Reclaimed fir and corrugated metal
Author: sdarbycustombuild
Diamond Hip, Straw Bale House
Tile and Glass Shower, Choteau, MT
Our first project of 2018. This was a complete remodel of an existing 7×10 bathroom.
Mountain Front A-Frame Renovation, Choteau, MT
Our friend transformed her 1960’s seasonal cabin into a year-round mountain home this year. For a small building, it offered large challenges: mice were the only users of the cabin in recent years; the walls and roof were uninsulated; plumbing, wiring, windows, doors, siding, roofing and flooring all needed to be replaced. It all happened.
She deserves credit for doing much of the work herself and most of the content in these photos is her handiwork. Our tasks were to provide some windows and build an insulated roof system.
Click on any of these for a close-up:
The tub wasn’t there when we left the job…
Work underway:
Before work:
Bathroom Design Tip: Choose Your Faucet First, Then Choose Your Sink
We learned this practical design tip from our plumber last week as our current bathroom project got underway: choose your faucet, then choose your sink.
Our plumbing contractor, Steve Howard, says this is because it is easier to find sinks to fit your style of faucet than the other way around.
There is so much work in designing a successful bathroom. Steve’s tip saved us time and possibly headache in the sink department. Try it on your next project.
Dave’s Exposed Fir Framing
Exposed framing can be a pleasure to live with. Not only is the wood’s color and texture beautiful, but there is something about seeing the structural parts of a house – the individual pieces working together to keep the weather off one’s head. Comfort, maybe, in the apparent strength of one’s shelter. Maybe it’s the depth in open framing and the shadows it creates. You decide. Here are a few photos of Dave’s fir sub-roof and knee braces:
Below there is a small piece of wood mortised under the beam to the left. It is also mortised into the post on the right and acts as a spline, or separate tenon:
Dave’s mudroom addition under the roof. The pet door is dedicated to Remy, yellow lab and top bird dog.
Douglas Fir Porch Header, Posts and Rafters
Back to our current project this week: Dave’s exterior renovation. Dave wanted a large covered porch open to his back yard and liked the idea of leaving the framing members exposed. So we used rough Douglas Fir for its structural strength and aesthetic beauty when oiled.
The American Wood Council tables are an excellent resource to determine the sizing of fir beams, rafters and joists. The AMC calculator factored our spans, dead load (e.g., how much the roof weighs after it’s built), regional snow load figure and species (fir) and told us to use a 6×10 beam and 2×8 rafters.
Lee sets up a catch block before we lift up our 6×10 beam.
Tenons cut into the post tops resist outward force from the roof:
A modest overhang protects the beam ends:
Lee installs rafter blocking while Corlene applies linseed oil to the entire framework:
Next we’ll show you what it looks like with knee braces and 1×10 decking.
Exterior Renovation, Choteau, MT
Here’s a project currently under way:
Part of this home’s story is told here in rich evidence of past openings, building dimensions, roof lines, available building materials, insulation attempts and workmanship. There’s Dan’s signature above the old window – not sure who Dan was. Walls like this are pure art.
For a time, it looked like this:
Too bad the window’s gone but it is the north side, and it’s Choteau, Montana, wind and bad winters and all…
The next chapter in it’s history is being written now. Note the layer of rigid foam insulation wrapping the house under the new siding. Owner Dave (no relation to Dan) says it’s noticeably more comfortable inside already.
Wrap Around Porch, Choteau, MT
This is Sam and Noy’s new porch. It is covered by a roof on the west side and open to the skies on the south. We built this out of Douglas Fir entirely. The posts, beams, knee braces, rafters and subroofing (exposed 1×10’s) are left rough from the mill to add texture to the warm color of fir. The deck planks are conventional fir 2×8’s, smooth to walk on and stout. This porch faces the Rocky Mountain Front, and may be one of the best places in the world to sit and have a sandwich. Sam slings his hammock here.
We recalled our timber frame heritage to attach knee braces. Exposed joinery and curved braces go a long way to enrich the finished product:
Front Range Kitchen
Here’s a kitchen taking shape for Sam and Noy’s renovation. Right at the start of the design phase they said, “No upper cabinets, just windows!” So we gave them a bank of square windows that wrap around the kitchen corner and cap the hand-painted tile backsplash. We built in a huge butcher block under the windows to handle the knife work, and a wide bar top serves everyone who wants to eat, drink and chat with the cook. The six skylights above add ample daylight to the room and are outfitted with solar-powered electric blinds. Press a button on the remote, and the blinds power themselves open or closed, keeping things cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
We had some rusted metal left over from the roof so we paired it with cedar to finish the peninsula:
We like rusty metal so much that we edged the countertop with it (we coated the metal with polyurethane so it wouldn’t rub off).
DARBY CUSTOM BUILDING 