“Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen.”
Stephen Wright quotes (American Actor and Writer, b.1955)
There is a wonderful children’s book called, How Will We Get to the Beach? (Luciani & Tharlet, 2000) that is a puzzle story about a young woman named Roxanne and the five things she wants to take with her to the beach. It’s a bright, delightful book that is fun for young kids, and the evolving story clearly shows how solving one problem doesn’t mean that all the other problems will politely follow suit. When thinking about the outside spaces for the house, there were similar things to consider: How will we get to the beach, and how does that impact where to put the doors or where the outside steps might land? We decided on big screened porches on the upper and lower floors on the south side, a porch with a shed roof over the entry on the west side, a small screened porch off the master bedroom upstairs on the north side, and an unscreened porch off the studio downstairs on the north side. There is a deck area between the first floor porch and the walkover on the south side, a walkover that travels from that deck to the beach, an outside shower off the walkover, and an octagonal gazebo down near the dune line. Each space and the pathway to it brought a series of different problems to solve and issues to consider.
Our decks and porches have been built primarily by Jim Berge, who works for Currituck Construction. Jimmy is really a deck specialist. He is absolutely meticulous in the way he puts materials together, and that pride clearly shows in his workmanship. On some sections, especially the walkover and gazebo, Jimmy has been working with Stuart, another excellent carpenter from Currituck Construction, but he seems to prefer to work alone. Both men take the time to do a great job, and they are good folks, too. We appreciate them and look forward to enjoying the spaces they have created for us.
Screened porches were a given from the very first conversations about the house. The climate on the Outer Banks lends itself to spending time outside much of the year, and we wanted ways to dine al fresco, for visiting children to have a place to play and for my Aunt Earlene to be able to smoke cigarettes without worrying about mosquitoes. We have envisioned the porches as places for puzzles, snacks, cups of coffee in the morning, glasses of wine in the evening and a lot of good conversation all through the day. The Currituck Beach Lighthouse is visible from the upper porch on the south side, and that will be a friendly beacon to watch in the night. Deciding to add porches off the north (i.e. stormy) side of any ocean front house can be problematic, so those are something of a calculated risk. Vince worked with Rick House on the structural bits and pieces to keep out the wind-driven rain and to protect the main house if the porches are lost. There will be many sultry summer days when the cooler breezes on the north side will be much appreciated. Admittedly, the north side porches were long a part of our imagined life while dreaming of the house, especially the one off of our bedroom with its image of the perfect place to start and end a day. The porch off my studio will not be screened, because I wanted one place to step outside in the shade without being closed in even by screening. We have one neighbor who is planning to call me every time there is a nor’easter to say, “I told you so,” regarding those north porches, and I am planning to call him with my own, “I told you so,” when the delicious north breezes turn that beach into paradise.
For many years prior to building our own house, Vince and I spent time a lot of time driving around looking at different styles of beach houses to get ideas. We also rented houses in the area where we are building both to be sure that our decision to live there was viable and to look carefully at what works well in a beach house and what doesn’t. We rented a house called Bear Inn that had a level walkover from the house out to the dune with an octagonal gazebo at the end. That was wonderful! Both things were integrated into the house plans, with the walkway and the gazebo as high off the ground as the first floor of the house. That will be fun! In the years of looking around, I began to notice a common quality in many houses that became a pet peeve: Lovely houses had oddly rough decks with rusty nails poking out. Vince began to look for a solution to that problem and finally found a product called Timbersil (http://www.timbersilwood.com) made from a process that combines yellow pine with glass. One huge advantage is that anything made from this material should continue to look good and function well for many years, especially with this use of Type 316 stainless steel screws. Timbersil is Class A fire retardant, unaffected by seawater or insects, and it is GREEN! Sounds too good to be true, but it’s real and a good choice for our environment. The budget for Timbersil ran out at the end of the deck, so the walkover and gazebo are made from double-treated MicroPro. (http://www.osmosewood.com/micropro/micropro.html)
Take a look at these videos to learn more about Timbersil:
One problem in attaching decks to houses is the gathering of moisture between the house and the deck at the point of attachment, causing rot. It is important to have an offset between the deck and the house to provide airspace. This airflow allows the house and the decking to stay dry, providing a much less vulnerable spot in the structure as well as a much less habitable place for insects. Maine Deck Bracket makes an effective product that all of the guys on our building site really liked. The bracket is made of a highly corrosion resistant tempered aluminum that will not rust and is securely bolted to the house. The number of brackets, type of bolts, and spacing of the brackets is determined by the load they must carry, so care must be taken in both the decisions and the installation. Here’s the link: http://deckbracket.com/
My two most important personal dreams for the house were the octagonal gazebo and a bathtub…both thoughtful spots. I know there will be other places to be comfortable with a book , a camera, or a journal, like the porches, the window seat, or even sitting on the steps at the window wall. I hope that will be the gift we can give our friends and family: a place to breathe easy and think good thoughts...and Vince’s wonderful food.
