My work since May has been helping my good friend Greg build a house for his parents in Durham, NC. This is an urban infill project, on a site in a downtown neighborhood that has been empty since the 60's when the original house burned down.
The project is happening in two phases, with the first third of the house being built and largely completed before we begin the rest. This first part contains the kitchen, bathroom, informal eating/transition space, and back deck. To the front of the house, we will be adding a living room, two bedrooms, and mudroom/entry room later on. The first phase is built mostly conventionally, with a concrete foundation, stud framed walls, and a metal roof. Nothing too unusual...except for the earthen floors, clay and lime plasters, ferrocement shower, and handmade hardwood cabinetry. Here are a few photos of what we've been up to this summer, hopefully I'll manage to get some more photos up soon.
The house will have a fair amount of concrete details, such as this threshold. It's a wonderfully flexible material that will contrast with the natural materials and give the house a more modern feel.
Here is our finish plaster test wall. The plasters are composed of varying amounts of clay, lime, and sand. Some contain finely chopped straw. We'll watch for cracks, weathering, and test hardness and dustiness before choosing our mix.
yeah this is amazing i wish i could be doing this with you!
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