Rejuvenation Projects Blog

We passed our utility and insulation inspections with flying colors, which means it’s time to put the sheet rock on the walls and cover it all up. Before I say anything about how the interior is looking, I first want to comment on how the interior is functioning. These houses will be Earth Advantage & Energy Star Certified. The significance this has on the performance of the interior has a lot to do with the insulation. The requirements of these programs dictate that certified homes perform at least 15% better than the standards set by current building codes. What this means for insulation is that we install higher R-values in the walls and ceilings than code requires. The result of this is that the home is simply insulated better than normal homes, which means that it will use less energy to heat and cool. The funny thing to me is how easy this is to do. We still use a fiberglass batt insulation. It’s just a little thicker than usual. We also put rigid foam insulation against the concrete walls in the basement to help insulate that space better and make it more comfortable for the occupant of the ADU. There really is not much additional cost associated with improving the R-values of the insulation, so it’s a wonder to me why all builders wouldn’t do this as a standard practice.
Anyway, here’s a look at how the interior looks now that the drywall is hung. It’s a little difficult to photograph because the rooms are so stark and void of features. It will look much better in the days ahead as trim and paint go on.

Living room

Living room - stairs

Dining/kitchen

Family room w/ built-in entertainment center

Master bedroom w/ fireplace and spacious master bath

Accessory Dwelling Unit - Living/Kitchen

Now that framing is complete, the job site has the feel of a bee hive buzzing with activity. We have the siding crew working on the exterior. Meanwhile, the plumber, electrician, and HVAC are all taking turns working on the inside. Things are progressing nicely, but having this much activity going all at once has underscored for me the importance of having a good plan from the beginning. Technically speaking, our plans were sufficient to get through the permitting phase and pass as a viable house plan. Practically speaking, however, our plans have been lacking in some important details that would help to keep the work moving along smoothly. For example, the plans do not give specific instruction on how to lay out the floor joists in order to leave room for a heating duct. Consequently, we have to spend extra time on the site planning this out with the framer and the HVAC contractor, and making on-site decisions about these things. If we had noted these things on the plans before even starting, then there would have been a lot less standing around scratching our heads. The good news in all of this is that we came up with some really good ideas about how to route ducts and align walls and so forth in order to come up with a really good final outcome. Even so, the valuable lesson I learned was to make sure that I get a really detailed architect to work on my next set of plans so that a lot of these kinds of things can be thought out before we even break ground. It’s already challenging enough to keep a job site moving along smoothly without having to improvise solutions at practically every juncture. Here’s how it looks now:

Siding is going on

HVAC, plumbing, and electrical are in

I can’t help but think of all the veins and arteries that run throughout our own bodies as a fitting analogy for how the tubes and wires look running every which way in the walls of a house. Soon enough these things get covered by a “skin” and they get forgotten when hidden from view. The only way to “take a look under the hood,” as it were, is to look back at pictures such as these.

Fireplace in the master bedroom

Tankless water heater mounted in the wall cavity

This water heater is rather special and deserves a few comments. It’s a tankless water heater, which means that it does not store hot water in a tank. Instead, it only heats water when a warm water valve is turned on in the house. This system for heating water is considerably more efficient, because normal tank water heaters expend energy just reheating a large volume of water in the tank even when no one is using the hot water (e.g. while you are sleeping at night). Furthermore, this unit is so compact that it can be mounted between studs in an exterior wall, so it doesn’t actually take up any room inside the house. This also means that it can expel its exhaust directly to the outside without the use of ducting, because the backside of the unit is exposed on the exterior of the building. One final benefit of this system is that you can never run out of hot water, because the unit makes the hot water the instant it is demanded in the house. In other words, you cannot deplete the stored hot water, because it does not store any. It’s genius!

Sneak peek at the ADU in the basement

In a previous post, I had mentioned that we had a brilliant idea about how to make these homes more versatile for the future owners. The great idea was to include an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in the basement level of these houses. This feature is so awesome that it actually warrants its own separate post, which is coming soon.

The framing stage of building a house is always the most exciting to me. It’s when the progress is most noticeable. Over the span of about 2 weeks, we went from a ghostly looking foundation to a fully framed structure, complete with rooms inside and all. It’s been really exciting to watch the progress. The photos below will show the rapid progression:

Starting framing

Starting to resemble a house

It actually looks like a house!

The interior looks a bit barren. Empty stud bays can be deceiving. It doesn’t look like much right now, but it’s going to be stunning when it’s all done.

Living room w/ fireplace

The future home of the kitchen & dining room

Future home of the built-in entertainment center in the family room

More details and photos are available on the builder’s web site.

We’ve excavated the site and set up forms for pouring the concrete foundation. It’s very exciting to finally see some progress on this. The long and arduous road we’ve had with getting our permits issued makes this visible and tangible progress on the site feel all the more significant and fulfilling.

Foundations

It is a difficult to envision the full scale and grandeur that these houses will have simply by looking at a foundation. But we have been over the plans so many times now that we know where every piece goes, and so we see the whole house in our imagination when we look at this foundation. Next on the agenda is to get the underground plumbing in place, and prepare for the pour of the concrete slab. Then we’ll start framing. In the meantime, here’s a drawing that helps to show a bit of the vision for the final product.

A sketch of the final product

The design process for this project has been a harrowing experience. We discovered that the zoning of this land has a minimum density requirement that will require us to build at least two units per parcel. This has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We have worked with our designer to come up with a plan that includes an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in the basement level of the house. The ADU will have its own separate entrance as well as living area, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and laundry, all of which may be completely closed off from the main house or used as part of the living area of the house simply by unlocking a door. With such an arrangement, a variety of options exist for how this space may be used. For example, one generation could live on the upper two levels, while grandparents live in the ADU below. Alternatively, the ADU could be used as an entertaining space, a home office, or guest quarters. Perhaps the most likely use would be to rent the ADU out, and the income used to offset the mortgage expense on the home. Based on general rent rates in the area, it appears that the ADU could generate enough rental income to cover a significant portion of the interest. This should add considerable value to the future owners of these homes.

The permitting process for this project has been even more harrowing than the design. It appears that the fates were against us when we submitted our plans, because our plans were apparently put in the hands of the most cranky design review person in the city of Portland. We found this out the hard way as our plans were sent back to us with a list of corrections a total of 4 times, with each list of corrections containing new things not previously seen on the prior submissions. Usually, plans get returned once or twice with a checklist of corrections that only grows shorter each time the plan is resubmitted. This plans examiner saw fit to make our checklist grow longer with each submission. Eventually, we had to take the matter to her supervisor in the commissioner’s office. The supervisor saw the level of resistance we were getting and promptly instructed the examiner to give us our approval and get our permits out. This whole process took about 3 months, during which time we were sitting on vacant land with a construction loan that was racking up interest. It’s difficult to express how frustrating it is to watch your profit margin on a project dwindle while someone at the city apparently tries to make themselves feel important by giving you a hard time.

But alas, we have completed our design work and plans review. Permits are in hand, and we are ready to rock and roll!

For more information on this project, visit our web site.

We are about to embark on a new construction project. The first thing we had to do was locate a property suitable for development. We ended up purchasing two adjacent lots that were being used as a parking lot. Part of the reasoning that went into this choice was that we generally like to follow an approach to building that reuses and recycles and re-purposes materials as much as possible. Part of the re-purposing work on this project will be to use land that is already in the urban part of Portland whose use is not especially valuable to the community (i.e. paved parking lot) and turn it into something that is valuable to the community (i.e. housing). The land that has been obscured by black top for many years now will see the light of day again. Furthermore, this strategy of using land that is already in an urban area reduces the need to use up farm land or forested land on the outskirts of town. We are recycling the land, in a manner of speaking.

The parking lot

Depaving in order to re-purpose the land

The other thing that we are excited about with regard to this site is that it sits just a few blocks off of NE Alberta St., which is a super fun place to hang out, and the site is also just across the street from beautiful Alberta Park. These neighborhood amenities make for a desirable place in which to live.

These two elements of recycling and the prime location next to Alberta Park gave us the bright idea to start referring to the project as “Alberta Parks and Reclamation.” The name points to the proximity to Alberta Park, while also giving a nod to our interest in reclaimed materials, and it also plays off of the more frequently spoken phrase of “parks and recreation.” I guess we are suckers for clever word play.

One other element of our thinking about this project is to seek ways to add versatility to the homes that we build for the end-user. We are working on a concept for the design that will allow the basement level to be used for several different purposes, including rental space that may offset a substantial portion of the mortgage cost on the home. This should be a very attractive value proposition to a future owner. Stay tuned for more details on this in subsequent posts.

We hope you’ll keep tabs on the progress of our work on this project as we seek to reclaim land near Alberta Park. For more information on this project, visit our web site.