From the Farmlet: 2011

Friday, January 28, 2011

Summer in a box

This is my car thermometer one morning this week:

The nights have been even colder!

So it was a pleasant and beautiful surprise to find this under our snow-covered cold frame:

Almost summer!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Warm house

Finally, we have a warm house! The insulation is completely done and it is comfortably warm with nothing more than the heat of the fire.

The insulation crews worked amazingly hard... we'll miss having them around the house, it's been great company while we work. Thanks guys!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Insulation

The Itchy & Scratchy crew made it to our house again today, despite the blizzard which by 1 pm seems to have already left 6" of fresh snow.

The upstairs is done! With over 11" of cellulose in the ceilings and over 7" in the walls, the boys room is oddly quiet. The combination of densely packed cellulose and staggered studs creates a super sound barrier... at least until the band moves in.

They are now working their way around the downstairs. It looks like it's snowing inside too but that is loose cellulose in the air... thankfully they are wearing masks but it seems like a potentially hazardous job.

Cellulose insulation is made from recycled newspaper. When the studio was done, we pulled out a few of the tiny pieces of the paper and found it was all in french! We haven't checked out the writing in the new house yet.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Blizzard

Our tiny house in the snow

That is Sam under the giant snowball

Friday, January 7, 2011

End of 2010

Finally, except for a few finishing touches, we are done with the outside of the farmlet! On the inside, we are nearing completion of all rough plumbing and wiring, getting ready for insulation to be installed in mid-January.

About the Farmlet

In 2004, we bought a 1.5 acre property in Ocean Point with a 1970s Magnolia trailer on it. We really hated the trailer (it smelled) but loved the lot, seeing that the mature trees around the lawn would make a perfect site for a new summer cottage someday.

In 2007, we had the opportunity to move to Boothbay full-time. We looked for a "field" property, trying to re-create the farm life we had in New Gloucester. It took us a while to realize the Ocean Point property was smaller but better than all the others we were looking at... so we decided to build the "farmlet".

We set some pretty simple goals for the project:

1. We wanted to build a small home. There is a lot of 'pressure' out there to build a house for the future buyer. A lot of people make you believe you have to have certain things to make the house marketable. After having lived for 7 years in New Gloucester with 2 empty 'extra bedrooms' and a full bath we never used, we decided we were only going to build spaces that were absolutely essential to the way WE lived our lives. We set a benchmark of 1,200 square feet, to keep us in line while space planning.

2. We wanted to build a "green" home. For obvious reasons! We felt challenged to make this house super-insulated, well sealed and as energy efficient as possible. We have also been intrigued by advances in building construction techniques for the last few years and were eager to put ideas to work.

3. We wanted to build a home with plenty of natural daylight and a sense of openness to the outdoors. While the property is small, it has the advantage of great sun exposure... long to the east and west and open to the south. And so we designed a long and skinny home, with living areas on the south and utility spaces on the north (entry, stairs, pantry, bath, mudroom, laundry). We also put in big windows and set them high in the house so we could look up into the sky and treetops.

4. We wanted to do it ourselves. Mostly to have time on our side, so we could research new things and make decisions along the way. Being new to a 'debt-free' lifestyle, we also didn't want to build up a huge insta-debt by hiring someone to deliver our dreams for us. We realized another cost of letting someone else build our home was giving away the life-changing experience of the journey itself. We wanted to learn new trades, and teach them to our boys as we went along.

5. We wanted a home that had typical qualities of an Ocean Point cottage but with some quirkiness too. We love slightly odd houses... those with big towers and low slung additions, oddly placed windows and exaggerated spaces. We also wanted a home that would be simple to build.. no interconnecting roof lines or dormers, just basic traditional forms put together to create the whole.

From the Farmlet