll also get into how we decided to lay out the different indoor and outdoor "rooms" in relation to each other and the site, as well as the environmental review process, and the decisions that were made to remove the existing home from the property and start fresh and how the town was glad we did.

But for now let's just look at COLD weather, blue sky photos of the crew beginning to form the basic shape of this new one-and-a-half-story home aside the frozen lake.

Foundation and First Floor Framing - View from Lake

Foundation and First Floor Framing -View from Street

First Floor Exterior Wall Studs in Place (tree in front yard saved!)

Wall Sheathing and 2nd Floor Walls

Roof Rafters and Beams

Now that they are beginning to construct roofs, it will start looking more like the drawings soon...

Family House on the Lake- photo update

Demolition and repair work has been going on at the The Family House on the Lake.

Footings have been poured for the west bedroom addition, as well as the east Pantry upgrade. Forms are set for pouring concrete foundation walls. Electrician is coordinating with the power company to relocate electric panel/weather-head where lines come in. And plumber is coordinating pipes from well. Alot is happening! Here are some photos:

Forms for foundation walls for bedroom addition (right)

On left, foundation walls for Pantry Room, which was only on piers before

Old Stone Foundation meets new poured concrete foundation

Second Floor ceiling stripped and ready for next steps

Dusk at the Lake House

Family House on the Lake: Demolition Begins

Demolition of the Roof and Screened Porch

Demo work uncovers crumbling stone foundations

Work has begun at the Family House on the Lake. First some interior work was taken care of, like permanently installing and raising a steel I beam up flush into the Living Room ceiling. This beam was put in by members of the family a while ago when they were concerned about the under-sized floor joists above their heads flexing too much for comfort when people walked around upstairs. It has been a bit of an eyesore with bright orange strapping holding it up there for years, but now it's up nestled among the joists and ready to be covered with a finished ceiling! They will have to tell future generations that it's even up there, once it gets hidden!

Excavate an old tree stump to make way for the addition

Demolition and excavation work is quickly accomplished with machines. Next the footings for the addition will be poured, and concrete will be added to shore up the old stone foundation, where needed.

See the previous post on this project to view the "before" pictures:
cwb-architect.blogspot.com/family-house-on-lake.html

And stay tuned for more progress and, eventually, after/completed pictures!

Steel support beam raised flush in LR ceiling

Joist Hangers and Thru Bolts Installed

Before photo of Steel I beam 

Forms and reinforcing bars ready so footings for new addition can be poured

NHND to the Pond Framing Update

Front of the House - Screen Porch on left/west, Gable Roof for Front Porch

 

Lots has been happening at the New House Next Door to the Pond. The foundation for the garage is poured. The garage walls and roofs are framed. Forms are in place for pouring a large retaining wall. The front porch roof rafters and screen/sun porch roof rafters are in place. Some of the wall sheathing (which is insulated sheathing, offering continuous insulation - see former post HERE to read about CI) is being installed, as well as the roof sheathing to help keep it dry inside through all these summer thundershowers. (wall sheathing is green, roof sheathing is red) These solid surfaces help you see the shapes of the building more clearly in the photos while also starting to show the dormer design, window seat bump-outs in eating area and master bedroom, and window placement and size. You can see/feel how the light and views will be connected between inside and out as well as some of the intricacies of the massing. (exciting stuff!)

Back of the House - Dormer pops up in roof for stairway

Bump-out Window Seat in Master Bedroom Wing- Long Southern Dormer for Second Floor Bedrooms

Garage Wall poured and interior tamped down and ready for slab pour

Garage Walls & Roof Framed

Screen/Sun Porch- Looking toward Pond and Sunset Views

Stair Landing Window Frames Wooded View

Progress on Site Work and Foundation at NHND to the Pond

When you build in an established developed area, like a village, there could be municipal services that your new building can hook up to, like water supply and sewage treatment. There are enormous benefits to shared services such as these, and that's why the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards value selecting a building site in an already-developed area so highly. (Site selection can also help one minimize their transportation footprint - which this family is great at, biking to work/school/town)

This rural site doesn't have any municipal services to offer.  So the owners here have to install their own services. Here are more photos of dirt, but essential if you want to have indoor plumbing!

Temporary construction "road" to SDS area of site (follows existing carriage lane)

Raised Leach Field

Well!

House Footings

In addition the the well and septic, the footings for the house were poured. The house is placed on the site such that part of the foundation will be exposed out of the hill sloping down to the pond, so the footing needed to step down as well. In our climate zone, footings need to bear on undisturbed earth minimum 42" below grade. (or be re-bar tied into bedrock) This is to ensure they are on soil that won't freeze and heave, which would rack/move the building un-evenly, like a annual winter earthquake! Footings and leach fields may not be interesting or glamorous, (no pics like these on Houzz!) but they are probably one of the most important parts of making a rural home safe, solid, and comfortable to live in for many generations.



 

Tall Forms used (right side) where footing steps down hill

Electricity at the New House Next to the Pond

Electricity trench from pole

The New House Next to the Pond is awaiting the power company to inspect and hook up electricity to the site. (working with wired electricity powering the tools, rather than using a gas-powered generator, is preferable by far for the workers and the environment)

The trench is dug from the pole at the street, up along the side of the driveway, over the stream, to the house site.

But this house won't be buying all it's electricity from Central Hudson. There is an "off shoot" trench/conduit for a connection to where the solar panels will be located. I named this project the New House Next to the Pond, but it is could also be called the New House in the Woods; solar on the roof is not possible, as there is too much shade. So, a free-standing, grid-tied PV (photo voltaic) system is planned for the sunny meadow between the road and house.

This network - follow the red "ribbon" next to the conduit- is all connected, so the PV system can supply the house with it's power, as well as selling the excess generated electricity back to the grid for neighbors to buy and use. (and, of course, the house will draw power from the grid when it needs to, like during night)

Conduit not in trench at bridge

Off-shoot Trench leads toward Solar Panel location

Giant Spools left over from long runs of wire

Temporary meter location with house site beyond

New House Next Door to the Pond

Thus begins another New House Next Door!
Don't worry, I'll continue giving updates on the New House Next Door to the Mountains as well.

The design and engineering of this project started years ago and it's exciting to see the construction phase beginning this spring. Once the framing crew gets on site, you know it will move along to completion FAST.

The site is large and wooded with a meadow by the road and a small pond fed by a running stream. Even with the spring-flowering trees, and the bright green new meadow grass, the photos don't do it justice- it's a really beautiful spot.

The site has many restrictions as to where a building could be located and the solar exposure and pond views are, unfortunately, in opposite directions - so orienting the house and planning the fenestration (window location) was challenging!

Site Plan

The site plan shows the house located up the hill on a level spot, with the driveway crossing the stream and following an existing old farm lane. The thick, dashed line surrounding the pond and stream indicates the wetlands buffer, where no construction can occur. The two funny lined boxes on the top left are the septic area located in the meadow down the hill behind the house. The small dashed rectangles between the septic and the house are the original proposed house locations, which were rejected because of the steep, rocky, topography, poor solar orientation, and concerns about drainage flowing down from the higher ground. The front long face of the house faces south to allow sun to shine in. The garage is tucked behind the house - to the north. Exterior living spaces jut out to the south and west for fun in the sun or in the evening listening to peepers at the pond.

 By hiring an architect, one of the many benefits clients receive is a "site responsive" design. (the opposite of choosing a house plan from a book in which the designer never even saw the site and the building is just plunked down without much thought as to views or sunlight- mostly the only thing accounted for is how the car drives in)  As I blog about this project over the next months, I will discuss some of the site analysis (and "program analysis"- architect's word for the required rooms and how they relate to each other and the site) and how that early research informed the final design and placement of this house on this site.

Concrete Box Culvert with Wings Creates Stream Crossing

  Site work began over this mild winter with tree clearing at the building site and for visible sight lines at the road curb cut. A driveway with an Army Corp of Engineers approved stream crossing (aka bridge or culvert) has been the major work so far, along with a graded, landscape-fabric-lined driveway.

Beginning of the hole for the Foundation

Next the hole for the foundation is being dug out- and the encountered rock is being hammered out. The G.C. (general contractor) plans to have the foundation concrete poured this month.

View through wood to Pond

Graded Driveway Base heads up from road

The New Garage Next Door - A Photo Illustration

Excavation & Soil Compaction

Foundation Form-work & Reinforcing

Floating the Concrete Slab

Back-fill Around Slab

Sill Plates onto Anchor Bolts

Framing of First Walls

All walls with door and window openings are framed

Setting Roof Trusses & Applying Wall Sheathing

Wall and Roof Sheathing

Building Paper and Windows

Fascia, Drip Edge & Roof Shingles

Door, Casing & Soffits

Exterior Trim - look close: white on white

Over-head Doors and Clapboard Siding

Shingles Applied in Gables

Completed Exterior Siding

I thought it would be interesting to see this small building from beginning to end all in one post. Click HERE to read my "architect on a soap box" post about garages and house design. The last things that still need to happen to this garage building is the electrician will wire the garage (and a cool barn light will be hung above the over-head doors) and the excavator will place top soil and driveway material. Next year, when the grass is green all around the building, I'll add a truly "final" photo.