SF Participating in Living Small and a Eco-Friendly Project, WA USA

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Just to give a little background to the project, the cabin was built in the 60’s of mostly salvaged materials as a family getaway. Obviously a labor of love by someone who appreciated its remoteness and armed with either infinite wisdom or maybe just good fortune, chose a site that has so far stood the test of time.

Today, with regulations meant to reflect a much better understanding of the potential environmental impacts of building on a beach, initiating a new project like this would be all but impossible. The intrinsic value of this modest cabin is of course its location, and so the decision to save it incorporating the latest developments in environmentally friendly methods and materials was an easy one!

As with any building, things begin with a sound foundation. Unfortunately, in this case it was with pilings treated with toxic Creosote sitting on small unreinforced concrete pads sitting on the sand. On the pilings are natural log beams which support the floor joists. The pilings are being replaced with Square Foot plastic footing forms & 10” Sonotubes reinforced with corrosion resistant epoxy coated rebar supplied by Western Coating, set 4 feet into the beach sand. The natural log beams will be replaced with 6”x 8” beams built up on-site for logistical reasons.

These new footings will provide much improved stability in the case of an uncommonly high tide and at the same time be a long-term non-toxic solution.

A video of this project will be provided upon its completion.

Thank you to:

Shelly Solomon
Environmental Filmmaker/Restoration Biologist/Landscape Architect/ Water Quality Specialist
Sustainable Seattle’s 2010 recipient of the “Leadership in Sustainability in the Natural World” award for her film work
http://www.leapingfrogfilms.com/

Karen & Karyl, Sound Footings LLC