Two Islands and a River!
Eco-Friendly Community on North Creek
near Bothell, Washington
Open House - Sunday, April 29th
Come visit the site, see the houses and see what lots are for sale!
Read Tom Campbell's article: The Clearwater Commons Story: Turning Low Impact Development into Positive Impact Development
See ongoing picture updates on our Facebook page!
I recently moved from my home of 24 years in Wallingford (in Seattle) to Clearwater Commons. My unit (#15) is finished and beautiful. I have a large, well-designed kitchen, a dining area, a generous living room, an office area and a powder room on the first floor. In addition the living room opens onto a nice deck and an expansive view of the wetlands. Upstairs are two moderate sized bedrooms, a full bath, laundry and storage. The floors throughout are a light bamboo (honey-colored) and lend a welcoming warmth throughout the house. There are lots of large well-placed windows including a skylight in the upstairs hallway.
I had a lot of questions before moving here including: How would I make the adjustment from city to suburb? What will living in community be like? What will I lose/gain by making this move? How about my two cats? How will they like make the adjustment? Will I regret making this big change in my life?
I've been here almost three weeks now and there have been some rough spots and some pleasant surprises. Finding my way around a new community and figuring out where to run errands (shoe repair, library, copy center, groceries, etc.) can be challenging. Especially when I used to easily walk to all these places. Also, it seems there's a never-ending list of chores that need doing. (Mulching , weeding, watering, planting, stacking scrap wood, host open houses, etc.)
However, there's a feeling of cooperation, growth and surprising results that comes of working together. We're learning just how much a small group of committed commoners can accomplish together. People roll up there sleeves and make slow but undaunted progress on laying floors and putting up lighting in their new home, planting, weeding and mulching the many gardens, painting walls and floors, maintaining the Mini-B as a welcoming center to the Commons, and turning out for open houses.
Day to day life is also full of pleasant surprises such as the chorus of frogs that sing a gentle lullaby each night and the sound of the bubbling creek that comes in through open windows. There are already many moments of communing with nature that I will always treasure. The other night I was sitting on a log next to North Creek and I asked myself "How do I feel about living here?" I looked around at the towering trees just beginning to grow new green leaves, heard the sounds of the creek, and inhaled deeply the fresh clear air, and thought "I've never had it so good." Just then a bald eagle flying low and slow, following the course of the river, flew straight toward me. Indeed! I've never had it so good.
Ditzs in the "B"
by Martha HurwitzApril 11, 2012We’re the Ditz Family: Eric Dolven and Martha Hurwitz (parents), Arlo Dolven (12) and Vera Dolven (9). We’re the ones building the red house (#5) at the Clearwater Commons. On March 9, we put our little Seattle home on the market and moved to the Commons to live in the Mini-B for a week or two. It’s been over 5 weeks now…and we finally and reluctantly are about to leave.The Mini-Bungalow (“Mini-B”)
The Mini-B is the 300sf passive solar bungalow built by Joe Giampietro and a group of students at South Seattle Community College. The Clearwater Commons bought the small green cottage and set it up as the start of our common house. You can see pictures of the move and read more about the Mini-B here and here.The Mini-B is already serving its role as Common House. Several afternoons or evenings each week, other kids and adults now or soon to be living at the Commons (or nearby) come over and hang out. As a family we have a sense of having moved to the Commons already—before our Seattle house has sold and our Commons house is built. Arlo and Martha on the couch/bed next to Eco-Heater panel
Living in the Mini-B is like spending a long vacation in a cabin in Mazama or a small lodge at Sleeping Lady. Sharon Garrity of unit #14 outfitted the B with a double mattress in the loft and a comfortable futon couch in the main room. The kitchen is fully functional with a combo convection oven/microwave, small fridge, two burner stove and more pantry storage that we can use. There’s a large closet, desk nook and bathroom with shower. Eric in the kitchen
The space is working remarkably well for us, given that our Seattle home felt way too small at 1000sf. The kids have gone from sharing a room to sharing a bed. The small space inside is mitigated by the vast space outside. Coming from a Seattle house lot, moving to 7.3 acres is thrilling. Arlo and his friends practice soccer moves in the pervious pavement parking lot (in the rain, no puddles to worry about); Vera and her friends check out how much the creek swells with rain. Eric is thrilled to go from his desk job (upstairs in the shop loft) to his prepping projects (downstairs in the shop) to his installation projects (throughout the new house). I love falling asleep to the nightly frog opera. Vera on the best ladder ever
One clear night, the temperature on the B’s deck was 32 degrees: inside was 70. The single Eco-Heater had been on for a couple of hours first thing in the morning—over the rest of the day the sun’s heat and the B’s design that kept the temperature balmy through the day. Tuning up the Heat Recovery Ventilator with Joe Giampietro
There’s been something surprisingly sweet about being so close together as we make this transition from our Seattle home of 15 years into the Clearwater Commons community. Once we’re in our new home, I’m sure we’ll think back to our time in the B with fondness. Looking at our new red house from the loft bed
Unit 5
Framing for unit 5 is finally wrapping up and we're beginning the finishing phase of construction. Final framing inspection happened today, 2/22 and a preliminary blower door test was scheduled for today as well. I wasn't on-site for either, so I'll have to update on that at another point.
This is getting ahead of myself, but I'm really excited about the floors I have going in. We're trying to source all of the flooring and trim from reclaimed or local hardwood. I just bought the last of the flooring. It's stacked and waiting in our storage shed.
About 700 square feet of Brazillian cherry I got from Second Use (www.seconduse.com) is slated for the downstairs: kitchen, dining room, living room, and den. It was reclaimed from a house, but they didn't know details of where it was or how old the wood is. Also stacked with it is about 400 square feet of beautiful reclaimed fir. That is destined for the upstairs. The master bedroom, closet, hallway, and the office/nook. This stuff is really a gem and there is a story behind it.
Apparently in 1897, some Norwegian in Poulsbo, WA decided to cut down a huge old growth fir tree, mill lumber from it and build a house. He did that, and built the house around the stump!! He even had to notch the stump out so the floor joists would not run into it. I'll get a picture of that in a day or so, but here is a photo of the house:
Even though this was Poulsbo in 1897 and electrification wasn't slated to occur for decades, the builder had the forethought to pre-install nob and tube. That way, when electricity did come, all he had to do was pull wire and plug in the lights. That's not unlike our units that are being built solar-ready. When timing is right, we will be able to install solar tubes or PV panels and tie that right back into the grid. Hopefully we won't have to wait decades before solar is in our price range.
Over the years, the house converted to a rental and it slowly went downhill, as much of western Washington did mid-century. To the point where it was occupied by crack addicts and the place got really trashed. The county condemned the house and sold it at auction. A young upstart bought the land and building for a song and had high hopes of restoring the Victorian house to it's former glory. But when the structural, environmental, and electrical engineers along with Kitsap county got done with an assessment, the tally came in way over the new owner's budget. He moved into a double wide and was about to call the demolition crew. I'm not sure exactly how, but somehow he heard about a fellow named Rod based in North Bend, OR who has a fledgling business as a materials reclaimer. A deal was struck; Rod would demolish the house and get to sell all of the building materials he could. I got some of the floors.
Back to our house, here is a close-up of that Brazilian cherry and fir:
The cherry is red, the fir is yellow. The cherry will be matched with a locally grown and milled madrona trim I just found on Vashon Island; the fir will be matched with other fir. Some of it from that same house, but there wasn't enough for the whole house, so I'm still searching. The photo doesn't do the wood much justice but they are really quite stunning. That's it for now. Until next time.
New York Times Permaculture Article
Construction will start on the first four new homes in late August or early September. Those of us who will be occupying those homes are excited to finally live at the Commons and have daily interactions with the land and all the plants and creatures that we will be sharing it with, as well as with each other.Several of us are interested in permaculture and will use many of its principles as we continue to discourage invasives and encourage the growth of diverse organisms, including us humans.Urban Bee Company, a local beekeeper that placed and maintains a thriving hive in our Seattle backyard, posted a great NY Times article about the growing interest in permaculture philosophy and practice.Speaking of hives, I plan to get some beekeeping training from Bob Redmond at Urban Bee Company so we can have a hive at the Commons. It will be fun to learn more about this ancient farming practice.
Passive House Prototype Available for Viewing
Today I went to the official opening for the
Mini-Bungalow Passive House prototype at the
Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA). It's a 300 square foot dwelling built by students at Seattle Central Community College's
Wood Construction Center. The building was designed to conform to
City of Seattle requirements for a "Backyard Cottage" as a Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (DADU) on a single-family lot. It is one of the first passive homes to be built in Washington State.l By contrast, over 20,000 have been built in Germany and Austria.
It is a lovely little space and is very quiet and tight. It includes an air exchanger that captures the heat and moisture of outgoing air and warms incoming air, ensuring a continuous fresh air supply. It also has R-52 insulated walls and ceiling, R-70 insulated floors, high performance windows that allow more passive solar gain than heat loss and almost complete airtight construction.
It was fun and encouraging to see an actual livable building using high-efficiency standards. I hope this is the beginning of a much bigger trend in the U.S. It certainly needs to be.
The Mini-B house will be on display for four to six months. It will be open from 10AM to 4PM on Sunday, January 30, as part of the
Home Design and Remodel Fair at PNA.
About 700 square feet of Brazillian cherry I got from Second Use (www.seconduse.com) is slated for the downstairs: kitchen, dining room, living room, and den. It was reclaimed from a house, but they didn't know details of where it was or how old the wood is. Also stacked with it is about 400 square feet of beautiful reclaimed fir. That is destined for the upstairs. The master bedroom, closet, hallway, and the office/nook. This stuff is really a gem and there is a story behind it. 
Even though this was Poulsbo in 1897 and electrification wasn't slated to occur for decades, the builder had the forethought to pre-install nob and tube. That way, when electricity did come, all he had to do was pull wire and plug in the lights. That's not unlike our units that are being built solar-ready. When timing is right, we will be able to install solar tubes or PV panels and tie that right back into the grid. Hopefully we won't have to wait decades before solar is in our price range.
