Renovating an old building

In Langley there is an old orange house on a piece of property with wonderful potential for affordable/alternative living which Langley badly needs. It's right on the bus stop, walking distance to downtown Langley, already in an area of fairly high density and with very conscious and community oriented owners. Until such a time as Langley solidifies it's strategy for development, nothing can happen; but in the mean time it couldn't have a better, more fun use, than to be the home of RE-ART. More than any house in Langley, I enjoy driving by this one. Not because it's fancier than the others and impresses the 'Jones', but because it's real, and because it changes. The property is dynamic. Probably the best example of a vacant house that adds to it's community I've ever seen!!

Southwest corner of addition to original building made of salvaged barn wood and telephone tie pieces. It was just about to fall over, had a rotten floor, and was wetter inside than outside.

On the back of this property is a building that was falling apart because the roof was leaking. Leaking roofs, the demise of most old buildings, can cause lots of damage over time. In this building, most of the roof decking on both 'shed' extensions had so much rot you couldn't walk around on them. Even without maintenance, a steeper pitch here would have decreased damage (increased longevity)

The North addition, also added onto the original structure. The roof was too shallow and inadequately framed. As a result, water puddled and created permanent deformation (a sag) in the 2x4 rafters which encouraged more puddling, then leaking, then severe dry rot. (Note to self, why do they call it dry rot if it's always from water damage?)

On the north side open air addition, the original 2x4's (inadequate for a 10' span) had been nailed to the original building's rafter/truss tails. We installed a temporary wall down the middle where the sag was greatest, and the rafters straightened right up. We then slid new 2x4's (crown up) along side these and nailed them to the other side of the rafter tails creating a pair of 2x4's every 24" securely fastened to the original buildings roof and walls. Better looking and twice as strong!


Since the 4x4 posts were off the ground and rotten on the bottom anyhow, we replaced them with pieces 8" shorter. When we knocked the center wall out, the building settled nicely, rotating slightly at the connection between original buildings roof and new rafter pairs. Finally, we went back and put hurricane clips at all the connections.

The South addition gets separated from the original building, cutting out the rotten parts, creating light and allowing us to increase the pitch of the now free standing shed.

The building was one, and now it's two. The shed on the south side, built of salvaged telephone pole cross pieces and barn siding, was very rough and had a roof with not enough slope. Our solution gave it more slope.

The South addition, now separate. You can see the telephone ties which made a great floor and would still be there (no pun intended) if the roof hadn't been leaking for 20 years. The window was twice as wide--I just slid the window to the side, cut the frame with a sawz-all and now there's an insulated window half as big!

We did this at John's suggestion by 'detaching' the buildings. The area we cut out was the area of greatest damage, so it worked out great. When we replaced the multi-piece header with a single salvaged beam, we raised the pitch of the existing rafters by about 5 degrees. This makes all the difference in the world in how it drains. After patching some of the roof decking with salvage pieces from around the property, we clad the top in salvaged metal, also from the property.

The building had an interesting prow. It was a cantilevered beam with a cable running to the back of the structure where a cement block, a cast iron stove part, a few window weights and a crank shaft were all wired together serving as a counter weight for the garage door. Seeing potential for outdoor covered space and additional building protection, we framed the roof out to this point and what a difference that made to the aesthetics. Quite a handsome little building now!

Finally, we sheathed the original building with new 1/2" ply-wood (dbBrad doesn't use OSB), nailed off to 6Perim/8Field and covered with 30# felt. Only a few dollars more per square than 15# and such a better product.

Alsip property, Langley WA, home of Re-Art.

Furniture

The Whidbey Island Arts Council 'studio tour 2010' features 84 artists at 44 locations. dbBrad had furniture at one of the stops, Lois's studio which we remodeled last year.

Turn out was good but sales were not. But with all the happy people, good art, beautiful weather it is really a nice family event.

'The Machine' in Lois's kitchen incorporated contemporary steel counters, an old tractor implement and a ceramic heater housed at the center (not seen in the picture)

I didn't sell much but the response was very encouraging. Everyone loved my furniture and told me they'd never seen anything like it. I get that allot!!

The counter part to 'The Machine', the studio table has the same top and open feel but utilizes flat file cabinets from her mom's old art studio. The pipe were all remnants and the stainless steel legs are from Ikea.

In fact Lois mentioned she thought more people were commenting on her house than on her art. I must say that the thing I heard the most from people was that they loved both.

'2 legged' table is a piece of maple from Rob Hetler's 'not good enough' pile and two steel remnants with my little recycled block and rubber band card holders.

That her house and her art seemed to go together. The timeless architecture of dbBrad with trademark wood and steel and the soft impressionistic natural pastels of Lois's abstract photographs
.

The Captain's Table, so named because the pipe flange base was surplus from Nichols Brothers boat yard via Island Recycling. In the background you can see Lois house with her outdoor art on the recycled steel screens.

And with that the tour was wonderful. Thank you to Lois for letting me show furniture in her driveway and for the extended use of the garage as a shop.

My new and most favorite piece yet, the 'Squalicum Beach Table', this piece of wood was obtained in a creosote clean up, the pieces of pipe were remnants from a previous dbBrad project and the channel was salvaged.

Squalicum beach table. Though the wood has a strong patina, it's very sleek and clean. Because the piece of wood was so heavy, the table tressell is designed to flex enough for the wood to be removed from the steel. No fasteners at all.

Unfinished and awaiting an owner to guide the design of the base, this table is 48" x 96" and features glass insets on woven wire mesh. Leftovers from Island Sash and Door, Chery's Living Gate, FrEdLey railing and candlestick from my dad;s wood pile. In the background the 'Flintstones Table' is visible, with it's 30" wheels and block accessory stools.

Elementary Union Table. Base from Elementary school in Seattle and top from Salvaged Pier Beam on Lake Union.

Squiggly Library Table defies gravity with the wood and the steel seeming to not touch.

DESIGN QUOTE: I am very honest with my (found) materials and pay close attention to what they are and what they want to be. My desire is to change my salvage pieces as little as possible but maintain high resolve in the design/connection.
Brad Hankins is dbBrad.

Tension Table was a fairly successful experiment to use steel in tension and bolts only in sheer. Minimal fasteners on this very strong, but some what top heavy table.

These last two pieces I made several years ago but I'm still very fond of them.

Stream one day, pond the next

Reworking FrEdLey's lower pond.

After draining, the edge had to be cleaned and prep'ed for new work.

With too much liner showing and a concrete retaining wall which wasn't wearing well either, we are draining the pond for re-working.  Even though the liner and concrete wall were underwater when the pond is full, they could be redily seen through the clear water. With good weather and a bunch of new rock, the time had come to fix it.

A 'not so dry run' of new creek.

 At the FrEdLey residence, as with all my ponds, they are  primarily functioning water collector systems, but with aesthetic and habitat features often more noticable.  And when you add Fran Abel Landscape Design into the mix, the aesthetic component becomes so overwhelming that often people don't realize it's a functional and necessary water collection system.

It all starts at the upper pond where we collect the water from all three roofs (242,000 gallons per year) and any surface water runoff. However, with the healthy soil, mulch and bountiful plants, there has been no surface water to speak of since completion of site work two years ago.

Upper pond where water collects.

From the small upper collection pond, the water travels down a stream between the buildings to a larger pond. This larger pond then drains to an adjoining fen or wetland where the water can linger until it is absorbed by the earth.

Everything works and looks great. The reason we're renovating the lower ponds is mostly because of water clarity. It wasn't until this summer that we began running a pump to have water in the stream when it wasn't raining. This water is drawn through a simple filter of PVC pipe with holes buried under pea gravel. Although simple. it works so well that our water has become crystal clear.  Too clear, highlighting more than the fish!

So we've done two things. We've extended the stream up to the vegetable garden so that water from the ponds can be used for irrigation, and we've renovated the edges of the large pond to accommodate varying water levels and to provide more visual interest for viewing as well as a more natural lining for our Koi.

A little lesson in absorbtion.

New stream extension between greenhouse
and upper pond.

 In order to do the work on the lower pond, we had to pump  out most of the water. We pumped the water into our new (still unlined) creek bed over a three day period (it kept refilling with rain!)

Here is what we found. Our pump, by the way is modest, moving only 300 gallons per hour.

On the first day we pumped water for 6 hours lowering the main pond by 18" moving a total of 2200 gallons. Though the new stream is 30' long, only half of it ever saw water. It just vanished into the sand.

On the second, day we pumped water for 3 hours moving 1100 gallons of water. Interesting that the land had lost much of it's ability to absorb water from the previous day's pumping and the entire stream saturated and began to overflow into our upper pond.  One day later, half the water and way less absorption because the soils were already saturated.

On the third day, we only pumped for 2 hours, about 700 gallons and the stream immediately began to overflow.  Absorption had now entirely diminished.

What this says to me is even with sandy soil that appear to initially have superior drainage, watch out! The ground can become saturated quickly.

So even if you have loose sandy soils, if it's saturated and if there's hard pan (clay layer) below and when adjacent compaction prohibits lateral movement, then in floods, onto the streets, into the storm drains and out into the sound.

And shouldn't this water be dealth with on site anyhow? After all, the site was handling the water prior to clearing and building

 At FrEdLey, this was our goal and the pond was designed to have a variable water edge and when it floods, it does so into a controlled wet land (fen) where the water can linger until the ground can absorb it, regardless of what's happening at the neighbors.

Lois's Pond

Water Lily in Bloom. "Even when a project isn't finished, there is beauty in the process if one just takes the time to notice it."--dbBrad

Lois is one of the many artists who participated in the Whidbey Island Arts Council, Open Studio Tour (Sept 25th and 26th). She presented beautiful photos with an impressionistic twist printed on canvas in steel frames, made by dbBrad.

Lois's pond, crystal clear before yesterday's work

Some of the canvas was sealed and hung outside on the metal screens. Her art and the rusty corrugated screens are quite a wonderful combination.

We also put some 'trim' on the yard. The landscaping was never supposed to be part of the house remodel we did last year but, due to groundwater, a landscape plan by Fran Abel, and improvements to how the house relates to the land, we added it to our scope of work.

Stream with liner to catch surface run off and roof water installed over french drain

The pond still needs a little work around the edges. We'll use rocks, plants and wood to shape the stream and hide the liner. 50-100 tour visitors are expected to stop by most studios which will be great exposure for all the artists, and for dbBrad.

Edge work happening along the stream which is also a filter for the Koi Pond

Here's how it all started. 
When we installed a French drain to mitigate a small stream which ran inside the perimeter of her crawl space all winter. Part of this was from surface water, but most of the water is from her own roof. When we tore off the old poison asphalt torch down roof and insulated a new, installed metal roof, we decided we could no longer dump this water onto the street (day light tight line is Island County standard water control) where it would just run down to the sound.

View from Deck off Lois's bedroom.

We also saw just how much water was generated from the roof so decided to make a pond. It was never intended to be a Koi pond but habitat for wildlife was our second objective to retention. Because of the minimal grade and the surface water we also made a collector stream that receives downspout water and yard water along the entire edge of the house.

Lois installed some color for the Studio Tour

Lois' pond has continued to evolve, but slowly. With very limited funds we've nursed the project along with an hour here and a few rocks there.

But a lot of liner was still showing so we spent a lovely half day in the warm rain of early fall rearranging rocks and plants we had on hand to 'pretty up' for the art tour. We didn't finish and don't have nearly enough plants or rock, but it will look looks much better for the art show and most of the liner is hidden/protected.

Deception Pass Picnic Shelter

This Deception State Park shelter, showing its age, was just restored by a group of volunteers.

Lex Palmer and Brad Hankins double check the log layout. To keep the tapered log level on the ridge, we layed out marks on each end based on a level line reference which was the same on each end from the log's top.  Here the bottom of the log is up, so we can cut it.  Having the natural checking of the log within our cut zone should help relieve the internal stresses of the log and prevent splitting over time.

Carrying the shorter of the two ridge pieces up to position.

The gaggle of shelters, walls, trails, ranger quarters, and more, that were built at Deception Pass State Park by the CCC's are a valuable national asset and a wonderful part of the Washington's state park system. When visiting Deception Pass State Park be sure to visit the CCC museum.

The Park ranger, with gun and Kevlar vest, provided us with parts and tools and even a little help!

I find it incredulous that over the last few decades this nation has spent billions on road expansion and, as consumers, we have purchased trillions of dollars of trinkets, most of which are already in a land fill. Yet we cannot find the dollars to maintain beautiful old historic buildings.

Brad Hankins of dbBrad plunge cutting the log ridge cap.

Fortunately, talented, motivated and concerned individuals were willing to give up every weekend for 3 months to help see that the building was fixed. Detailed and problem-solving by Harrison, with many other jumping in to complete the project, this is the final weekend of work. I feel honored that I got to put on the last piece! The ridge cap, the crown!!

Here we're getting the 400 pound roof cap from the ground to the ridge.

The ropes around the log were our safety lines. We mostly rolled the log up the ropes to the top. The trickiest part was removing the rope from under the log ridge cap.

These people gave up every weekend for 3 months to help restore this roof.

If this shelter isn't worth maintaining, we need to ask our selves what is.

How our nation keeps growing and spending and supporting a disposable lifestyle and not maintaining our old and significant infrastructure makes no sense to me. However I am in the minority, albeit a growing, minority, as indicated by more than one person calling me a greenie. I wear that label proudly! When I go to box stores and watch people buying, I sometimes feel like I'm on another planet. But there are people, like the ones I worked with on this project, who care deeply. They make donations of time, tools, expertise and money. With their generosity this marvelous shelter at Cranberry lake was restored so that it may be used by park visitors for decades to come.

The Pigeon Racer Wins!

Soup Box Derby Day 2010

First Street in Langley becomes the race course for the Soup Box Derby every September. Years ago there was a restaurant in Langley called the Soup Kitchen which sponsored the first races thus the name Soup (not soap) Box Derby.

It didn't happen for many years and was revived almost a decade ago and continues to grow into a great family event for the comunity and every racer walked away with a trophy and a smile. And the crowd? Well, they were a happy lot.

The two finalists were the Mukilteo Yacht Club Racer, second place, and The Pigeon Racer, first place.

The Mukilteo Yacht Club racer, coming from across the water, placed second. Built to soup box speck and shaped in a wind tunnel, it was the expected winner to be.

But The Pigeon Racer here with Brad Hankins and Jimmy Cussen was the winner!

Jimmy and Brad's first team effort ends with smiles and success.

dbBrad.com
Irish Welding.com

The Pigeon Racer by dbBrad & Irish Welding

Jimmy and I have teamed up to make a car. Here it is in front of his shop. We were considering an electric motor run by two batteries and a solar panel and actually driving the cart to race day in Langley, 3 miles away. Limited turning radius and LPD would prohibit this.

The cart was truly design built. We started with a wood beam and two bicycles and a few sketches. We cut up the bikes, bolted the wheels onto the beam. When we saw problems developing we detailed a solution which always took our design down a slightly different path from doityourself to creativechampioncart!

Some plexi gleamed from the dump gets fashioned into a windscreen. Joe of FBI studios will be creating some graphics for our cart.

Jimmy and I will both be down at the pits early Saturday, with tools, to help fix any problems other carts may have so we can have a fun safe race day for all!

Special thanks to helpers like Michelle, Helo and Thom and Gracie. Without their help we may not have finished projects like the single lever for both back brakes.