Mr. Seals, tear down this wall!

Things are in a bit of a destructive phase, with floors being ripped up, holes being dug, and walls coming down. Our neighbor Robert Hall is a stonemason, and Mr. Seals engaged him to set the foundation for the transitional space. It is straight and true and should help the cabin last another 100 years.

I updated the information we have on windows with Charlie Ball at Siewers. Our initial specs were completed before some of the current legislation provided tax credits for energy efficient windows. In updating the specs, we discovered that our initial choices would not pass muster because the aluminum cladding conducts too much of the outside cold air to the inside. Charlie found an alternative that uses a wood sash and completely rebuilds the window for a tighter seal. Mr. Seals will talk to Charlie next time he goes to the lumber yard.

It appears that Antonia may have sold the piano. She will miss it, since it has served her well since she was in grammar school. She just doesn't have room for it in her cabin, and if we kept it we would have to make it a feature of our kitchen. On the bedroom front, Gabriel was moving his bed and ran into another soft spot in the floor, putting a leg of the bed through it. He has it patched for the time being, but everyone will be relieved once we can replace all the floors.

It can't run uphill

Mr. Seals has finished trenching out under the wall that will become the entry into the transitional space. He laid in the rebar and successfully had it approved by the city inspector.

He built a small chute to carry the dirt and coal he had to remove from the former coal storage so he could locate the end of the sewage pipe. This was critical for the lower bathroom, since its height would determine if we could achieve the elevation of the floor we wanted. Unfortunately, the former owners had not anticipated our needs well enough and we were about 14 inches shy of where we wanted to be. If you are talking sewage pipes, 14 inches is a major deal unless you want to use a pump to move the waste.

Scott Corwin and David Johannes, the architects, came over to look at the property. We didn't want to pump, so we were faced with the alternative of raising the floor, but this would give us very little clearance at the ceiling. Scott suggested we compensate by raising the balcony (which is above the bathroom and will be an extension of the living room) and make it more of a platform, with two steps up. Low bookcases would be added to help define the space.

We know that the lower room was added some time after the original building. We will be able to remove logs from that double wall to give us a little more room to work with the bathroom space. The double wall is not the only evidence of different ages of construction. In looking at the stonework, Scott came to the conclusion that they represented different eras of construction as well. This may indicate that there were two additions to the cabin -- one enlarging the living room (adding the bathroom behind the fireplace) and one adding the lower kitchen. I know there are logs behind the fireplace, so it is possible this was an outside wall. However, I'm not sure how the two structures were joined. As we begin peeling away the structure, this should become clear.

Scott is working on developing the roof line to tie in the various structures.Since we are adding the balcony and extending it over the downstairs bathroom, we will need to elevate the roof on that side of the house. The transitional space will need a sloped roof with an overhang, since it will serve as the edge of the structure until we have enough funds to complete the extension. At that point, we will have to shave the edge of that roof so we can tie it into the larger flat vegetative roof.

For the green roof, we are considering whether we also want to make it a living space as well as a growing space -- a place where we can sit and enjoy the outdoors when the mosquitoes aren't. To do that, we will need to have convenient access, but we don't want to take up too much space inside with a stairway. A drop down ladder may do it.

Cabin archeology

Mr. Seals is continuing to excavate the space where the bathroom will go, along with footings for the wall. He was starting to think that perhaps the smaller, lower portion of the cabin was the original structure, since the stones used as the foundation were much more irregular in shape.

However, about a foot down, Mr. Seals encountered two wooden vats, with what appeared to have been a wooden cover. A large cast iron pipe empties into one, and it appears that a pipe may have connected the other. The only two things it seems this could have been was a septic tank or cistern. In either case, it would have been odd to have built it under the house. This has led us to conclude finally that the upper house is really the original, and the vats were installed as septic tanks before the addition was constructed.

We have also spent some time scouring Cox's salvage yard for a bathroom door. We were hoping to find something with frosted glass to let in light, since the lower bathroom will have no windows. Cox's has hundreds, if not thousands, of doors, in various states of repair and in the entire spectrum of use. Most of the glass doors we saw were either interior office doors or exterior residential doors.

We found one that we think will work. It is about 100 years old, pine, with an upper panel of glass. Stewart (perhaps the only salvage yard worker you will ever encounter who wears a bow tie) called the glass Florentine. It is not frosted as I had imagined, but a rippled texture that makes the glass opaque. The door is heavily encrusted with years of paint that will have to removed. It also is beat up in places, but we expect that will fit well with the cabin -- a mixture of the elegant and rustic.

What charmed us most is the bell set into the middle of the door. It is inoperative and covered over with paint, but underneath it is likely to be brass. We will have to see if we can fix the spring-loaded clapper.

Shoring up

Visible progress (or destruction) of the property is now apparent. Mr. Seals has been working on the wall next to the former kitchen. He needs to shore it up since it has a minimal foundation and has gradually shifted over the years. After removing the cement steps, he began trenching under the foundation and removing the large stones that the logs had been resting on. He is sorting the rocks into different sizes so that we can use them later.

A large beam on supports is taking the place of the foundation to hold up the wall. It juts under the logs and into the cabin, where Mr. Seals has begun removing some of the floor boards, exposing the dirt several feet below. This will become the new surface of the bathroom space.

A Field Trip

I have been hounding John lately about green roofs (also called vegetative or living roofs). Specifically, how we might access the roof for maintenance and weeding (safely), how to walk around on the roof (safely), whether to construct a parapet or ridge at the roof line to prevent him from falling off the roof ("You'll shoot your eye out!"), and so on.

Fortunately for John, for our marriage, and for the hypothetical green roof on our cabin, I have overcome those fears. How? By walking around on a green roof.

We have talked to green roof folks (distributors, installers, nurseries) and in the process have discovered a dearth of residential green roofs around Richmond. Most of them are installed on city high-rise buildings, with vastly different ecosystems than our roof would have. Ssubstitute lots of shady trees for glaring sun, and add squirrels to the mix for starters.

So we decided to investigate the one residential green roof that we had heard of in Richmond, which has the added advantage of being well-established, and having gracious owners who are happy to share information.

Karen Raschke and Donald Creach had already conceived of the idea of a green roof when they got a little help from Hurricane Isabel, "the costliest disaster in the history of Virginia". The "little help" was provided by a massive tree that fell across the roof of their Riverside Drive home in 2003. (That alone is an amazing story, but I'll let Karen or Don tell you about it, if you are lucky enough to meet them.) In the process of rebuilding, they took the opportunity to install a green roof, which was installed in 2004.

A number of people and groups have toured the Raschke/Creach home since the installation of their green roof, and we had read a few articles about it, like this one. Unfortunately, Don was out of town when we visited, but getting to know Karen was a real treat. We have a lot of interests in common, and had a wonderful time talking about art, books, Rosmy, zoning requirements, and even such mundane but fascinating things as Runtal radiators.

Back to their roof, though. Karen had pulled out their architectural drawings and plans, articles, and a book by the man who designed their roof plantings, Edmund Snodgrass (Green Roof Plants: A Resource and Planning Guide). One thing we noticed, as soon as we drove up their drive, was that there were some lovely, tall onion-type plants with purple flowers bordering the roof, and waving gently in a friendly manner. Seeing the roof from on top really showed off its beauty, though. We got a ladder and the three of us climbed up.

First, my safety concerns. We are considering green roofs in two places on the cabin: the small overhang right next to and slightly below the living room windows will be our "test" garden, to see how well it does in our ecosystem and how much maintenance is required; that room is just single story height. Then, if our test roof is successful, we'll likely install a large green roof on the master bedroom/bath addition -- this roof would be two stories high. What I discovered, walking around atop Karen's roof, was that the pitch of the roof is so gentle, I felt very comfortable, even when I was near the edge of the roof. Her roof is edged with paver stones, and as I pulled a few weeds (there weren't many) I could walk right to the edge to toss them off without being nervous. I am confident, that with a similarly pitched roof, I would be comfortable even at the height of a second floor. So the field trip was worth it for that discovery alone! Plus so much more.

One thing we were curious about was the moss growing in a few areas of the planted green roof. It wasn't part of the design, but it did look attractive, and it didn't seem to us that it would likely be detrimental to the roof or the other plantings due to the shallow roots of the moss. There was a nice variety of plants, growing in a planting medium that was covered with tiny volcanic gravel (which is, of course, very light). There were patches where the plant cover wasn't as solid, but in general it covered the area pretty thoroughly. It looked lovely, and it was so peaceful and quiet up there. Karen had a little portable chair to sit on, and it occurs to me that it would be desirable to have access to the roof not only to be able to weed and maintain it, but also to enjoy it, just as we did that day at Karen's.

I was able to let go of one of my fears, gain a lot of useful information and helpful ideas, and make a new friend. What a great way to spend a lovely Sunday! Thanks, Karen.

Permission granted

Right before leaving for an afternoon hike, John Seals called us to say he had the building permit in hand for the first phase. Work can now begin in earnest.

Mr. Seals has already been quite busy getting the site ready. He ripped out the kitchen and relocated it to the other side of the room. He installed a temporary wall and door to divide the space. The walls behind where the kitchen cabinets were is pretty beat up, with signs of critters having lived in there. The entire wall will have to be refinished, insulated, and chinked.

He will be removing the ceiling boards from the other side of the room and ripping out the old insulation. He will also be tearing up the old floor so he can begin excavating for the bathroom and shoring up the stone wall.

Mr. Seals located what may be an environmentally friendly foam insulation for us, called Icynene LD-R-50. Most foam insulation is petroleum-based, while Icynene is produced from Castor oil. When applied, it creates an air and sound barrier and minimizes mold-growth. There seems to be a difference of opinion on how effective and green the product is, but I'm still searching for genuine research studies. It may be a moot point, since at this point I'm not sure if it is sold in Virginia -- I have a message in to the manufacturer now. However, even if it is not sold here, it is fun to watch it applied as it swells to 100 times its original size within seconds of application.

Blower door blowout

We were introduced to Guy DuBois of Commonwealth Building Sciences by Marty Phelps (Delta Temp), who is looking into a geothermal system for us. Guy works with designing and analyzing energy efficient buildings and we wanted him to conduct the blower door test to depressurize the cabin and measure air leakage.

We were scheduled to have the test performed last week. We had to move it from Sunday to Tuesday because of thunderstorms. When Guy went to work, however, he discovered that the cabin was far too leaky to get an accurate measurement. Not only did he find lots of infiltration around the old windows (as we suspected), but also through the chinking and the ceiling. Moreover, the single window AC unit couldn't pump hard enough to cool the house down to a level that would create a substantive temperature disparity between the inside and outside, which is crucial for using infrared imaging to "see" where air is leaking.

Thus he can tell us that, yes, the building leaks (we knew that), he was unable to give a precise measurement of the actual amounts that would allow us to size the HVAC properly.

We did learn some interesting things, however, and received some good advice from Guy. He thinks that unless we can substantially cover and insulate the interior logs, we are going to make any system work too hard to keep the cabin cool and comfortable. If the air exchange with the outside is too frequent (as it would be with such a leaky building), then the system won't be able to wring moisture out of the air. Even if the system can continue full bore to cool the space, it will not be as comfortable because of Virginia's humid summers. One system he looked at would apply low profile metal studs to the logs, so that wallboard can be attached and back-filled with insulation. The top be left open as a channel to permit the wallboard to flex some as the logs shrink and swell.

Guy gave us a couple of products to look at to help tighten up the chinking and provide better insulation. He suggested that we insulate and apply some sort of covering (e.g., wooden planks) on the vaulted ceilings while keeping the log beams exposed. Finally, he urged us to encapsulate and condition the basement crawl spaces to make it easier for the system to heat and cool the spaces above. He is going to continue to look into what else we might do to tighten up the building before we have to put in the HVAC.

After Darien and I have done some more research and discussed things over with Scott and Seals, we will talk to Guy again to see where we go next.

Nothing on this project is ever straight-forward.