In the dozen years since moving from Seattle to Rye, New Hampshire, Chris and Susie Reaney had driven by 691 Bracket Road countless times – had marveled at the 130-year-old home and barn’s New England charm and striking stateliness.
As the years wound by, the Reaneys became so enamored with the property that, when its owners finally put the home up for sale, the couple jumped at the chance to move their family of five into a home they hoped might one day serve as a true testament to energy efficiency.
“We always noticed that it wasn’t occupied for most of the year, and we always talked about how great it would be to live there,” recalls Susie Reaney. “So we were excited and elated when it finally went up for sale – it was either go for it, or regret it later.”
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When homeowners look to create their green dream home, they tend to take one of two, very distinct paths: start from scratch entirely, or undertake a comprehensive, top-to-bottom renovation. Unfortunately for the Reaneys, choosing the latter route – while the only real choice – was soon met with a hefty dose of reality: having to rebuild a portion of the 130-year-old structure from the ground up.
Enter Eco Sound Builders, a Portsmouth-based company specializing in green building and renovation projects throughout the Seacoast region. While principle partners Ethan Korpi and Peter Robie had negotiated their fair share of challenging builds and tricky renovations over the years, the two had yet to encounter a project of this magnitude since teaming up to launch Eco Sound’s Southern New Hampshire division in 2008.
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“This is the first of its kind that we’ve tackled here on the Seacoast,” says Ethan Korpi, whose father, Roger Korpi, still runs the company’s Northern division. “It certainly presented its fair share of challenges, but those are the kind of projects we feel like we thrive on.”
Shortly after breaking ground, the Eco Sound team realized that part of the near 3000-square-foot house’s middle section – stretching from the barn to the living room and included both the kitchen and the dining area – would have to be torn down and re-built completely.
Fortunately, the team was able to reconstruct the section so as to reflect its original look and feel, while turning what had become something of a sieve – the home hadn’t been lived in during the winter for close to 50 years – into a showcase for 21st century green techniques.
Instead of sectioning the studs 16-inches apart (standard practice for most homes), the Eco Sound team put a full two feet of space between each board, which allowed them to include more of one of the home’s green signatures: a combination of open and closed-cell sprayfoam insulation largely considered some of the best on the market.
The Green Cocoon, Inc., a company that – like Eco Sound – has staked a claim to the fast-bourgeoning building efficiency market, installed the insulation. The two companies met through their involvement with Green Alliance, a local businesses union that connects green-minded consumers and businesses throughout the region.
Combining hyper-effective but pricey sprayfoam with a brand of lighter – but similarly green – recycled newspaper-based cellulose, The Green Cocoon was able to weave a common green thread to the two, functionally disparate wings.
“When we first came on to the project, we thought it was going to be fairly small,” recalls Green Cocoon’s Candace Lord. “But as the scope of the project got bigger and bigger, it was clear that they needed something more comprehensive. Which was a challenge. A fun challenge, but still a challenge.”
Though the home’s green features are fast rounding into shape, it remains, at this point, mostly shell and skeleton. Still, the Reaneys claim that being able to witness the entirety of the process – from gutting to final touches – gives them a unique appreciation for the scope of the project.
“Unfortunately we haven’t found any 1862 war bonds in the walls or anything,” jokes Chris Reaney. “But it’s been fun watching it get taken down to ground zero and built back up, in part because we know it’s in such good hands.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt having Eco Sound around to identify the most accessible green targets: Whether it’s the state of the art ventilation, super efficient (and shockingly small) basement boiler, universally weather-tight shell, or forthcoming low-VOC paints and solar hot water system, the Reaneys are attempting to make efficiency the mantra.
“It’s all about getting the right people on board – the people you trust and have worked with in the past,” notes Peter Robie. “The building team has a lot of moving parts that have to work together.”
In spite of some truly massive overhauls, the house – first erected around the time builders were beginning to transition from post-and-beam to saw-cut wood – has managed to retain it’s distinct antiquarian flavor. When the Reaney’s took their first close look at the property, the barn – contemporary to the main quarters – displayed about its walls numerous 19th century tools and wares left virtually untouched for decades.
But the most charmed second life is being reserved for one item in particular: a massive early 20th century bathtub which Susie Reaney – after finding it at a local consignment store – has taken to painting and preparing for including in the second floor master bathroom, and which currently sits upside down on the front porch.
“They don’t make them like this any more,” Reaney chuckles. “It definitely fits with the history and ambiance of the house.”
Ethan Korpi says he and his team hope to complete the renovation by mid-fall, just in time for winter to give the home’s overhauled energy system its first true test. Between now and then, the family – which includes three teenage boys – will figure out what to do with the spacious, half-finished basement. There will be much rummaging through the barn, where there’s a chance the family will stumble across some ancient ephemera not unlike the one Chris Reaney showed me right before I left the job site: an old notebook, dating back to 1890, detailing some of the home’s financial records.
As Reaney flipped through the barely weathered pages, an air of palpable pride broke across his face, a look that suggested a steadfast recognition about his home’s dual legacy – once stately, long-neglected, and now poised to prove that nearly any home, regardless of size or stock, can be re-imagined to achieve a goal that would’ve played well even way back then: conservation.
“The hope is to eventually get this thing as close to off the grid as possible,” Reaney says. “That would mean a lot.”
Learn more about Eco Sound Builders at www.ecosoundbuilders.com
