Whidbey Island Micro Buildings-WIMB

The Whidbey Institute is enlarging its accommodations for guests and as such hired Ross Chapin to design three new buildings called Meadow Row.  dbBrad was hired by Jade Construction to help out with the building, detailing and moving of the microbuildings.   

Dan Neumeyer of Jade Construction was hired by the institute to build the buildings.  Dan has built and even moved some small buildings but this was a big project and so he turned to us at dbBrad to help out because we have built so many Micro Buildings and have extensive experience with picking, moving, placing, designing and building small buildings.

It was all in all a very collaborative process between Dan, Scott and Mike who work for Dan, Ross the architect, and myself, Tristin, Josh, and Kevin.  All in all we worked well together, had lots of fun, kept up with Dan's schedule, and did some amazing on the fly problem solving.

dbBrad logo cut out of Tar Paper, our only publicity on this project!

Because building comes with lots of noise and disruption, the choice was made to build the buildings off site and move them onto the site when they were mostly complete.

The construction platforms consisted of 2-4x10's x 40' long for each
building which consisted of 3 separate structures to
be joined into one once on site.

 This came with many challenges.  The first being that each building consisting of two bedrooms with a common bath in between, would have been too big to move in one piece.  Rather, the structure needed to support them during the move would have been so substantial as to add enough extra height to the building that when loaded on a truck would have been overheight.

We left just enough space between each building to allow access for labor and materials.

Overheight may not be an issue in some places and you can get overheight permits, but on Whidbey Island where many of our power lines are low, extra attention needed to be paid to which route had the best clearance and not to exceed this.

Twelve Micro buildings going up together.

The decision was made to separate each building into three.  Thus the bathroom and the two bedrooms would each be build as a separate pod and then joined together on site.

Hansons sign in the background of the WIMB's
dbBrad sign also visible on one of the pods.

This is much more complicated that nailing up a piece of trim to cover the seam.  Probably the hardest thing to deal with was the wiring.  However Island County insisted that these small residences were commercial in nature and as such had to be sprinkled for fire protection.  This seems absurd to me to spend 10's of thousands of dollars so each of these 8x12 buildings could have a sprinkler head.

Framing the roofs while issues with the ADA units were resolved.

So right next to Hanson's, my favorite lumber and hardware store, is a lot that used to have cranes on it.  Dan was able to rent this lot for 6 months and use it to build and stage the buildings.

While these may be little buildings, they still have punch, drama and interest
inherent in the architecture.  True architectural interest comes
not from materials used to construct and finish, but from the design.

Temporary platforms were built consisting of 4x10 beams roughly 10' apart that we could build on allowing us to level, have access under, and later to pick with a crane or forklift.

dbBrad and MicroBuildings

Having Hanson's right next door was quite handy.  When we needed materials, we simply walked over to the counter, placed and order, found one of the yard persons with a forklift and had them bring our materials to within a few feet of where they were needed.

dbBrad recommended the Pro Clima system from 475 building materials. 
While Intello was not chosen for the interiors, they did go with Mento 1000 on the outside
which is the best moisture barrier I've ever used.  Strong, high performance, soft and non
toxic, it's like gortex for your house.

Dan put together a schedule and did a fantastic job.  The overall offsite construction which also included foundations and utilities on site, was about a 5 month project with framing making up 2-3 weeks.

The crew, Scott and Mike of Jade construction and Kevin and Josh of dbBrad.
Where the hell is Tristan?!  Not the first time I've said this!

We were able to complete the framing in this two weeks.  Amazingly enough, the buildings scheduled to move the first week of November were moved to first week of November.

The Mento applied and taped to the outside of our MicroBuildings

I give Dan Neumeyer great credit for this.  To build and complete 12 complicated microbuildings and keep to the 5 month long schedule delivering the buildings on the day projected was quite an accomplishment.

Squeezing the scaffolding between the units so we could pick up
the pre-made soffits which were built on the ground.

View of the MicroBuildings and simple shed roofs from above.

Many many times did we have to step over the 4x10 temp beams holding up
our MicroBuildings.

Scott moves one of the premade soffits into place.  The soffits
for the front have already been installed after being assembled on the ground.

Buildings wrapped, soffits on, this is about where dbBrad left the project
until it was time to move them.

Rainscreen, Roxul and siding going on.

Plastic installed to keep the buildings dry until they were ready to be moved.

The outside corners of the outside buildings were able to be completely
finished prior to moving. 

Other walls had to remain unfinished until moved into place.  

2016 is almost two years away!

I've taken some time off from Blogging.  But as I find myself in a niche of tiny houses and micro buildings trying to create habitable spaces for small budgets I am missing sharing the solutions of our designs and the ingenuity of our construction techniques.

Whidbey Institute Micro Buildings under construction.

However, as I haven't blogged for almost two years, I feel the need to recap the last two years.  So, following below will be a bunch of images from dbBrad sustainable design build projects from 2016.

Hanson with his earth movers.

While this house wasn't our design, we did consult on design and framed the envelop as well as installed then windows and doors, the cedar rain screen siding and the metal roof.

It doesn't look that high from the ground, but 24' is pretty high when your
the one on the ladder!

Vertical cedar siding on Hardi strips create a rain
screen and allow for a modern open joint siding.

Front porch, our design, going together.

A small project, but necessary for a client aging in place, we reworked the front entry with a ramp and repaired some rot at the entry.

Josh Jones building attractive access for a client with MS.

We purchased a WoodMizer saw mill.  The model, LT15, is totally manual which I love.  You can feel the correct feed rate as you run the mill across the wood.  Too slow, crank harder, too fast, back off.  It really is a well designed and built mill.  We purchased it because we were removing some large trees and wanted to turn them into lumber rather than smoke.

One of the first pieces of Alder off our new Saw Mill

Steve and I set a 32" log on our mill which has a maximum of 30".  

On one project, extensive rot was found while replacing windows in a 20" deep glulam beam caused from poor waterproofing practices 25 years.  Not wanting to tear the entire end of the house apart, we repaired the rot and then sistered on two microlams, one each side, with minimal damage to the interior.

Rot caused from an flat roof over a living space.

Cutting out the rot and splicing in new beams.

Bolting on the Microlams on each side of our repair.

Yessi and I are building two Microbuildings which will supplement our living space.  They are designed to be moved and can either be slid onto a truck or picked with a boom if and when they need to move.

Our two personal MicroBuildings starting to take shape.

dbBrad MicroBuildings

MicroBuildings extend our living space.

Hearts and Hammers is always fun.  This year we had a great crew and met all our objectives and were still able to get to dinner on time!

dbBrad Hearts and Hammers 2016.

Spotty Dog project on Crawford road would have been a beautiful residence.  Unfortunately, due to health concerns as well as poor performance in the name of a botched construction loan from Whidbey Island Bank (Herritage Bank), the project didn't happen.

Spotty Dog Residence schematic design by dbBrad.

Utilities going in at Spotty Dog.

This is what a 1000' ditch looks like.

A simple covered patio with new French doors greatly expands an existing living area and adds connectivity with the outdoors and their yard.

New French doors and a clear roof over a stone patio
creates a new room and enhances functionality of house. 

Green Home Tour

I've never seen so many people happily take off their shoes. The Green Home Tour, put on by Whidbey Watershed Stewards has a great following. An amazing group of people interested in how they can live better and use less, how they can repair the land around their home, and how they can be active participants in the community they live in.

The Green Home Tour on Whidbey island took place this past weekend. Over 100 people toured the FrEdLey site of Fran Abel and Ed Anderson, designed by dbBrad. People had wonderful things to say and were fascinated by the minimalist architecture and lifestyles being presented. Though many people aren't ready to live in 870sf, most all the guests thought they could live here.

Popular topics were the Custom windows and Fleetwood doors supplied by Island Sash and Door, the landscaping by Fran Abel Landscape Design, and the recycled materials and contemporary design solutions of dbBrad. The pond was enjoyed by all, but most thought the stream was natural and wondered how we could build a house so close to it an existing stream.

BAPOW, huge timbers await design!!

I've always loved the process of design build. The challenge of interpreting the needs of a client, evaluating the conditions of the site and refining the details to suit the materials.

FrEdLey Residence: Woven wire mesh from old rock crusher; salvaged spruce for the cap, deck planks and door; and cedar siding from a barn that will be 100 years old this decade.

All of my projects have recycled or reclaimed material or a found object of some sort incorporated into the design. Quite often my furninture starts with a found object.

The design of this table was entirely driven by the 'half holes' that were for some use in another life.

I use the language that comes with these materials or objects to inform the design, asking the material what it wants to be.

The design of this building changed to accommodate salvaged materials too good to pass up.

ShantyTown, salvaged steel and wood

Other times I see the value of the material and iterate my design to create a home for these materials. The design of the FrEdLey Carport changed when I purchased some amazing old growth 2x8 spruce in quantity knowing they had outstanding qualtities but that there were currently no 2x8's in the framing plans for the building.

Iterating the design led to the angled posts to hold up an interim beam and the paired rafters to provide generous safety margin for un-inspected wood framing, both distinct elements in the final building.

FrEdLey Salvaged steel and wood

What distinguishes two different projects where the same materials are used? In the shanty town image, there is recycled wood and metal panels. Above and below are shots from FrEdLey where recycled wood and metal panels were also used. The resulting difference is striking.

It's about the details and the connections.

BAPOW!!

But the whole reason I started writing this article is to emphasize how the material informs the design.

As it happens, I have some material that is so amazing, I need a design. Acually I don't need a design so much as a client to fund a design utilizing these materials!

Here are couple of shots. This wood is beautiful, huge, available and quite affordable. If you or anyone you know is interested, please have them contact me, dbBrad, for more info.

Some large timbers awaiting a project.

B.A.P.O.W. is an acronym I use regularily to describe pieces of exceptional wood. It stands for Bad Ass Piece of Wood. That is clearly what we have here! Just waiting for a project.

Huge timbers, 23"x23" Old Doug Fir. BAPOW!!