The original 1004 Central was sided in cedar shake shingles. As was the case with most of the material in the original structure these were far from salvageable. Once again we had to start anew and selected Hardie siding and whiteboard in a board and batten configuration to side the new 1004 Central.

Why Hardie?

It could easily be argued that, since we are in Washington of all places, we should have stuck with cedar siding. It’s a natural, local material, created from trees that sequester (store) carbon as they grow. Even better would an FSC-certification, which ensures the wood comes from a forest where sustainable management and social equity are taken into account.

We chose Hardie, a cementitious siding product, in large part because it is more durable than wood and requires less maintenance. Important to note, however, is the fact that cementitious siding does have a higher embodied energy level given the energy-intensive manufacturing process. For our purposes the durability aspect was a very important consideration. Additionally, we were able to dispose of the Hardie siding scrap at Recovery 1 where it is diverted from the landfill.

Siding going up on the house – first the boards (Hardie), followed by the battens (whiteboard)

The house – sided and painted. The trim has yet to be painted but yes, the house is white, all white.

On the south side of the house where the daylight area of the basement is located we needed to do something to cover the exterior insulation. We selected a parge coating, similar to stucco. The remainder of the basement is at or close to grade and needs only skirting.

Parge coating being applied

The new 1004 Central is a recreation of the classic farmhouse we were sad to tear down just 8 months ago. The newly built garage is the “barn.”

We selected metal (steel) siding for the garage. Steel siding contains at least 60% and up to 90% recycled content and can itself be completely and easily recycled. Like the cementitious product used on the house, steel siding tends to last a long time.

We have been asked a number of times whether we plan to sell 1004 Central. We kindly respond by saying that we have no intentions of selling; we plan to be there for a while. In fact, we have dug our graves in the back yard.

What we DO have for sale is our current house – 1222 9th Avenue, just a couple of short blocks from 1004 Central. We extensively remodeled this 1926 3 BR/2 BA home in 2005, including replacement of all systems (plumbing, wiring, heating, hot water). In 2007 we built a two-story garage with a studio on the second floor – it’s an awesome space with excellent natural light, great for working from home or an artist’s studio.

More information is included below and on the web site for the house – http://1222ninth.info. Here you will find photos, details and a flyer to download for yourself or to share with friends.

Open House

We will be hosting an Open House on Sunday March 14, 1:00 – 3:00 pm. There will even be COOKIES!

Questions? Comments? Interested?

Feel free to drop us a line – forsale@1222ninth.info or (360) 453-7368

The Deets

1222 9th Ave SE, Olympia, WA 98501

Features

Location, location, location!

• Great family neighborhood
• 2 minutes to elementary with fields and playground
• 3 blocks to Madison Scenic park / 6 blocks to Lion’s park
• Near transportation – four bus lines within two blocks

Garage & Office/Studio space

• One-car garage with shop space
• Built-in speakers
• Category 5e (network) and cable wiring
• Vaulted ceilings and incredible window wall

Extensively Remodeled and Modernized

• House electrical and plumbing systems were completely replaced in 2005. Significant structural upgrades were also made. All work permitted and inspected.
• Dual-stage high-efficiency furnace with electronic air filter and all new ductwork installed in 2005.
• Rinnai high-efficiency tankless hot water heater.
• House wired Category 5e for phone/network
• Exterior patio designed and wired for hot tub
• The garage and basement feature spray-foam insulation that exceeds code-required insulation values to save on energy costs.
• Plans for the completed basement remodel, garage and a future attic expansion are available.

MORE! at http://1222ninth.info

One of our primary goals for the new 1004 Central was to build a very energy-efficient home. In addition to installing insulation on the exterior of the home, we beefed up the interior with insulation well beyond code requirements using closed-cell spray foam.

Open Cell vs. Closed Cell Foam

Spray foam in residential building is generally categorized into two groups – open and closed cell (or cellular structure):

• Open-cell – Less dense (0.4 – 0.5 lbs per cubic foot). The tiny cells of foam are not completely closed and air fills all of the “open” space inside the material. This results in a foam that is weaker or softer than closed-cell foam. Open-cell generally has a much higher rate of expansion (100-1) versus closed cell (closer to 30-1) so when a wall is sprayed with open-cell material the overflow must be trimmed and disposed of – a significant amount of material is often sent to landfill as part of a open-cell insulation job.
• Closed-cell – More dense (1.7 – 2.0 lbs per cubic foot). The tiny foam cells are closed and packed tightly together. They are filled with a gas that helps the foam rise and expand and become a better insulator. Since closed cell is quite rigid it can actually contribute to a home’s strength – some expects claim it can as much as 40% sheer strength to a wall assembly.

Closed-cell foam offers a stronger material, higher insulation factor (R-value) and an increased resistance to air or water vapor leakage. It is denser, requires more material for coverage and is more expensive. Both open and closed-cell foam are commonly used in many building applications and the choice for which to use can be based on several factors including the need for additional strength, vapor control and the space available for insulation.

What We Did

We choose a closed-cell foam made by Corbond (installed by Barry’s Insulation). Based on our research we felt the closed-cell spray foam was a superior product for our application.

The R-value of foam degrades over time – it cures, essentially, and stabilize at a final value. The Corbond product’s final R-value is 6.7. We installed 4.5″ in the walls and 6″ in the roof, for a total spray foam R value of 30.15 and 40.2, respectively. The final value for the walls is R 37.2 because the exterior insulation adds an addition R 7.2. Additionally, we plan to add loose fill insulation in the roof to achieve a higher R-value. Code requires R 19 walls and R 38 ceilings (or roof, in our case, as the attic is part of the conditioned envelope).

Spray foam insulation in the walls – 4″ thick

In addition to our belief that the closed-cell spray foam was a superior insulation product in general, using spray foam was important because of our roof assembly. Traditionally, homes are built with a vented roof assembly, meaning that they have soffet and ridge venting. These vents allow air to pass back and forth underneath the roof sheathing, preventing condensation which can cause both mold and rot. We chose to do an unvented roof assembly in part because it allowed us to put the heat recovery ventilator (HRV) in the attic and have less concern about possible leakage from the HRV as well as a simpler installation of the duct work associated with it. Minimal insulation was required on the fresh air intake for the HRV to prevent condensation on the the outside of the duct within the attic. Had we used a vented roof assembly (i.e. the attic had not been part of the conditioned space) we would have had to insulate all of the ductwork as well as the HRV itself.

Spray foam insulation in the roof structure – 6″ thick.

Insulation truck staged outside front door.

For the flooring on the main level of the house we choose to use concrete throughout. This meant engineering the floor structure to hold the weight of a 2″ thick concrete slab. So, although we are selecting many of the fixtures and finishes as we go along, using a concrete floor did require some forethought.

What We Did

Jonathan Wade of Wade’s Concrete did the floor. The concrete used was a special mix that included fiberglass mesh to provide better strength and help prevent cracking. Also to prevent cracking, 6″ x 6″ rebar mesh was added on top of the radiant tubing, and shallow relief lines were cut in. The floor was then polished. In our case this meant more of a grinding process than a polish – two rounds through, one with a heavy diamond grit, the next with a lighter grit epoxy wheel. We could have spent more time polishing with increasingly lower grits, however the end result would have been much the same and we wanted to keep costs low.

On top of the plywood floor went tar paper (primarily to protect the plywood from absorbing too much moisture), then radiant tubing, then rebar mesh.

Concrete brought through the front door.

Concrete transported by wheelbarrows once inside. We didn’t use a line pump primarily to avoid the concrete splattering inside – there was not that much to transport via wheelbarrow.

Why Concrete?

We selected concrete for a number of reasons.

• Design – We are building (rebuilding) an old farmhouse and felt that polished concrete provided the mix of class and utility we were looking for.
• Durability – The life expectancy of a concrete floor far outlasts that of most other floor covering options. This is both eco-friendly and economical in the long run as the flooring won’t have to be ripped out and replaced due to wear and tear. Maintenance on polished concrete is also minimal.
• Heating – the house uses hydronic radiant heat, with pipes installed in the floors of the basement, main level and bathrooms on the second floor. Concrete is an ideal conductor for radiant – the heat is even and the concrete holds the heat for an extended period of time.

The original 1004 Central had several layers of roofing upon its demise, including three layers of composition roofing atop what was likely the original cedar shake. For the new house we decided to go with a metal roof.

We have used metal roofs before (our current garage, which we built a few years ago, has one), and really like the look. They are more expensive at the outset than composition roofs but arguably last longer and look better for a more extended period of time. We installed a standing seam metal roof, manufactured by Nu-Ray (1000 series). This specific product was selected in part because it would be compatible with solar panels – we intend to use a clip system (S-5!) that allows for the panels to be attached to the roof without any penetrations to the roof itself.

Benefits of Metal Roofs

Metal roofs have a variety of benefits, including:

Recyclable Material

• Metal roofs are generally made of steel, one of the most commonly recycled materials on earth. Because steel is heavily recycled a metal roof is likely to be composed from a high percentage of recycled material, and is likely to be recycled at the end of its life.
• Steel has value and is easy to recycle so the likelihood a metal roof will be recycled is high (as opposed to asphalt, or composition roofing, which is more cumbersome to recycle).
• Steel is ferrous metal so it is easy to pull out of a waste stream.

Long Life Span

Metal roofs tend to outlast composition roofs. Although there are some composition roofs rated for the long lifespans of metal roofs, the appearance of these comp roofs degrades over time. We felt that a metal roof would perform better in this sense because it would look consistent for longer, resulting in less likelihood that it would be replaced before the end of it’s lifespan.

Roof Water

The water coming off a metal roof is typically cleaner than that coming off a composition roof. Although there appears to be little research indicating issues with the water coming off of a composition roof, we were not convinced that there wasn’t a problem. Composition roofs are made from materials (including asphalt) that are not so benign. In addition to wanting to retain the option to reuse our roof water for other purposes, this water drains to our groundwater… we want to keep it clean.

Roof Color

This is not unique to metal roofs, but light-colored roofing helps to reflect light (and thus heat) rather than absorb it. In addition, we chose a metal roof with a specific coating designed to alleviate the heat island effect by reflecting heat back.

Close-up of roofing around dormer – note the standing seams. Once the house is complete these seams will have solar panels mounted to them via S-5! clips.

Roof from the north side