Ranch House Revival: A Green Renovation from the Ground Up

Image Gallery With soaring oak columns made from fallen trees and original gray-green beams, the dining room evokes the feel of being in a forest. Photography by Barbara Bourne

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

When former scientist Suzanne Jones, a land conservation specialist, and her husband, Rob Elia, a mathematician, bought a home in Northern California’s rolling hills near Oakland, a green renovation was simply a no-brainer. “For several years I studied global energy supply, climate change and renewable energy as an academic, so I wanted to do something tangible that implemented the concepts behind my research,” Suzanne says.

The two had their work cut out for them: The 1970s ranch house had plywood siding, single-pane plate-glass windows with rotted-out frames, shag carpet, sheet vinyl and original appliances. Poor insulation kept the house cold in winter and hot in summer.

The pair spent a year getting a feel for the place and planning changes. “We got a better sense of where nice breezes blow on a warm summer day and where we needed windows to take advantage of them,” Suzanne says. “After being on the fence about where to locate the kitchen, that year of living there helped us understand how it should flow.”

When they were ready to manifest their plans, Rob and Suzanne contacted Cate Leger and Karl Wanaselja of Leger Wanaselja Architecture, a Berkeley firm that specializes in ecological design. “After meeting them and realizing how committed they were to aesthetics, we got excited,” Suzanne says.

“Our challenge was to integrate Suzanne’s and Rob’s ideas with the reality of the situation,” Leger says. She and Wanaselja were excited about installing solar hot water and photovoltaic panels. They used an energy-modeling program—a computer program that allows green building professionals to model a variety of energy-consuming systems and scenarios to optimize energy-efficiency—to help design the remodel.

Through the course of the project, the house was almost completely rebuilt. Suzanne, with no construction experience, acted as general contractor. “Working with subcontractors stretched my management skills and was psychologically demanding, to say the least,” she says.

In with the old

During demolition, Suzanne went to great lengths to preserve building materials. When they had to tear walls down to the studs, the crew pulled nails from the framing lumber so they could reuse it in nonstructural ways, such as in a “crazy fence” built from redwood trim and door jambs. “When you remind yourself of the energy and environmental impact of every piece of wood in your house, you realize it’s a sacred thing,” Suzanne says.

The decking, trellis and most of the wood—about 5,000 board feet—were salvaged or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified. Less than 1,000 board feet within the house was not available salvaged or from an FSC-certified source. “Suzanne showed incredible dedication and commitment,” Wanaselja says. “Everything that could be saved or recycled was.”