NAHB Gold Certification

All the hard work and attention to detail renovating this older ranch style home has paid off! By building double exterior walls, using energy efficient windows & doors, building materials, finishes, insulation, heating & cooling systems, water conscious plumbing fixtures, and water conscious landscaping we have made the building much more energy efficient.

From 235 East Braemere

We received a NAHB rating for the residence at 235 East Braemere of GOLD! This is the highest rating offered by the National Association of Home Builders for Green Building.

From 235 East Braemere

Congratulations & thanks to all of our suppliers, subcontractors, and verifiers who worked together to make this possible!

Most of all, thanks to our Clients for having the insight & good conscious to pursue a more “green” lifestyle.

Our Clients can now enjoy the benefits of a home that is more comfortable, energy efficient, and will have less of an impact on our environment throughout the life-cycle of the building.

~Tad Jones

2601 West Woodlawn

2601 West Woodlawn Avenue | Moving the Garage

December 6th, 2009

We moved the Garage from 2601 West Woodlawn this week. We developed an agreement with a local building recycler to remove the garage in exchange for the price of demolition. This was great for everyone involved! We were able to cut the demolition of the garage from our budget which saved the client quite a bit of money. The movers used hydraulic jacks to elevate the garage onto a trailer and take it to a site where it could be sold to someone who could use the building. In exchange for the moving fees we donated the structure. It is great to see the building being re-used instead of ending up in the landfill!!

Garage Movers at the Site

Lifting the Garage

Loading the Garage onto the Trailer

Garage Supported by Trailer

Garage being Moved Away!

Moving the Garage off the Slab

Moving the Garage off the Slab

Garage Mover's Big Dog

We lifted the garage and then moved it around 4:00 in the morning so that there would be less traffic on the roads during the move. We left the garage totally wired and with an operable garage door. Hopefully it will be purchased by someone who can put the garage to good use.

Material to go in the Trailer

Joel | Smashing Concrete

Pulling out Old Stem Walls | Ground not as Frozen as we Thought | Whew!

John Brown's Dumptruck | Ready to recycle concrete!

We will replace the old single car garage with a new structure that will accommodate two cars and include an attached woodworking shop. Our client is a woodworking craftsman & the new shop will give him a great place to make art from natural materials. We are matching many of the existing details of the existing bungalow style home with ornate brackets and exposed rafter tails.

~Tad Jones

Watercolor | Black Cliffs

I rode my bicycle out to the Black Cliffs this weekend with my bike trailer in tow along with some art supplies. I did this watercolor painting looking up Car Body Canyon. The Black Cliffs are made up of columnar basalt rock formations. There were small patches of snow on the canyon rim which is depicted on the right-hand side of the painting. A small waterfall was trickling over ice in the very center of the canyon and every once in a while I could hear pieces of ice break off and crash to the rocks below.

Jefferson House

Below is a home we designed for Wallace Custom Design and Renovation.  The home was designed for Boise's East End Historic District and much effort has been made to ensure that the scale and massing of the home respects the surrounding neighborhood.  Please click on the image below to see more about the home & the design process.

2106 N. 21st Street 3D Model

I have been experimenting with the ArchiCAD 3D sketch engine on a modern house I designed for 2106 North 21st Street in the North End.  You can see a 3D movie that I made using the sketch engine by clicking the image below.

12344 Upper Ridge

Our website has been updated to show the building process and the finished home that we designed in Hidden Springs at 12344 Upper Ridge.  Special thanks to Sam Jordan of Sun River Custom Homes for making the project possible.  To view the latest updates for this project, please click on the the image below.

215 N. 24th St. Demolition

Demolition started today on our project at 215 N. 24th street.  The project is directly behind our house so I have the unique opportunity of documenting the progress of the project fairly easily.  Click on the image below to view some photos taken of the early demolition process.

30th Street Extension Public Presentation

There will be an Open House from 5:30 to 7:30 at Whittier Elementary School at 301 N. 29th Street in Boise, Idaho on Tuesday, October 28th. Please come out to see the latest plan and have a chance to voice your opinion about a project that will have a huge influence on our community. There will be two formal presentations starting at 6:00 and at 6:45. For more information on the project and a link to the Boise City website, please click on any of the renderings below (Renderings of the 30th street project are from the Boise City website):

Green Building Materials

There is a lot of hype about building "green" these days.  So much that it becomes difficult to decipher who is just jumping on the band wagon to make a quick buck and who is in it for the right reasons and proven their commitment to the green movement.  Below are some websites that have done their research and provide great options for green building materials.

http://www.naturalbuilthome.com/

http://www.thenaturalabode.com/

Artwork by Deb Jones Yensen

As many of you know my Mom, Deb Jones Yensen, has been attending BSU to achieve her Master of Fine Arts.  I am extremely proud of her for overcoming the daunting task of going back to school and completing the amount of work it takes to achieve such a goal.

This first piece is a collaborative work which she and five other artists produced after reading an article on what it takes to feed our world.  My Mom produced the engraving of the cow.  Below is a quote from her. 

"I engraved the cow.  We had to read an article about feeding the world; the article stated that most grain and corn is used to feed cattle, for people to eat, instead of feeding people the grain and corn."

This second piece is a part of the Oregon Ink Spot exchange project and is entitled "crocus".

The work she produces is very close to nature and has a lot of empathy and sensitivity.  I am excited to see what she will produce next.  Keep up the great work Mom!

~Tad

 

Shipping Container Architecture

I was looking into this type of building for a commercial project we are working on.  I think it is an interesting and viable method of construcion.  The shipping containers are coming into our country literally by the shipload.  They are standard sizes and can be stacked in either a horizontal or vertical orientation.  Their modular nature has high dimensional tolerances as they are made to be stacked tightly onto ships for transport.  In my mind they seem much like giant lego blocks.  Using our 3D drafting software makes it really fun to place the containers in different configurations and create interesting interior spaces that reflect contemporary sculpural exterior design elements.  The containers can also be easily transported over land by either train or semi-truck tractor trailers.  The initial construction process is fast as the units are flown into place with the use of a construction crane giving an instant "shell" building ready to receive interior finishes and cut in windows and doors.  The energy required to produce this building material has already been spent which makes the process more environmentally conscious.  Below are some links for more information on integrating shipping containers into our built environment: