The Design Process

23 Nov 2019 - Tansy Arron-Walker

Before starting the design process, Chris asked us for our needs and wants and wild dreams, and a collection of inspiration pictures. I put together this collection of images.

Our first meeting was a 5 hour long session at a table with pens and tracing paper trying out different layouts. The first few hours were mostly work on the layout of the property - where is the access, where will the house and barn and garage go, what does the approach to the house look like, where are the good views and the views we want to avoid, where is the water run off and so on. We were pretty well prepared for that with all the farm planning design we did previously.

By the end of the first session we had a sort of L shaped house, with a garage forming another leg to make a U shape. It was a basic working home, but it wasn’t quite right yet. Two of the things I liked most about it were the way the living and office opened into each other, and the entry hall that ran along the south face of the building and had all the sunlight.

We sat on that plan for a week or so before our next meeting, and when we went back we were pretty sold on the U shape, but wanted to move the garage to the north of the house. At this point we started to see the floorplan more or less as it exists today.

After that meeting we went back and forth via email on tweaking the master bath, making the kitchen and living bigger, and figuring out the size and locations of the windows. Chris also started working on the massing of the house - the basic exterior shapes and volumes.

We bought a VR headset, built the house in sketchup, and walked around it. This led to more updates - lets make the hallway wider, make sure we have a window at each end of the hall so we’re walking towards the light, frame the openings into the kitchen and livingroom.

A few months later, the construction documents are underway! We’ve just had another in person meeting and Chris has added some awesome architectural detail to the model - tweaking some window layouts and adding muntins, making the front and back porches more distinct from the body of the house, simplifying the roof, adding overhangs, gutters, and a stone foundation. We’ve also darkened the roof - the south facing side will all be solar panels, so will be black, and the dark roof looks fantastic.

While Chris has been working on the model and the documents, I’ve been doing more research - We’ve watched about 8 seasons of This Old House, I’ve been reading through all of Green Building Advisor and Building Science so the walls are getting thicker to incorporate a minimum of R-40 rigid insulation, and we’re looking at PERSIST construction details. From Green Building Advisor:

Here’s how you build a PERSIST house:

  • Frame the house with 2×4 walls. Even in a very cold climate, there is no need for 2×6 framing.
  • The building should have no eave or rake overhangs. All walls and roofs meet as simple intersecting planes.
  • After the walls and roof are sheathed with plywood or OSB, the sheathing is covered with a peel-and-stick rubberized membrane like Grace Ice & Water Shield. Because there are no overhangs at the eaves and rakes, the membrane can be folded down at the roof edges onto the walls.
  • The walls and roof are then covered with at least two layers of rigid foam. The thickness of the foam varies depending on climate; while 2 inches of foam might be adequate in Florida, Alaskan builders are likely to install at least 6 or 8 inches of foam. Successive layers of foam should have staggered joints. The foam is mechanically attached to the sheathing.
  • Vertical 1×3 or 1×4 strapping is installed on the walls to create a rainscreen, and siding is installed over the strapping. No housewrap or water-resistant membrane (WRB) is necessary, although one can be used if desired.
  • The roof foam is topped with 2×4 sleepers, installed in the same position as the underlying rafters. The 2x4s are mechanically fastened through the foam to the rafters with long screws. The 2x4s are cantilevered at the eaves to create an overhang. Ladder-framing (outriggers) are used at the rakes to create a gable overhang.
  • A second layer of plywood or OSB is installed on top of the roof sleepers, creating a ventilated cold roof. Roofing is installed normally.