405 South First Street, Geneva IL 60134

Authentic Historic Renovation with High Energy Efficiency

These are as of April 26, 2011. 

Following are some photos taken after the house was decorated.

Entry

Tudor with a Chalet living room!

Tudor with a Juliet balcony!

Dining Room

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Butler's pantry

Morning room and kitchen

Main stair

Old Master Bedroom

What follows is a collection of photos from the beginning through renovation and construction. Unfortunately, for the historic photos I had a computer crash and lost some photos of the outside as of when we purchased the property.  But, thanks to some friends who were also taking photos (Brian DeWolf and Karla Kaulfuss), most of the key stages were documented.

Miscella's First Brochure

My hard disk disintegrated with most of the earliest pictures.  These frontal views, though, show the vines growing upon over the room and a number of dead trees all around and up close to the house.

The house dates from 1929 and is in the historic district of Geneva - walking distance to the train, the river, bike paths, shopping and restaurants.  It's considered Tudor style.

This is the rear view showing the garage with overgrown driveway. The driveway swept down and around to enter a tandem two-car slot in the basement.

The south wall was coming separate from the house, was very unstable and had allow windows on this wall to rot away.

Vines here cover a double 8' divided light window.

Entryway.

Powder room off the entry.

Dining room with built-ins.

The living room has a vaulted ceiling that's really hard to photograph.

And a funny juliet balcony with an interesting light fixture.

Living room from the balcony.

The house was so abused that the estate sellers tore out all appliances.

Master bedroom.

Second bedroom (only two) with rot from water entering form the south wall.

Master bath.

The living room had carpet with no hardwood floors.  The dining room, upper hallway and master bedroom had ~2" hardwood floors, but they were warped and stained.  The kitchen had linoleum.

Cobwebs and body stains were everywhere.

The first tasks were to take out dead trees and cut the ivy.

Next was to take down and rebuild the south wall.

Steve Patzer a local fine mason took the wall down brick by brick, cleaning them and laying them aside on the scaffolding as he went.  Several rotted windows and some siding had already been replaced.

The method of bricklaying is called "skintled" or more commonly as "weeping mortor"

Here's Steve demonstrating his technique.

Actually, we had several community presentations.  This is Liz Safanda, Executive Director of Preservations of the Fox Valley (www.PPFV.org).  Preservation Partners organized several meetings to help surface the issues around authentic historic preservation and achieving energy efficiency.

Most distinct features of the historic building must be preserved and rebuilt.  The front door.

The dormer will need new shingles.

Most of the light fixtures and railings will be preserved and adapted as required.

Here's the very first community event.  The unique story to this renovation is that we set out to to a highly energy efficient and still historically authentic renovation.  This is the architect, Tom Bassett-Dilley (www.DrawingOnPlace.com), explaining the basic features.  At that point, we thought do really push the envelope and do a Passive House level renovation.  Marko Spiegel, below, is founder of OneWatt Construction (www.onewatthouse.com), local design-builders of passive houses.

Marko presented the concepts of super energy efficient houses - airtight envelope, air exchange systems, Walls and roofs with 1' of insulation, etc.  What you don't see in this picture but later is that all the historic windows would have to be replaced with triple pane window from Canada or Germany.  Also, you'll see from the floor plans sketched below, it would have been difficult to move around in the house, since the 1' insulation would have to be put in the inside!  Buildings in the historic district may not have their principal facades altered.

The plans looked better from the outside, obviously!

But, the concept wasn't out of the question because we were planning to remove the existing inner walls.  Also, for this sort of project the Geneva City Council might have approved exceptional use of special new windows.  The costs were what did in the idea in the end.  We asked Tom Bassett-Dilley to do a compromise renovation.  He thought we could achieve a nearly airtight house by furring out the basement walls, filling all walls with blown-in cellulose fiber and using special horizontal strips on walls and ceilings to bridge the thermal transfers through 2x4 walls and 2x6 rafters.  Ceilings that were in contact with the outside would be filled with open foam, also blown-in.

Here's Tom's new plan, which also simplified the roof lines orientation from the street, and was, with minor changes, what we built.  The plans were approved by Geneva's Historic Preservation Commission and building permits issued.

First Floor

Second Floor

Basement

Next step, then, was to take out the inner walls and ceilings.  4-5 dumpsters and a lot of mess later, it was done!  

By then, we were in contact with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.  They had participated in the community meetings and were willing to work with us so long as we didn't destroy the old windows and preserved or replaced distinctive features.  We figured we could duplicate the lathe and plaster look after installing the insulation and special strips to break thermal bridges.  (That's Tad Hemming, Hemming Construction, and General Contractor.)

Cooperating with IHPA makes imminent sense.  If we comply, we qualify for a tax freeze on the historic part plus all applicable improvements, or a tax credit for 20% of the value of the improvements!

The addition of almost 2000 s.f. is the easy part, though it doesn't count for tax credit or deduction since we don't plan to occupy the house.  2x6 walls with extra foam board and plastic on the outside would provide substantial thickness for cellulose and open foam insulation.

Insulation will be key, of course. Craig Matteson, ARC Insulation, was the insulation subcontractor.  Before that, though, for the old part of the house, we added strips to the studs, 1x2s for the walls and 2x2s for the ceilings.  These not only added to the depth of insulation, but broke and reduced thermal bridges from the timbers to the outside. 

Meanwhile penetration is also key.  The framers furred out the basement and garage as well, for insulation and wallboard.  Here's Tom Bassett-Dilley's scheme for the "envelope".

This is ARC Insulation at work.

This is the vaulted ceiling in the living room, looking up toward the balcony.  The ceilings have 2x2 horizontal strips across the rafters and are then filled with open foam where they contact the outdoors.  Walls, to the right, have 1x2 horizontal strips and are filled with cellulose.

Insulation wasn't necessary where walls and ceilings don't contact with the outside.

The idea is not to allow warm and cool air to mix and form condensation.

Having pulled the inner walls and trim, we were able to insulate the window casings. Window pockets had styrofoam inserts caulked in to prevent/reduce penetration.  This together with well made and sealed storm windows really makes a difference.  Existing storm windows were reconditioned and reglazed with low-E glass.

Weights were preserved and ropes replaced.  Then as new storms arrived, window sashes were sent out to be reglazed and stained/varnished.

Meanwhile, wall-board had installed over the newly insulated walls and ceilings.

The arches, I'm sure, made for some challenges.

Then came finding a technique to match the new wallboard texture to the original lathe and plaster (foreground).

Looks good, no!?!  Wait'll you see the final!

And, simultaneously, there's landscaping.  New stoops had to be constructed and a great deal of topsoil brought to the site.  Unfortunately, the cold came an snow, so pathways in the front and to the rear and evergreen trees couldn't be installed.

Repaired, repainted sashes and storms are evident; also the front door was rebuilt.

New shingles are on the dormer, but the weather also precluded finishing the painting.  Also, now you can see the new color scheme.  There's controversy over the color of the door!  Note, though,  there's a new driveway.

Meantime, inside there's a new challenge.

Recall.  The beams must also be preserved and refitted.  Now, though the walls and ceilings are 1-2" thicker!

The lengths weren't always shorter, though!  Go figure!

The renovated master bedroom will likely become a guest room, now with en suite bathroom.

The second bedroom (original) still has the intriguing yellow-pane window and is now a little larger and has a nice closet.

The tile floor need a little repair, but it survived to greet new guests! The telephone niche is there, too.

But the excitement belongs in the renovated areas.

Having retained the original light fixtures and ironwork, the reception rooms really come to life..

Historic light fixtures are accented by new stair rail made of the same materials and style of railing found on the julliet balcony and the "gate" into the dining room

This is the upstairs transition looking from the new to the old.

This is the downstairs transition area from new to the old.

New kitchen and morning room.

Kitchen addition looking outside.

Basement reception area, or "mud room".

The basement, though, should be a feature.  Here you see the new sump (drain tiles all around the perimeter), "two-sizes smaller" furnace and the air-exchange system.  Also, this is where the airtight "envelope begins".  Concrete walls were patched and furred out with 2x4s, then had cellulose blown in all the way to the floor above.

This the air intake.  Please note the 2x4 studs and insulation blown into the joists above.

Behind the water heaters is where all the exhausts are vented.

See also Preservation Partners' review of the project in their newsletter, the Preservation Advocate - Spring 2011.

(Click above to download)

Finally, the project is almost finished.  The following are photos after it went on the market for lease or sale (See www.Miscella.com).

There's a coat closet next the door, then a powder room (1/2 bath).

Historic lights fixtures & ironwork in place.  Fireplace completely reworked inside.

Ready for appliance and drawer pull selections.

... just so people notice the matching window and outside arch!

This would likely make the guest bedroom.

Old second bedroom expanded, but retaining the historic window to the balcony and 1st floor.

This is the most likely master bedroom.

View from the 2nd floor master to the old 2nd floor master bedroom.

Second floor master bathroom has a large whirlpool bathtub.

Master bathrooms have double vanity sinks.  Mirrors may be hung above or mirror cabinets sunk into the walls behind.

Stairs down to the mudroom and garage from hall to the kitchen.

The mudroom is plumbed for a washer/dryer.

The garage is large enough for two cars and a 30' boat in front!

So, before showing the final pictures, here's what we achieved:

Statement of Energy Features

405 S First Street, Geneva IL, was renovated and expanded to a high construction standard, in full compliance with local historic guidelines and with energy features including the following:
• Increased insulation - cellulose in the walls, open foam in the ceilings.
• Minimized thermal bridging in the original house with 1x2 batons on the walls, 2x2 batons on the ceilings. Walls 5” ~ R17, Ceilings 7” ~ R25 with air-sealing foam.
• In the new addition 6” walls - R21 with exterior foam sheathing; 12” ceilings R42.
• Increased air-tightness through proper insulation, caulking, and weather-stripping from basement to roofline.
• Insulated around and within original window casing in the historic part, adding new tight-fitting wood storm windows and low-E glass (~U .31) and special temporary caulking.
• Double hung, twin pane, Argon, low E windows in the addition (U .42).
• New, right-sized, efficient HVAC equipment based on heat load calculations; units placed in the basement and attic for zone control. 
• New ERV (energy recovery ventilator) for constant fresh air while exchanging heat/cooling with the exhaust.

Energy Results:
HERS rating: 62 (62% of the cost to heat, cool and electrify a similar size home built to current code)

Other: Upgraded an existing structure (maintaining the embodied energy investment) and qualified for Illinois Historic Preservation Agency approved Tax Freeze on the assessment of the historic portion.

An extremely quiet and comfortable house in walking distance from busy highways, restaurant and shopping streets and a commuter train station - just over 1 hour to and from Chicago.

And, 405 S First Street was written up in Old House Journal's August/September Issue:

An Energy-Efficient Tudor Retrofit

A forward-thinking team converts a derelict Tudor in Geneva, Illinois, into a model of energy efficiency.
By Frank Elder | Photos by Brian DeWolf

This Tudor house in Geneva, Illinois, went from downtrodden to desirable, thanks to an energy-efficient retrofit that was mindful of the house’s history.

Ernie Mahaffey is not a house flipper. He bought the vacant house up the block from his own home of 20 years in Geneva, Illinois, because he “could see the vultures swooping in.” The under-loved 1929 brick Tudor with a rampantly overgrown landscape—newly vacant in the height of the housing boom—provoked in him a familiar desire: to rehabilitate a fixer-upper threatened with destruction.

The place was a wreck, according to a seven-item summary of “major structural defects” Ernie’s building engineer cataloged. Unfazed by the prognosis, Ernie decided he would go beyond the structural repairs to upgrade the house to the strictest efficiency standards in the world: the Passivhaus.

Developed in Germany, Passivhaus standards call for an extreme reduction in a building’s carbon footprint. Through stringent requirements on insulation, infiltration, and heat retention, the standards result in a building that needs almost no input from an HVAC system to regulate indoor climate. Hitting these standards—or even coming close—would have major implications. The home could act as a case study to show how radical new building techniques could preserve existing structures while cutting their consumption to near zero. Ernie envisioned a historic homeowner’s dream: a subtle blend of state-of-the-art new systems in a building that retained all the charm and character of decades past. To pull it off, his architect, Tom Bassett-Dilley of the Oak Park, Illinois, firm Drawing On Place, would use the house as a laboratory to challenge the conventional wisdom of restoration. 

Read more...http://www.oldhouseonline.com/an-energy-efficient-tudor-retrofit/

 

The following are Brian DeWolf's photos for Old House Journal.  Beautiful!