Beaver Hill Woodcrafters
Our builder, Matt Dolan, has a knack for finding the best people to contribute to his finished product- a home. If there is anything that epitomizes finishing a home, it is the cabinets that will house the items a family will use everyday as well as heirlooms.
We wanted something that had a rustic feel, was unique, well made, and made by a human. We wanted something that looked sturdy that did not contain particle board or staples and would withstand generations of use. Matt's source for cabinets is Beaver Hill Woodcrafters, owned and operated by Andrew Campbell. In the planning stages of our home we stopped by Andrew's shop located just outside the town of Plain (near Leavenworth in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains). Upon entering the shop, I saw not only power tools, but a lot of hand tools and lay out tools. By hand tools, I mean wooden hand planes, metal hand planes from another time, chisels, dividers, winding sticks, shop made fixtures. I also noted that these tools were not for special projects, but were used for the general production of cabinets. How I knew this is that I saw one of Andrew's employees working on finishing up a cabinet and using a hand plane for final fitting.
In the months since that initial visit to Andrew's shop he worked with us on the planning and what type of wood and finishes we wanted for cabinets in the kitchen, bathroom and a (very low tech - TV only) entertainment center. He had a lot of good ideas and was willing to incorporate ideas that I had. There were a few innovations that Andrew worked into the mix, such as toe kick drawers, perfect for storing flat items like platters, sheet pans and cutting boards. These were a great way to utilize otherwise wasted space.
We wanted alder with knots in the panels the rails and stiles of the cabinet doors were clear alder. We also wanted the drawers to be made of solid alder.
CabinetsAlder with book matched knotty panels and clear stiles and rails.
Knife drawerI did not want knives on the wall or in a block on the counter, but I also did not want them loose in a drawer. My solution was to use a magnetic strip to organize them in a drawer. This also shows the solid wood construction of the drawer.
The cabinets in the master bathroom and low tech media room featured a different finish.
Low tech media room.
Here is a detail of the cabinet top, flattened by hand plane.
Cabinet top.Flattened by hand plane.
Vanity in the master bathroom.
A couple of months after the installation of the cabinets I visited Andrew in his shop. He showed me a custom nightstand he was making for some clients and we talked about woodworking as he was handcutting some dovetails.
Hand cut dovetails.Andrew hand cuts dovetails for his client's nightstand.
Andrew got his start in woodworking in shop class at school. He began his professional career working on boats in Anacortes, WA. He started making cabinets when a friend recruited him to help in home building. Andrew is an outdoorsman and has worked as a climbing and rafting guide. He is an avid surfer, but now that he is living in Plain he travels to get his surfing fix. He related a story of making furniture in exchange for accommodations in Costa Rica (I'm sure surfing was involved). I'm also sure they got some great cabinets out of the arrangement. Andrew is very much in tune with woodworking traditions, generous with his knowledge and a true craftsman.
Andrew checks the alignment on the teeth of an Atkins dovetail saw.
Just in Time for Winter
It has been a while since my last post. We have since moved in and have been working at getting getting settled and things set up in the new home. One of these days I will have time to go through the house and do some interior photographs. For now, I have a few photographs of our first winter.
We were able to move into the house on October 30. There was still quite a bit of finish work and cleaning to be done, but it was amazing how perfect everything was laid out. Each window has a unique view. I feel blessed waking up every day in this home.
So far we have been blessed with snow. We've had more snow now than the entire winter last year.
Here are photographs of the house after the first snow.
I knew the driveway was going to be a challenge in the winter. Everyone had advice about how to deal with the snow and maintaining a passable driveway. Some people were very pessimistic asking, "What are you going to do in the winter?" Other people did not think the driveway was going to be a big deal. Some suggested building a garage at the bottom of the hill and getting snow mobiles or a snow cat to get to the house. Other people said I would have to chain all four tires on my plow truck. For reference, the driveway is 7/10 of mile long and has three hairpin turns. It is steep and gains a bit over 500 feet. I knew that I would need to get a snow plow for my truck. Hiring someone to plow that long of a driveway would be expensive, probably over a $100 per plow. We have had four big snows so far this fall, and winter just got here. With each big snow I have plowed several times to keep up with the snowfall. This is so different from the hot dry summer fraught with dust storms, drought and fire danger.
Initially the plowing went easily. I had set up the truck with a V-plow that allows me to configure the blade to plow to the left or right, in a V configuration or scoop with a controller as I plow. This plow was more costly than a straight blade. I am sure glad I went with this set up now. I am getting better with my technique and am now very comfortable running the plow. I put studded snow tires on the truck and have a set chains just in case. For the first couple of plows the studded snow tires were fine. The last storm had snow conditions that had me sliding backwards down the driveway after my first pass with the plow. I had to put the chains on and that solved the problem for the time being.
I also knew there could be an issue with snow storage. Where do you pile the snow that you have plowed? I designated each hairpin turn as a location to pile snow and snow berms would accumulate on the roadside. My snow storage locations are at capacity and the berms that developed on the roadside are so tall that as I ran the plow the snow would have no where to go, it would hit the berm and fall back on to the driveway.
We spent the afternoon with snow shovels knocking down the berms and manually pushing snow down the hillside so that there would be a place for snow to go on future plowings. It was a good workout!
Scientists keep saying El Nino is going to make for dry warm winter. I am not seeing it. Cold snowy winters and hot dry summers are what I have seen and what I love. We have had a chance to snowshoe hike on trails around the property and ski at Mission Ridge a couple of times on some of the best snow they have had in the last few years.
Methow Valley Blacksmith Dan Russell
Some time in 2004 we were in Winthrop, Washington and happened upon a blacksmith's shop featuring hooks, fire place tools, candle holders and a sundry of other hardware for furnishing the home. We were in love with the hand made items and bought a number of pieces. The shop has since closed and the blacksmith retired. About the same time of our first visit, Dan Russell was getting his start in the very same shop as a part time employee. Dan originally came to the Methow Valley as a biologist working for the US Forest Service. Dan took seasonal part time work in the blacksmith shop which appealed to him and over time wanted to learn more about smithing. After the old smith retired and shut down his shop Dan acquired some of the equipment and began to set up his shop and business.
Living in Twisp over this last summer while building our home in Wenatchee, we regularly shopped at the Twisp Farmer's Market. There was (and regularly is) a booth at the market with metal wares that looked just like the items we had seen and bought from the shop in Winthrop years ago, but it was a younger guy running the booth - Dan Russell. We talked to Dan for a few minutes and made the connection to the old shop and that he was the owner of Russell's Blacksmith Shop. We immediately knew that these items would be a perfect contrast with straight and angular lines of the house we were building.
We eventually ordered drawer pulls, coat hooks, towel hooks, key hooks, a strop hook, toilet paper dispensers and a poker for the wood stove for the new home. Dan also makes shelf brackets, unique candle holders, many items I have failed to list and he does custom work. Dan invited us to his shop to look at and discuss designs. He described his shop as looking like a castle.
When the items were finished I returned to Dan's shop to pick them up and take some photographs as he worked.
Dan utilizes and anvil and a cutting tool to cut hot metal.
Here Dan is using a power hammer to pound out the initial shape of a leaf pattern.
Again using a hammer and anvil to refine the leaf shape.
Using a fuller to put the veins in the leaf.
Dan uses a ball peen hammer to put a concave and convex shape in the leaf.
Pictured above are all the drawer pulls before they were installed on our rustic Shaker style cabinets. I will post some photos of all the items once installed. Below is a detail of the wood stove poker handle and hanging hook.
I am grateful to be able to meet some of the people responsible for making the things that will go into our home. These are the things we will touch every day and know the items are unique, made by human hands and with care.
Dan may be contacted by email at: [email protected]
Catastrophic Fire and Making Progress
Much has happened since my last post. We were in the midst of a catastrophic wildland fire (not in the area of the project, but in the area of our cabin where we are currently living). We were evacuated for about ten days of uncertainty. Meanwhile Matt and the various subcontractors have been making great progress on the house in Wenatchee.
On Wednesday August 19, we learned of a brush fire that started about five miles away from where we are currently living during the construction. Initially we thought the fire would be put out quickly due to it being close to the town of Twisp meaning there would be a quick and effective response. Updates indicated the fire was getting bigger. I heard air traffic above and went outside. I could see a large and wide column of smoke rising behind the ridge. We decided to pack important items and evacuate because five miles is not a lot of distance from an expanding fire in the dry conditions and gusty wind. There was no evacuation notification, it just seemed like common sense due to the proximity of the fire. We later learned that it was a Level 3 (GET OUT NOW!) evacuation for our area. We are in an area where self sufficiency and self preservation is up to the individual not some government entity. The entities were busy with the fire. Three US Forest Service Firefighters were killed in the initial response to this fire. This has been the worst wildfire season in Washington in recorded history.
We camped the first night at the house under construction in Wenatchee which is about two hours away from the cabin and the fire. I thought there was a good chance that we could be evacuated for a week or two, or possibly indefinitely if the fire burned far enough. The first night was calm, clear and pleasant. We sat in the back yard area of the house and looked up at the bright stars. The smoke was blowing a different way and there was little light pollution to get in the way of the view. After a night of camping we decided showers, beds and internet would be nice if this was a prolonged event. We spent the next ten days in a motel in East Wenatchee. The accommodations were Spartan. The people working there were very nice, but the quality of our stay was dependent on the neighbors of the night. Sometimes it was quiet, other times not. One night the upstairs neighbor(s) came in at about 2:00 am and it sounded like they were unpacking a big bag of oranges and dropping them on the floor one at a time. Other nights it sounded like there were parties starting at 11:30 involving boisterous men, women and children. I did not take too many fire related photographs. I really did not feel it was a good idea to be anywhere near the operations. There was enough media in the area with more access and a more legitimate reason to be . I did see a Sikorsky S-64 Sky Crain descend onto the Methow River as I was driving by. This helicopter is able to hover above as little as 18 inches of water and fill its 2,600 gallon water tank within 45 seconds using a snorkel to suck up the water. The cattle in the lower left corner behind the brush seem unconcerned.
Here is the edge of the fire that came over the ridge and within a half mile of our cabin. We were glad to be able to return to our unburnt cabin. We also deeply appreciate the hard work of the firefighters and emergency responders and especially the sacrifices made by those who were killed or injured while fighting this fire.
Heavy machinery is ready to clear fire lines.
Meanwhile much has been done on the construction project. The concrete floors were stained. This photograph shows the initial process. They will eventually be cleaned and sealed giving them a mottled and shiny surface.
Matt and Kyle (K&M Plumbing) drain and clean the cistern for the water system and make it ready for installation of the pump and switches.
Drywall was installed. Here is the future kitchen under the loft.
While drywall was installed inside, Ben and Hilario completed the siding. We wanted part of the house sided with lap siding and other parts to be sided with panels to add visual interest to the structure.
All the siding is a concrete product (Hardie) to be insect and rot resistant, and more importantly resistant to fire. Cutting it is a dusty process which requires personal protective equipment.
Ben has an audience of the dog gang.
Mike Ogle (Mogle Excavating) begins the construction of retaining walls between the house and garage.
Matt’s dog, Schatzi, takes a mud bath break near the cistern. It is always more amusing when it is someone else’s dog.
It has been an intense couple of weeks that have emphasized the importance of designing a house and surrounding land with fire prevention and safety in mind. We will be putting in sprinklers to maintain a defensible space, and I will continue to work on the surrounding forest to make it less prone to catastrophic wild fire.
Raising the Roof, and Other Things
Since the last post the roof has been installed, plumbing and electrical roughed in, and I got to work with boom lift to get some arial shots - no drone needed.
The roof was fabricated on site and then installed. The material comes in rolls and is formed into panels with special machinery, much like the process of making gutters to fit, if you are familiar with that. This cuts down of transportation cost and waste since the panels don't need to be shipped in their long form, and they are made to length per specification.
Here is the truck and trailer with the rolls of aluminum material that will form the panels for the roof. The entire roof is wound up in these rolls!
Here is the machine that forms the panels and automatically puts a bead of hot goo under the fold that forms the seam between panels, it then cools and forms a water tight gasket between the panels.
The panels are extruded and cut to length by the special panel making machine. This is all done to the specifications of the job.
The formed panels were stacked in and in front of the garage.
Joe, the sheet metal expert in the red shirt, gives some advice to Matt and Hilario on the installation of the panel around the chimney.
Each panel fits together and is held down by brackets. There is a water and ice protection membrane between the panels and roof sheeting.
Like the rest of the guys working on the house, Joe brought his dog. In this case it was a black Labrador pup named Remington. He did not have to do much that morning other than enjoy the sunshine.
Kyle, from K&M Plumbing, did a neat job of "roughing in" the plumbing. Interestingly, Kyle is one of the few people my dog liked right from the start.
Everything is well organized in the mechanical room.
The doors and windows were installed. We went a bit over budget on the windows, but having replaced windows twice in our former house, I know that spending a bit more on the windows that have not let us down will be worth it in the long run.
Matt rented a scissor lift to install the windows, but it was malfunctioning so the rental company brought him out a 60 foot boom lift. That is one cool piece of machinery. I wish I had one!
