The Reach Guesthouse

Project Description

This project was a systematic combination of ‘archaeological’ discovery, preservation, encapsulation and architectural re-interpretation. The original building was reduced to its barest hand hewn wooden structure, meticulously cleaned and sealed inside an airtight skin. A new jacket of R43eff Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) based insulation was added to the walls and roof.

One of the many challenges of this project was to get an airtight seal around the existing structure. To achieve this, we lifted all ground level floorboards, insert an Oriented Strand Board (OSB) layer and then relay. The old board and batten walls had to be pried loose, working progressively around the building so that we could seal the floor to the air/vapour barrier wrapping the house.

The front gable window was intentionally oversized to allow a glimpsing view of the original house within the new house. This year, an electric “hair dryer” (actually a tiny electric heater purchased at a yard sale) has been maintaining temperatures comfortably despite the minus-25 degrees Celsius temperatures outside.