After building 40+ green homes in the Asheville area, we took everything that we learned, loved, collected, and set to designing ourselves a Japalachian home. Our Architect, Michael McDonough, helped us create this fusion of Japanese aesthetics, and Appalachian sensibilities. We needed our home to not only fit our family of four and our company of 25 craftsmen, but also act as a teaching tool to encourage our clients to build small, efficient, healthy homes that use as many locally sourced materials as possible. After a lot of prioritizing, we ended up with a 2,250 s.f. home that effectively met all of our goals. To lighten the energy consumption of our passive solar home, we installed a geothermal heat-pump, a 6+ KW Photovoltaic system, and 2 solar-thermal panels to provide the majority of our hot water. Our clients/friends at Vandemusser design independently designed and tested all of our insulation and mechanical systems to make sure that our home was built as efficiently as possible.Over the years we collected slabs of wood from trees taken down on our jobsites. Before the trim started, we loaded up trailers with all of that wood and moved it to our basement. Between the Black Walnut, Spalted Maple, Locust, White Oak, Cherry, and Box Elder, we were able to trim out the entire first floor, and build all of our wood counters. For siding, flooring, and porch timbers we used locally harvested White Oak. We chose to stain the siding with our own handmade concoction of rust and vinegar to give it an aged barnwood look. On the inside of our home, we made sure that the air quality was as healthy as possible. Before insulating, we sprayed down all of the framing lumber with about 30 gallons of mold-killing concentrated hydrogen-peroxide. We kept any materials containing urea-formaldehyde out of home, and finished all wood, walls, and floors with low-to-no VOC finishes.With all of the thought that went into our systems, finishes, and air-quality, the aspect of our home that has the greatest impact on our day to day lives is its general design, and its relationship to our site. We have a never ending parade of kids, clients, Jade Mountain craftsmen, and friends flowing in and out of our space. Our space works just as well for an intimate gathering as it does for a Housewarming party with 350+guests!
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just to let you know that the amazing first photograph was taken by bill schafer http://www.photographybybillschafer.com