about
We are renovating our house in Berkeley, California. Our blog documents, dissects and interprets the building process. We want our house to be green and lean, meaning that we want a durable and efficient home that supports healthy, happy, and affordable living.
The house was built in 1903, raised 5 feet off the bare ground in the flatlands of South Berkeley. In October 2004, we moved into the 975 square foot “workman’s cottage” with full awareness of the faulty foundation, pest infestation, and lack of heat or insulation. We were won over by the neighborhod. We’re within convenient walking distance to mass transit (3 blocks to BART) and services (such as local legend Berkeley Bowl). Just check our walkability score. We’re invested in rejuvenating this rundown structure to serve its inhabitants for at least another 100 years.
In June 2005, we hired Geoffrey Holton and Associates to help us take full advantage of the foundation replacement as a green home renovation. We want to connect to the basic, sustaining forces of sunlight and water. We aim to use recycled and recyclable materials, carefully control our waste stream, and reveal the raw materials, structure and processes of our house in order to conserve materials and cost.
After the planning, approvals and permits, construction began in October 2007. We’ve had the critical support of an experienced contractor, Tom Larson, who led us through demolition, lifting, foundation and framing. We’re now hammering out the rest on our own, but we frequently lean on Tom for his generous and expert advice. In addition, we’ve had regular weekend volunteer support from our friend Jim Wheeler, whose skills, experience and generous tool lending library gives us the confidence and much-needed labor and know-how to get this house done.
MEET THE OWNERS
| Brian Kallay hurled himself head-first into the role of homeowner/contractor. When not working from home at his software engineering job, Brian is at the job site. But wait, home is the job site! Besides staying sane, one of Brian’s proudest accomplishments has been figuring out the intricate joinery details of the timber frame shed and then putting all the beams, posts and joists (100% salvaged timbers) together into a standing structure. | |
| Jennifer Natali put her recently acquired design skills to the test as we develop details for floorplan layouts, stairs, drainage, glazing, exterior siding, and other soon-to-be-discovered things that need to be put back together. She graduated from UC Berkeley’s Master in Landscape Architecture program in May 2007 and is glad to be working with real materials on a real construction site and making real decisions based on real constraints. Visit Jennifer’s website. She’s launching a career in eco-hydrology.
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GREEN FEATURES
- Layout that captures sunlight to directly warm the thermal mass of our insulated concrete slab foundation
- Salvaged 50% of the existing structure when many suggested that we demolish the whole building. The original 500 square foot structure that faces the street remained intact to fit within the neighborhood’s character and was lifted to created serviceable headroom for a new and dramatic groundfloor entrance.
- Solar hot water panels on the roof to serve our domestic hot water and radiant heating needs. 99% energy-efficient boiler serves as backup.
- Small footprint on a small urban lot, compact and energy-efficient over the building’s lifecycle, located within walking distance of regional mass transit and commercial district.
- Salvage of nearly 100% of the 100-year old redwood siding in a rainscreen exterior siding design that adds a secondary layer of insulation
- Reuse of locally salvaged material: Corrugated metal from a deconstructed dairy barn outside Petaluma used as exterior cladding, Bleachers from a South Bay high school used as treads for steel-framed staircase, finish for railings, and storage walls at entrance
- Replacement of single-pane aluminum windows with new low-E, insulated and double-paned glass windows (manufactured by Loewen) with Douglas fir interior finish and durable aluminum (not vinyl!) exterior finish
- All stormwater from the 400 square foot low-slop roof will be diverted for emergency storage and irrigation. All stormwater on site diverted to bioretention and infiltration basins.
- Maximize permeability of site by minimizing concrete paving (i.e. permeable driveway).
- Separation of demolition waste for recycling: all metal, all unpainted wood and all concrete to recycling facilities. All reusable materials either reused on site, sold on Craigslist, sold to local reuse centers, or offered free on Berkeley’s “freecycle” email group
- Insulation of entire structure where there was absolutely none before
- Dual-flush, low-flow toilets and water conserving appliances, energy-efficient and compact appliances
- Reuse of concrete form-board lumber and plywood for framing of the house
- Salvage, refinish, and patching of fir flooring on second floor (had been covered by three to four layers of various vinyl coverings)
- Engineered lumber for rafters and header beams
- Interior bike storage, easy and secure access to zero-emission transportation
- Low or Zero V.O.C. finishes, paints, and sealers
