Design-Build
This remodel involved moving a staircase and eliminating a trip hazard landing to open up the flow in the main level, and make it easier for aging in place. We also relocated the kitchen from a cramped corner, added an island and second prep sink, enlarged and added windows, and had Grimes Carpentry build and install a bunch of beautiful custom cabinetry and built ins. Architecture by ShelterBelt Design.
This kitchen got a full upgrade, including new appliances, cabinets, counters, backsplash tile, and a custom fabricated plaster range hood. Design by Annabode.
This deep energy retrofit started with gutting a 1960s house to add new wall and attic insulation and air sealing for maximized energy performance. We eliminated the natural gas line and transitioned to all electric heating and cooling and equipment and ERV, powered by rooftop solar panels. Other details include a new EPA certified fireplace insert, in-floor radiant heating, plastered walls and ceilings, a tadelakt shower, and integrated soapstone sink. We built a mudroom addition to connect the garage, laundry room, new back patio and expanded kitchen, and a detached outbuilding/barn for workouts and shop space. Design by Shelterbelt Architecture.
Thanks for checking in! Like many other small businesses around the country and the world, Living Craft is actively working to move forward with our operations during the Coronavirus pandemic.
We chose to close down our site operations early in the pandemic because we decided that we wanted to do as much as possible to slow the spread of the virus. Limiting exposure for ourselves, our clients, and our suppliers in order to flatten the curve are our best routes to alleviate the pain that this virus is causing to our communities and to medical professionals.
As an essential business in the state of Colorado, we are working on off-site operations, including our design services and project development and planning. We are still accepting new client inquiries and can aid you in your home project planning needs through videoconferencing and other remote communication methods.
Additionally, we are continuing our on-site work. In order for essential work to continue, we are putting safety protocols and training procedures into place which will allow us and our employees to navigate the challenges of staying safe and limiting our exposure while making progress on our projects. We strive to comply with social distancing guidelines and have implemented additional disinfection practices. For more information, we will be posting samples of our working protocols and job site checklists as we develop them.
As an added precaution, we are offering our employees extra paid sick leave in order to provide them with flexibility and to encourage them to stay home if they have any symptoms or possible exposure to the virus.
We hope that you are all staying safe and healthy during this challenging time.
This small garage conversion in North Park hill needed a facelift. We insulated, air sealed, updated the electrical and built a custom desk with cabinets below and shelving above. Closing off an old front door and replacing it with an energy efficient window also made the room feel more homey and spacious. Bamboo flooring and Limestrong plasters complement the deep blue poured concrete desk surface.
This hyper-healthy home remodel features an air-sealed envelope with a whole house ERV for continuous ventilation. We also used natural clay plasters on all walls and ceilings, and sustainable cork flooring. With 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, an office, and a fully featured basement bar, as well as two basement living areas, this new space allows an older home to take on a new life.
There’s a lot of information out there now about hemp construction. Since the recent passing of the 2018 Farm Bill in congress, which legalizes the growing of industrial hemp on a federal level, the hempcrete building technique has gained media attention.
But what do you need to know if you are thinking about your new dream hemp house or hempcrete remodel?
Many articles in the press have done a good job of explaining the use of hemp in hempcrete walls. This system involves hemp hurd being mixed with lime binder and then loosely packed into forms that are built around the wall framing. This is applicable in both new builds and remodels. There is lots of room to experiment, as well.
For example, the hemp-clay house we worked on uses the hemp portion of the wall solely as an infill which butts up to the inside of the otherwise more conventional wall. It serves as a thermal break and plaster substrate. Hemp can also be mixed into plasters, earthen floors, and used in creating blocks, with either lime or clay binders.
There are companies that make building products made with hemp that could replace plywood, batt insulation, and even wood framing members. For now, though, hempcrete (or hemp-lime, or hemp-clay) is the king of hemp building.
There are many benefits to building with hemp and hempcrete systems.
First off, the environmental benefits. One way hemp is better than other building materials that it may replace is that its production (farming) and processing (making the hemp plant into hurd) can require less energy, water, and time inputs. In fact, due to its long root system, hemp plants can actually improve soil health by increasing organic matter in soil over time and naturally loosening dense soils.
A hemp home may use less lumber, since the wooden frame of the house can be designed with greater spacing than if the home used more conventional insulating batts that are designed for 16″ or 24″ spaces. And since hemp grows much faster than trees, it requires less water and energy inputs, and a smaller area of land to produce an equivalent amount of material.
Hemp also replaces insulation. Batt insulation like fiberglass and mineral wool are manufactured products that need a lot of energy to create and ship. If local hemp hurd is used instead, the embodied energy is much lower. Also, hemp captures carbon from the air as it grows, which is then sequestered and stored in the walls of your building for as long as it stands. This means you get to start out with a carbon neutral or even carbon negative home from the beginning!
The rise of “sick building syndrome” is well documented. As homes get more energy efficient with tighter envelopes, indoor air quality can decrease. Particularly when the materials used to build and finish them and the products we bring inside are off gassing chemicals and VOCs, this can result in poor health, lowered cognitive abilities, and potential long term disease. In addition, mold can become a problem from condensation forming within wall systems or inside of poorly ventilated homes.
Hemp can help with this is a few ways. If you follow our plaster site, you may have read about how plasters can improve indoor air quality. The lime (or clay) binder in hempcrete is the same earthen material as in a natural plaster. Also, most hemp walls are finished using plaster on the inside.
Also, hemp won’t contribute to VOC and chemical off-gassing as it is a wholly plant based material which has been dried and processed before being mixed with the lime.
Finally, hempcrete walls are highly mold resistant. The lime binder has a very high pH while wet, which prevents mold. And, once it has cured and been plastered, a hempcrete wall regulates humidity and allows water vapor to pass through it in a way that won’t lead to any points of condensation within the wall. There are also no gaps within the wall through which air can move. This eliminates another source of moisture and mold, and contributes to the longevity of your building.
Growing hemp is seen as a healthier, safer alternative to other economic activities, like mining and large scale industrial agriculture. Because hemp requires less inputs of pesticides and herbicides than other crops like cotton, soy, and corn, it is a good candidate for replacing or joining into a crop rotation with these plants. Also, parts of the country whose economies were dependent on coal mining or manufacturing jobs could use the recent legalization of industrial hemp to carve out a new living. In Colorado, hemp and marijuana growing is already boosting the economy.
Since industrial hemp is a new crop in the United States, we are lagging slightly behind in the manufacturing of products using hemp and in the processing of the raw plant material. The equipment, factories, and machinery required for such a task are expensive and it will take time to catch up to other countries where hemp building has been popular for decades.
For example, when we built our hemp-clay project, using a unique and lower carbon version of hempcrete where clay is used to bind the hemp together in the wall instead of lime, we used imported hemp hurd. There are drawbacks to this, like increased embodied energy. However, the current consistency and quality of processed hemp hurd available locally (if it is available at all) meant that there would be more headaches and room for errors than if we bought from a part of the world where hemp building is well established. In those countries, the processing of the plant into the final product is seamless and reliable.
So, while we are still waiting for Colorado and the US to catch up with other areas of the globe, hemp building is coming to Colorado quickly, including in a studio project that we are starting later in 2019. Keep an eye out for updates!
This bathroom remodel took a small space and give it a luxurious new life. Traditional tadelakt lime plaster walls combine beautifully with modern features like a new tile floor, custom concrete shower pan, and upgraded fixtures.
We built out an unfinished basement using natural materials and systems that promote healthy indoor air quality and energy efficiency. Clay and lime plasters, a tadelakt shower, beetle-kill pine trim, barn door office partition, LED lighting, polished concrete floors and new fireplace and boiler round out the space.
Read about our process in the Case Study blog, over at our Learn page.
We were approached by a family that was hoping to have their currently unfinished basement built out to include a bedroom, bathroom, storage, living area, and home office/meditation space. This extra space will accommodate a family with up-and-coming teenagers.
Our clients already had a design for the new space and emptied the basement of most things, minus a piano which would be too difficult to move upstairs – so we built the basement around it! The bathroom design was tweaked a little by us and our plumber to make it easy to drain everything and provide required clearances and access for pipe clean-outs.
We also made some modifications to the office/meditation space, which ended up with a very cool and versatile corner of sliding barn doors.
Basements in older homes are notorious for being moldy, damp, and having stale air. Because we build healthy homes, breaking from the stereotype was necessary. This featured heavily in our materials selection and building method criteria.
This house has luckily not had any problems with bulk moisture in the basement (i.e. flooding). In order to create an air and vapor barrier inside the permeable concrete foundation walls, we used a polyiso foam board (a case of least-bad when it comes to foams). We foil taped all joints and caulked along the bottom. This barrier was completed using spray foam along the rim joist at the top of the wall to seal that area from air infiltration, both from outside and from the garage. Its very important to keep car fumes out of living spaces!
We also installed a small, two unit, balanced ERV, with one unit in the bedroom and the other in the living area, on the other side of the basement. These ceramic-core fans alternate drawing air in and pushing it out. The ceramic is a heat sink, designed to keep the air temperature inside the same and prevent energy loss.
A nearly silent, motion activated bathroom fan keeps excess moisture down. Clay plaster also plays a big role in managing humidity and keeping air quality high.
The existing wood-burning fireplace was replaced with a new gas insert. This is cleaner burning, and no more having to sweep dusty ashes.
Finally, we used a paperless drywall in all areas of the basement. This choice is mold resistant, since it’s actually the paper that provides the food for the mold spores. The only place that’s different is the shower, which we fully waterproofed using Schluter Kerdi products. Here, the longevity and mold resistance in the wet environment of a shower is valuable for a long lasting home. It will prevent unnecessary water damage and further remodeling work later on.
Because of the possibility of moisture, we used mineral wool batts within the 2×4 framed walls to insulate the basement further. This insulation is rot-resistant, since it’s basically just rock, turned into fibers. Up in the ceiling, we used cellulose in mesh bags to insulate the top of the outside walls, between each joist, before the drywall went in.
Extra insulation batts went into the interior walls surrounding the bathroom and bedroom. This will allow the family to use the space in multiple ways without disturbing each other if someone is sleeping or showering.
As part of a healthy indoor environment, all the surfaces are treated with VOC-free finishes. Custom clay plasters cover all the walls and ceilings except the bathroom. The bathroom has a lime plaster on the walls and ceilings, and a groutless tadelakt shower, which will never have issues with mildew in grout lines.
All trim is custom milled beetle kill pine. Doors are from used building supply stores, and are all solid alder wood. All of the wood in the home is treated with a VOC-free and plant based oil finish.
The floor is the original slab of the basement, polished and tinted and then sealed. This is easy to keep clean, and will also keep air quality higher than if we’d used carpet. Area rugs can be used in places of high traffic or where you might be walking barefoot.
This family was great to work with and be around, as we worked in their home. We’re excited to see how the space lives up to their needs. We are glad that this basement offers them some extra living space, without having to worry about the problems of unhealthy indoor air quality.
Check out finished photos of the job over at the projects page.