Mountain Lodge

I designed this stunning mountain retreat in 2009 and it began construction in late 2009. Building through a brutal winter was not fun for the crew and the home is so isolated that the crew lived on site in an antiquated cabin with limited facilities and entertainment opportunities.

 

Because the clients live in the mountains their home exterior products had to conform the FireSafe program enacted by the local building authority. Although their preference was for cedar siding, wood siding does not have a class A fire rating, so the clients chose a fiber cement siding in the colour New Redwood.

The natural stone is called Argillite and is quarried in Montana. The stone mason applied the stone in organic flowing lines to follow the striations of the mountain stone that sits across the lake from the home.

As accents, I was able to incorporate real cedar shingles on the gables and cedar soffits and fascia to still give them the mountain lodge look. The triple fascia adds visual weight to the gables and helps to balance the heavy stone at the base of the home.



I had the cedar shingles pre-stained in a natural cedar stain to compliment the siding.  We also supplied 10" round cedar logs for the deck supports and porch posts.




A local craftsman carved the top of the deck posts in the shapes of local wildlife that frequent the area. The far left is a mountain sheep, center is a wolf and the near right is a bear.





He also fashioned iron fireplace pokers to match each animal.
















 








My clients are very environmentally conscious and made a concerted effort to ensure that their home met the highest standards in energy conservation. Triple pane metal clad wood windows and 15" deep rafters dramatically reduce heat loss. They used polyblock foundation blocks which is a completely sustainable green building product. (see polyblock for more details)

Their choice of Envirofoam insulation, a soy based insulation that uses on average 4000 recycle plastic bottles for each home is 12 times more effective as an insulator than fiberglass and will help the clients save 50 - 80% on their utility bills. (see http://www.envirofoaminsulation.com/)

Indoors, the use of natural materials and reclaimed wood continues the environmental responsible theme.

The Rumford fireplace is the focal point of the large great room and features the same Argillite stone from the exterior. The interior and exterior stone of the chimney weigh over 60 tons and we had to specially engineer the floor joists to handle the weight.

The fir flooring came from an old shipping warehouse that was built in the 1940s. When the building was torn down, 95% of the materials were recycled.

All the kitchen and bathroom cabinets were constructed of recycled fir from an old barn built in 1897 in Crossfield, Alberta.  The wood was rescued just before the local fire department burned it down for practice.

The stair treads are made from the same recycled flooring and were left in a more natural state to add a rustic and old lodge feel to the home.

The hammered copper farm style sink carries a distinctive look and feel to the kitchen. All the sinks in the home are made of copper or bronze.

Note the hand cut tiles in the back splash. The mountain scene is an exact replica of the view of the mountains out the great room windows.






The slate of the back splash is also used in the front entry on the floors.

Above the propane gas stove a bronze frieze of a wildlife scene continues the nature theme of the home. Over the range is a copper vent hood.



A replica antler chandelier and cedar wood liner on the walls help continue the mountain lodge feel of the home.

 

 The carved log animals peek through the great room windows.

The home is completely automated and all systems can be accessed remotely through a computer. 

The  heat recovery ventilation system changes air out once every hour for 10 minutes with filtration systems, and because of the type of insulation used, this home has a marked reduction of dust accumulation as well as being very quiet and free of drafts.

 To see close ups of the exterior chimney see my earlier blog post  here.

For more information about this home or about booking a free design consultation please send me an email by clicking here. 

J'Anne Claridge

Senior Designer and Materials Consultant

Linwood Custom Homes

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