Honor the previous and plan for the longer term: Constructing a sustainable dwelling in Harpswell

Though Harpswell has an abundance of open area and pure magnificence, constructing a house right here might be difficult. Mortgage charges are rising. Contractors are in excessive demand and brief provide. Supplies prices have surged due to kinks within the provide chain. You may hit bedrock the place your leach line must be, or drill midway to the Earth’s core to faucet an honest effectively. How do you construct a home that feels rooted within the Maine panorama whereas defending it from unprecedented climate occasions — and never go bankrupt within the course of?

That is how one architect met these challenges whereas developing a brand new dwelling for her household.

Michelle and Tom Keleher found Harpswell when their daughter got here to Maine for school. Michelle felt the city had a “nostalgic appeal,” and significantly admired its conventional New England structure. The Kelehers ultimately relocated from New Mexico to Brunswick, and, on a September afternoon in 2020, drove all the way down to Harpswell to have a look at a wooded lot on Jordan Level.

The location sloped all the way down to the calm waters of Center Bay, and the late afternoon solar forged an autumnal glow via the oaks and pines. A small stream minimize via the property, and Michelle noticed future grandchildren enjoying by its banks. When their son raced all the way down to the water’s edge, turned, and mentioned, “Let’s dwell right here!” Tom and Michelle knew they needed to construct on that web site.

The household envisioned a standard farmhouse constructed with trendy, sustainable supplies.  Given the form of the lot, the home can be lengthy and skinny, sited alongside a north-south axis with pure gentle coming in on either side. As an architectural scholar on the College of Kansas, Michelle had been influenced by the architect and design theorist Christopher Alexander. In his landmark ebook “A Sample Language,” Alexander urged architects to maneuver away from summary theories and construct primarily based on tried-and-true designs refined over centuries. The home the Kelehers imagined would have many conventional components, reminiscent of large pine flooring, hewn beams, earth plaster partitions, and a central fireplace the place the household might collect to prepare dinner, eat and speak. It will be constructed primarily based on previous observe within the space, and be “a gathering area for household and buddies for many years to come back,” Michelle mentioned.

Michelle and Tom had a extra speedy hurdle: One other potential purchaser had put in the next bid for the property. However their dreaming and planning paid off. They wrote a letter describing their imaginative and prescient for the location, which helped persuade the sellers to decide on them.

Michelle had designed the household’s dwelling in New Mexico, so she felt snug within the mixed position of proprietor and architect. She labored shortly to draft the fundamental plans. The bottom flooring would comprise the dwelling/eating/kitchen areas and the master suite. Upstairs would have two loft bedrooms and a few workplace area. All of it, excluding the storage, would whole round 2,700 sq. ft.

Setting up in a high-quality, sustainable approach meant discovering a like-minded contractor and a gaggle of skilled subcontractors who labored effectively collectively. She felt an “on the spot connection” with Jeff Tillinghast, of First Chair Carpentry in Brunswick, and determined to rent him and his crew of carpenters if financing was authorized.

She had a square-foot value in thoughts, however in just some months, the bids from varied contractors and suppliers shot up “by over $50 to $100 extra per sq. foot,” she mentioned. After tightening up her design, Michelle submitted her last price range to Kennebec Financial savings Financial institution and obtained financing approval in mid-Could 2021. Time is cash in building: If the Kelehers needed to remain inside their price range, the schedule can be aggressive. Constructing started on July 1, with completion deliberate for April 2022.

Step one was web site prep. Laying the inspiration meant making selections about drainage, tree placement, climate affect and the place to run the leach area. Mossy Rock Landscaping, of Topsham, did the excavation work and put in a septic system laid out by Harpswell environmental engineer Heather Merriman. The completed dwelling additionally needed to meet Harpswell’s code necessities for setbacks and constructing top. Fortuitously, Michelle discovered the city planners and inspectors to be “very affordable and simple to cope with.”

The effectively was a significant concern. Two neighboring properties had gone down 400 ft to get simply 1.5 gallons per minute, on the low finish for a full-time household residence. When Ted Rolfe, of Kennebec Effectively Drilling, got here out to drill, the Kelehers held their collective breath. Fortunately, he hit water at 120 ft, on the charge of 40 gallons per minute. This additionally meant they didn’t need to construct a holding tank to assist the sprinkler system required for properties on this improvement.

The home needed to be climate tight earlier than winter set in, so Tillinghast and his group started working assembling the body. They used a double-wall design to place in further insulation, and saved the nice and cozy and chilly air pockets separate inside the partitions, which helps forestall mildew and mildew. The partitions have been constructed with rainscreen, which creates an area behind the siding that permits water to run off relatively than get trapped there. Because the work proceeded, Michelle noticed that “three-quarters of the cash and energy goes into stuff you barely see.”

Michelle designed a timber-frame building between the flooring, which saves supplies as a result of the ceiling for the primary story turns into the ground for the second. The Kelehers thought-about a steel roof, however thought they have been too noisy in wet climate. In the long run, they settled on asphalt shingles.

To scale back future upkeep on the outside, Michelle went with white pine siding dipped and completed with a penetrating sealer. Because the siding weathers over time, it ought to want only a touch-up relatively than a whole repainting. She chosen Marvin clad home windows designed to final for a number of a long time. Argon gasoline within the glass offers added resistance to chilly. The pink window trim is an homage to the standard New England barn.

One other bow to custom was utilizing timber from the property to make the uncovered assist beams. These ax-scarred beams, hewn by Steve Smith from Cumberland’s Renaissance Timber, give the widespread rooms a handwrought, rustic really feel. Michelle additionally found Hatch Residence, owned by Harpswell residents Hannah Beattie and Dustan Larsen, which buys and refurbishes previous furnishings and vintage home goods. Upcycled mirrors, rugs, shelving and bedside tables from Hatch have been positioned within the new dwelling.

Summer time 2021 turned to fall. Because the tempo of building picked up, Michelle felt pressured by the sheer quantity of particulars and the necessity for fixed communication with the builders. She was typically making trade-offs between her idealized model of the completed dwelling and the realities of getting it executed on time and inside price range. As she watched Tillinghast and his carpenters, she started to understand the interpersonal dynamics inside the crew. They appeared to get pleasure from working collectively, and functioned effectively as a group, which was essential if the venture was going to remain on observe.

The shell of the home took form. The home windows have been lastly put in in October, and by Nov. 1, “proper within the nick of time,” in response to Michelle, the home was sealed tight.

Now the subs might are available in. The plumber, electrician, painter and drywaller have been a part of the group assembled by Tillinghast, which made coordination a lot less complicated. Moderately than merely paint over the half-inch drywall, Michelle used earth plaster, a clay powder that’s combined with water. She believes earth plaster makes the partitions really feel extra stable and helps create a temper of calm in a room.

A variety of thought went into how the home can be heated. Due to local weather change, Michelle needed to steer clear of oil and propane methods. The home is heated and cooled by electrical warmth pumps put in by The Breathable Residence, of Augusta, supplemented by a wooden range. The oven vary is electrical as effectively. As power from photo voltaic farms turns into extra broadly accessible in Harpswell, Michelle hopes to purchase all her electrical energy from a renewable supply.

By February 2022, the mix of fine planning, robust communication and tight teamwork paid off, and the home was prepared for the Keleher household to maneuver in, forward of schedule.  The end result has the heat and conventional grace of a solidly constructed New England farmhouse, with supplies designed to make it sustainable and power environment friendly via the following phases of local weather upheaval. It’s a home by which “aesthetics and sustainability went hand in hand,” in response to Michelle.  

As we proceed to construct or transform properties in Harpswell, we’d be smart to look to a lesson discovered within the building of the Keleher dwelling: Honor conventional practices which have labored right here for tons of of years whereas adopting sustainable, environment friendly and cost-effective constructing strategies.  As Michelle put it, “We are able to create the life we would like, if we now have the imaginative and prescient and we care.”

Greg Bestick lives in Harpswell and serves as president of the Harpswell Information Board of Administrators.