tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7794818494866557212025-02-22T14:48:19.502-05:00“Whatever good things we build end up building us.” -Jim RohnUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-33564074250002933652012-01-13T15:14:00.000-05:002012-01-13T15:43:34.064-05:00

Chicken Coop Renovation - Part 2  with lots of pictures! old kitchen-et …..After some back and forth between Benay’s engineer and our designer Rod Lambert, we finally agreed on the floor plan and structural details that would be submitted to the town’s building department for approval.  special tile in new kitchen The goal was to create a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home out of the funky

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-17450913438283255242011-09-25T17:15:00.006-04:002012-01-13T15:31:03.209-05:00

a little scary to be honest One day this past fall I received a referral from a previous client. A call came in just before lunch, while my team and I were in the midst of finishing a $300,000 home in an exclusive neighborhood in Ithaca. The conversation was brief and to the point. The woman on the other end of the line explained how she wanted to convert an old chicken coop into her

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-43997329850320005822010-04-21T16:45:00.000-04:002010-04-21T16:45:37.189-04:00

White Hawk Ecovillage has a fairly new blog called White Hawk Talk up and running.  Because Rob, Kerrie and Rod are doing much of the building work out there, stop by their blog for more pictures of the work and insights on how the village is growing, changing, and shaping up.   Here are Rob and Kerrie beginning work on the radiant heat concrete flooring at the newest

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-86252723499949043292010-02-23T14:32:00.000-05:002010-02-23T14:32:21.507-05:00

Here's something we would like to share about our design experience with Rod: We'd been thinking that before retirement catches up with us we ought to build an energy star home, single story, less than 1,000 square feet, on a radiant slab, with a metal roof and natural wood siding. But it wasn't clear how we would get from this general idea to a set of permit-ready drawings.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-38575712932003381392010-01-07T08:36:00.014-05:002010-01-14T15:54:02.958-05:00

This fall we had the privilege of designing and buildng an attached mother-in-law unit for some great clients on the south side of Ithaca. The work started with an intese bit of demolition requiring a large U-haul moving truck to remove the debris-2 trips in fact. Once the house was prepped for the new addition.. no small task we began the creative process of attaching new to old. After a few

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-47302589066372428442009-12-20T21:24:00.000-05:002009-12-20T21:24:29.208-05:00

Tis the season to be jolly... and we have reason to as we are getting going on our -fourth year in a row- wintertime home building project.  It's a smallish home out in the West Danby area of New york.  Easy to build -compared with other recent projects. As I have said before, I like building in the winter.  The way I look at it, if I can't be cross country

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-60689493969780997832009-12-13T20:17:00.001-05:002009-12-13T20:26:47.697-05:00

Here we are more than a year after the economy tanked and new home construction and building in general suffered a serious downturn. Strangely, here in Ithaca, Creative Constructions has enjoyed our busiest, most succesful period to date. For this I am grateful, but also somewhat surprised. Frequently folks will ask "how's business lately...?"  When I tell them business is GREAT, I get a

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-73381763034534601212009-11-26T19:16:00.006-05:002009-12-02T18:42:05.475-05:00

Over the past few months we at Creative Constructions have been involved in 4 distinctly different building projects.  Each of them designed by our partner Rod Lambert and each addressing a family's unique housing needs.  As we approach completion on three of these projects and I have a few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday,&

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-73929906128552833592009-07-11T17:58:00.003-04:002009-07-25T16:41:16.143-04:00

Summer is in full swing, and lately I'm just too busy to post much. Even so, here are few pictures of the new home we're building for/with Dan and Lisa Scherer out near Trumansburg.Dan in the basement with the first floor frame above him.nailing down the sub floorGO Lisa!"SIP wall panels going uppictures windows on the south side of the housesecond floor going up -so far all work completed on

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-68552150121552861442009-06-20T21:15:00.005-04:002009-06-22T08:31:21.512-04:00

The other day while eating lunch at work I made an interesting discovery.I had just reached the "yogurt stage" of lunch- that's what we jokingly refer to as, the wind up of lunch break, the point where if you have a yogurt for desert, you savor it lovingly before putting the tool belt back on... (perhaps ya had to be there)...Anyway, On this day, I didn't seem to have a plastic spoon in my lunch

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-1560960322592872812009-06-13T16:43:00.008-04:002009-06-13T17:05:41.476-04:00

Recent work putting together the ICF foundation for the Scherer family residence near Trumansburg NY back breaking work How many more of these things to go.. straighter than an arrow!This eps foam form foundation filled with 6 inches of reinforced concrete has an R- factor of  22.  It makes an excellent, strong and comfortable concrete foundation/basement but it takes some skill

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-43621434903987621552009-05-19T11:41:00.011-04:002009-05-19T12:08:26.076-04:00

Congratulations to the Dan and Lisa Scherer family! We broke ground on their beautiful new home (designed with Rod Lambert) out near Trumansburg on this beautiful sunny morning in May. Stay tuned for construction updates on this interesting passive solar home to be constructed with ICF foundation and SIP walls. Thanks to Geroge Van Valen and crew and King Brothers in advance for doing great

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-9131948394691644912009-05-08T16:09:00.004-04:002009-05-21T15:52:58.783-04:00

Sometimes a simple construction detail - done well- can save you a huge headache later on. Proper flashing and use of building paper such as Tyvek or good old fashion tar paper, with taped seams are essential to avoid the kind of water caused damage I got into yesterday.This client, in a 12 year old co-housing development with 30 similar units called me after he noticed a small problem. Two

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-42690461877472962692009-04-23T12:03:00.001-04:002009-04-23T12:46:37.379-04:00

As you may know from reading some of our previous posts, we are pretty into using the SIP wall building system for it's excellent r-value performance, greatly reduced thermal bridging & air infiltration issues--- as well as the relative ease and speed it facilitates when we're " framing the walls". But it's not always the best choice for a client.- For a variety of reasons including clients

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-19555276811727130942009-04-13T13:35:00.002-04:002009-04-16T21:03:03.263-04:00

For the past several months, Rob, Rod, and Kerrie have been building the third house at White Hawk ecovillage in Danby.  They braved working out in the winter weather framing, roofing, putting in windows, and doing the electric work.  With spring finally here the team is currently completing the siding and porch while the home owner does the interior trim and finish himself.&

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-55843032514182339522009-04-11T09:40:00.000-04:002009-04-13T13:37:38.428-04:00

Want to try the best pizza in the Ithaca area? Stop in to the New York Pizzaria in Trumansburg. As you walk in thru the very old and worn front doors of this nicely renovated brick building, you are immediately drawn toward the color & beauty of the gourmet pizzas lying under the glass at the back of the restaurant. Ive been in there a few time and each time I see those pizzas, I am

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-90163024872612186662009-04-04T17:35:00.010-04:002009-04-08T19:41:44.543-04:00

Recently in the process of staining a new concrete floor for clients in the trumansburg area, we had the opportunity to use a great new- new to us - green product, part of a line of eco friendly staining and sealing products that are sold under the brand name Eco-procote.   Soycrete "espresso" is the name of the stain we used on this new 1,000 square foot floor, the sealer was labled

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-13414984983842732352009-03-19T21:50:00.001-04:002009-03-20T15:44:38.309-04:00

There's nothing like an organized shop especially one on wheels!   A place where everything you might need to do a job well,  is right where you can find it.Kerrie and I took advantage of the spring like weather this week and spent some time really setting up the work trailer that we got ourselves -Creative Constructions- last fall.We had a great time&nbsp

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-71331839903092740802009-03-10T15:43:00.002-04:002010-01-14T16:02:13.341-05:00

With the addition finished, Denise writes this..."We love our addition! We have already moved in. We love the light, the stained cement floors (great idea Rob!), the skylights, the high ceilings and the energy efficiency. I also like it that the house was built by a team of people that put a lot of heart into everything they do. Rob, Rod and Kerrie have great friendly energy and are eminently

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-73837803250007222892009-01-18T18:07:00.014-05:002009-04-10T18:43:49.832-04:00

Well, we're up to our wintertime building tricks again, putting together a new home in the fledging intentional community known as White Hawk.  Located in Danby New York, just 10 minutes south of Ithaca, White Hawk is an "ecovillage" that has been in the hearts and minds of many dedicated folks for several years but has now officially become a

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-20907958687997543322008-12-05T20:11:00.004-05:002008-12-07T18:45:48.796-05:00

Today we wrapped up the staining and finish work on the concrete floors in the addition built for Denise and Bob in Ithaca.  Although we don't do alot of stained concrete floors, Kerrie and I found ourselves once again appreciating the simple beauty of and relative ease required to create such a lovely floor.  And it's lower cost got our attention too.The process&

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-41938917958173855022008-11-30T18:59:00.020-05:002009-03-20T15:41:35.125-04:00

There's plenty I'd like to write about these days as we've been petty busy but frankly, i just don't have the time- So instead I'll post a few pictures with captions and hope to get back at the keyboard for some more in depth writing soon. SIPS- one of the advantages of building homes with SIPS is that if your client can't decide on a window placement or wishes to add a window after framing

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-15306569384921667022008-11-02T14:24:00.016-05:002008-11-09T15:59:53.598-05:00

Our current building projectis a home addition that will double the living space for a family living in a lovely cottage style home on the edge of Ithaca. Unique to this project are the ten foot SIP walls, a cathedral ceiling and a 28 x 12 foot loft space for overflow guest sleeping and much needed storage. As well, the new space has a radiantly heated concrete slab floor- (to be stained) and

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-56728954942522734732008-10-14T09:00:00.001-04:002008-10-14T11:05:20.289-04:00

In summer 2008, Kerrie made this tile backsplash for a neighbor at Ecovillage of Ithaca.And Creative Constructions built this patio for the same family's small, but sunny backyard.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-779481849486655721.post-50630724297831028952008-10-04T20:14:00.017-04:002008-10-06T10:02:46.152-04:00

I think the first screw driver I ever used was actually- a butter knife. Back in those days slotted screw heads were the norm and a nice heavy duty butter knife from the kitchen drawer actually worked pretty well in place of an actual screw driver. We were just kids then and probably in a hurry to get our bikes back on the road after fixing a flat or adjusting the brakes.  Besides, we

Robhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916384458725584053noreply@blogger.com0