Building Better Homes

Gabriola Getaway: Renovation Rebuilt with Rustic Charm

Some projects which builders face are comfortable and familiar.  Some have a few challenges that cause some head scratching.  And every so often a project comes along that throws you so many curve balls and unique challenges that you almost have to reinvent your standard techniques and processes.  A recent rebuild of a log home on Gabriola Island forced us to do just that.  However, rather than backing away from the project, we buckled down, put in some long (very long) hours, and created a cozy and charming getaway for some lifelong Ontario residents looking for an island retreat on the West Coast.

It all started with an old log cabin that had been transplanted onto a several acre lot in the centre of Gabriola Island.  The land was a virtual paradise, with several outbuildings for creative pursuits, a terrific garden, a small pasture and stable, and beautifully spaced cedar trees throughout.  It was restful and natural.  The log house itself was a bit dark, cramped and dingy, but it was also filled with endearing, hand-crafted touches throughout.  It was also plagued by the many energy pitfalls of typical old log home.  Our challenge was to renew the log home with a more spacious, sunny interior, add more modern ammenities, make it more energy efficient and implement a reliable and sustainable water system.  The catch?  They didn’t want to lose any of the character or rustic charm of the original home.

The homeowners were lucky enough to have a talented family member do the professional redesign of the floor space to meet the new requirements of the space.  We worked with the clients and designer to carry on this vision for the charming space.  Part of that process is generating a full list of specifications to ensure every detail was thought through by both builder and client.  This forethought eliminates the uncertainties and the chance of disappointment with the finished project.  The list of specifications included in-slab heating for what would eventually be finished concrete floors, and a dual purpose boiler to provide radiant heat for these floors as well as domestic hot water demands.  Also, an extensive rainwater collection system was devised, which would be efficiently re-used through an innovative greywater system called Conservepump, developed by a local Nanaimo company IDUS Controls.

So, we went to work.  As with any country renovation, we disturbed several ancient rodent burial grounds within the walls (thank goodness for respirators and rubber gloves!) and suffered through more cobwebs and racoon soiled attic  insulation than any group of people should ever have to endure.  However, the real trouble came when it turned out that the existing foundation was not going to work with the new floors and radiant system, and further, the additions to the home that had been added by previous owners actually had no foundations for the walls whatsoever.

This is one of those tough times as a contractor when you have to break the news to the client that an improbable and unexpected discovery during the renovation process is going to add substantial cost to the budget.  As contractors with integrity, we strive to stay on schedule and keep costs on track, and we want  things to run smoothly for the people that provide us with our livelihood.  But sometimes things reveal themselves during the renovation that nobody expected to find, and one has no choice but to deal with them.  Fortunately, we had the trust of our clients, and they believed that we would ultimately create a safe and welcoming home-away-from home for them.

As can be seen from the photos, we undertook the herculean task of installing a new foundation for the entire home, bit by bit.  We even had to create some incredible temporarily “floating” rooms to install proper foundations under the small additions!  After all the foundation remediation was performed, however, we had re-built a home that was strong and stable.  We had a clean shell to get down to the fun stuff!  The floor was well insulated to retain the heat of the radiant system, which went in on top of the insulation.  The concrete floors were poured, the new walls framed, several new efficient fir windows and doors were installed, and new insulation was installed in many of the walls and the entire attic and ceiling space.

   Next was the rainwater system.  Luckily the home already had a new metal roof, which is required by code if one is collecting water for potable uses.  This rainwater drains down to collection tanks lower down on the property, which in turn have a variable speed DC pump powered by two photovoltaic (solar) modules in order to pump that water up to another set of cisterns higher up on the property.  In this way, with the water stored higher on the land than the house, even if the power goes out on Gabriola Island (which it frequently can), the clients can still get gravity ged water to an outlet at the house, without relying on electrical pumps to provide water.  At the house, the water goes through a particulate and UV filter which makes it perfectly clean and drinkable.  With so much invested in using rainwater when the well is unproductive, it would be a shame to waste any of the effort used to get it.  This is where the greywater reuse system enters the picture.  The water used to flush the two toilets in the home is supplied by the bathroom sinks, tub and shower.  This mildy soapy water is first filtered in the greywater recycling system and is certainly suitable for re-use in supplying the toilets and can save a great deal of water- a precious resource on the Gulf Islands- over the course of a year.

So, between the new insulation and air-tightening of the home, the in-floor radiant heat, the several efficient windows and doors installed, the rainwater collection, the photovoltaics, and the greywater re-use system, the house had some more updated and more sustainable “guts.”  Now it was on to re-creating the rustic charm that the clients wanted to retain!

   The new floor was to be finished concrete, but the clients wanted it to look “natural, almost stone-like.”  So, we set to grinding the floor to get rid of the homogenous grey that plagues concrete, by exposing some of the rock embedded just beneath the surface.  This immediately gave the floor a salt and pepper aggregate look.  But, it needed some colour, and some variety on a broader scale.  We proposed to use two different colours of acid dyes which aren’t designed to blend smoothly.  By warning the clients that staining concrete can be unpredictable, we were informing them of the possible risks.  By knowing we wouldn’t do anything counter-intuitive to their wishes, the clients trusted us to get them as close as possible to the the natural looking patina they were hoping for.  So, we dyed the floor late one night, and the result astounded even us!  The patterns the acid formed as the two colours worked with and against each other were stunning.  In areas it was almost as though frost-like patterns emerged, but overall, the floor almost looked like it grew into place, rather than having been set there by workers.  Because the results were so profound, the clients were a bit startled at first!  One loved it immediately, and over the course of a few days, the other client came to realize that the floor was actually a unique work of art, and probably one of the new centre points of their natural setting.  We couldn’t have been more pleased with the results, and can’t wait to get the chance to perform the technique again on another project.

After the floor, we were able to move on to installing the loving touches that natural wood deserves.  By using much of the wood which we saved and reused from the original interior, and blending it with new fir material, we hand scribed trim and bases around the log walls and openings.  We modified two antique dressers to make them suitable for use as washroom vanities housing the sinks.  We were even entrusted with turning the panels from one of the owners’ own crib into an endearing headboard for their bed.  It was an honour to accept the challenge of taking such a deeply personal object and making it a part of the owners’ daily life again.  By ensuring that nothing was done to drill holes in, nail, or otherwise alter the crib boards in any way, we were still able to creatively determine a means to turn these crib panels into a part of their comforting bedroom suite.

In the end, we all went through unique challenges, stresses, and rewards: from clients to workers to management.  But ultimately we created a summer getaway for two of the loveliest clients we have ever had the good fortune of teaming up with.  They have a home which they dearly enjoy and in which the old and new pieces complement one another perfectly.  And we have the satisfaction of knowing that we tackled surprises and challenges beyond anyone’s expectations to create a home that is a treasure to owners and visitors alike.

It’s often amazing how much the relationship between builders and clients relies on trust, in both directions.  But because we recognize this, we remember that of all the things we create for clients, trust is the most important thing we build every day.

Please check out the entire gallery of images from this Rustic Gabriola Rebuild and let us know what you think in the comments section!