ModusModern

Restovation

2009-10-14T22:40:00.006-04:00

I've been using a term lately that I picked up on one or more of the fora I frequent but I thought I would talk about it a bit - restovation. It's being used as a catch-all when a homeowner is doing some remodeling and he wants to be sensitive to the original architecture - a composit of Restoration and Renovation. Sort of the opposite of a remuddle (another meme indicating that a remodel done poorly, especially one that isn't sensitive to the building's intent or architecture) - I'll discuss both in regards to mid-century modern homes:

Restovation
My take on a restovation is to make architectural changes that are close to the same or at least sensitive to the original builder's intent - basically to make alterations that either can't be detected, or to remove a poorly applied remodel by replacing or "fixing" with something that could have been part of the original builder's construction. When at all possible I try to keep original features and refurbish when necessary (at minimum a good cleaning does wonders - sometimes I'll try to fix fixtures and such or replace with something that's close). Of course there's varying degrees of restovation - some things that are missing simply can't be replaced and compromises have to be made, especially when fixing a bad remuddle. The trick here is to find replacements that aren't complicated - usually the simpler the better. The other trick to being successful is to use patience - that missing something or other could be waiting on the curb in your neighbor's trash a year from now.

Remuddle
In general a remuddle is any remodel that isn't sensitive to the architecture - like replacing the front door with some obnoxious Home Depot purchased beveled glass monstrosity or putting a bay window on the front of a modern house. Neither of these would have been part of the original mid-century modern design and only "muddles" the clean lines or hides that the house is modern. You'll see variations of this - the addition of shutters, ornate exterior sconce lighting, an added Bay window, the list goes on.

A good restovation would incorporate good, clean design changes, keeping elements that are both appropriate and still useful for the time we currently live in. I'm not at all opposed to updates, especially to the kitchens and bathrooms of mid-century modern homes - often the tile is cracked or otherwise rundown and defective, or the original cabinetry is failing and it's simpler to replace rather than repair - plus you can't beat the new cabinet hardware and storage doo-dads that are available now. The trick is to remain sensitive to the original house design and intent (French Provincial cabinets simply look ridiculous in these houses). When possible I like to keep the original kitchen provided it's in good shape and restorable - I'll discuss this more in future posts by showing effective methods of doing so.

A bad remuddle would have one or more of the following :
(I lifted this from the Lotta Living forum post "100 Ways to Screw Up Your Mid-Century Modern Home" with a couple of edits)

1) Adding a steeper roof on top of your flat or shallow pitched roof.
2) Ornate front door. (Etched glass windows)
3) Adding a second story.
4) Putting in a country kitchen.
5) Installing a white metal colonial style garage door in place of the original redwood sided door
6) Adding vinyl double hung replacement windows
7) Heading to Home Depot/Lowe's with home equity loan money in hand
8) Adding inappropriate window treatments i.e.-paned windows, decorative shutters, fancy storybook scrollwork/moldings.
9) Replacing your tar & gravel roof with Spanish tile.
10) Covering your tongue & groove ceiling and wood beams with sheetrock
11) Roof over the atrium and add desirable square footage
12) Putting a white picket OR Wrought Iron fence in the front yard (or ANYWHERE for that matter)
13) One word: Stucco
14) Two words: crown molding!
15) Three words: 70s wall paneling (unless your home was built in the 70's and it was already there)
16) Carriage lights
17) Slathering one color of paint over everything - double points if it's Peach, Pink or Yellow.
18 ) Painting over stone or brick
19) Replacing single pane glass in the glass end gables with plywood
20) Vinyl siding
21) Installing gaudy brass light fixtures.
22) Covering up glass or painting over it.
23) Replacing in slab ductwork with overhead ductwork (exception for low-homes in the flood plains!)
24) Enclosing the carport / Converting the garage into living space
25) Granite!!!!!!!!
26) Install over-sized "professional grade" appliances (Viking, Subzero) in small galley kitchen.
27) Covering poured terrazzo with Home-Depot ceramic tile
28) ANYTHING made out of bright, shiny brass
29) Tear it down to build a McMansion
30) Tearing out the original flat panel, flush faced kitchen cabinets and replacing them with fancy, ornate routed ones
31) Replacing original wood framed windows with aluminum framed sliding glass doors
32) Basin sinks / oversize tubs / Anything described as turning your bathroom into a "personal spa" or "retreat"
33) Installing inappropriately decorative house numbers.
34) Selling off all the one of a kind, original architect designed furniture and light fixtures because it "doesn't fit in"
35) Putting in grid windows
36) Installing a ceiling fan in a vaulted, exposed beam/t&g ceiling
37) Using a pick axe or jackhammer to remove original 8x8 linoleum tiles so one can install Home Depot terracotta pavers
38) Installing hardwood floors over a radiant heated concrete slab
39) Dutting down the fascia, removing original down spouts to install gutters.
40) 2hitewash the interior with white paint to make it feel larger
41) Marble!!!
42) STUPID DOOR HANDLES (ornate lever style)
43) Visual overload (too many elements)
44) Big Greek / Italian /Mediterranean columns added to the front (or inside). Also, gaudy statues and fountains containing cherubs, angels, naked people, The Virgin Mary etc,
45) Painting over unpainted exterior wood (instead of stain)
46) Collecting and displaying too many knick knacks in a 1200 sq ft MCM house:
47) Removing all signs of nature outside by putting concrete everywhere, thereby defeating the harmony between house and nature attitude of many modernists.
48) Sticking a mantle on a stone fireplace that isn't supposed to have one.
49) Putting a white lattice archway in the front yard walkway with flowers and vines growing all over it.
50) Plain ole' neglect...having a cool MCM home, and letting it go...chipping paint, rotted fascias, overgrown foliage etc...
51) Paint a redwood or pine tongue and groove ceiling
52) Covering beautiful terrazzo floors with nylon fiber wall to wall carpet to "update the place"
53) Installing an aluminum, free-standing patio
54) Popcorn ceilings
55) Installing the cable box right outside the front door
56) Putting in one of those one-piece molded plastic mailboxes on a post.
57) Fake brick exterior siding (There's a bunch of these on the Neutra tract homes near the Burbank Airport).
58) Compromising your principles.
59) Misunderstanding/confusing "Ranch House" with "Ranch Style" house thus recreating the Little House on the Prairie
60) A sweet barn style shed.
61) Lace curtains
62) Placing ANYTHING in or around the house from Hobby Lobby, Kirkland's, or credited to either Thomas Kinkade or Mary Englebreit.
63) Smothering the interior with cheesy wallpaper.
64) Removing perfect mahogany paneling so that it can be replaced with drywall (this also includes just covering it with drywall).
65) Saltillo Tiles
66) Adding onto the back, after all, all that glass makes a great room divider!
67) Never throwing anything away.
68) Adding exposed conduit, wire mold, or worse, exposed wiring to beams and columns of you post and beam home.
69) Buying a mid-century modern home and then normalizing it to make it look like any other home.
70) Round top windows! (double points on this one)
71) Raising up your slab on grade MCM home and adding a basement under it.
72) Replacing your vintage globe lights with too much cheesy low-voltage lighting.
73) Adding a shingle roof in place of a tar and gravel roof on a pitch that is too low for shingles. IT WILL LEAK!
74) Three or four masonry materials where one or two will do.
75) Invite 100 scooterist over to your house, with a live punk band, and 5 kegs of PBR (no, I haven't done this... yet)
76) Adding an addition not in the style and design of the home
77) Allowing termites to gobble it all up
78) Anything faux
79) Hire an architect who doesn't understand Modernism
81) Stained glass or beveled glass windows
82) Tiling over original magnasite deck... extra points for bad colorful folk art tile
83) Placing a Pink Flamingo in your Garden/Yard
84) Describing MCM houses as "retro"
85) Placing an A/C unit on the top of your roof
86) Refacing an original fireplace, let alone with a thin flagstone laminate
87) Installing arches or rounded corners in a room opening or between rooms
88) Turning the master bedroom into a den
89) Replace your garage door with a brick fireplace
90) Inappropriate furnishings?? (aka flowery couch with detailed, routed wood)
91) Adding brick driveway columns topped by gold stone lions
92) Building a circular turret on the front of the house
93) Adding lattice to the front to "improve the look and privacy"
94) Covering the metal columns with wood to make them look like more like classical columns.
95) Hanging seasonal flags (i.e. santa, the easter bunny) outside your entryway
96) French doors to patio
97) Sawing off the overhanging roof and beams
98) Covering up exposed beams so the house look like other conventional framed homes
99) Adding turned pickets to all railing for that "country French" look!
100) Looking over an untouched, near-pristine P&K home and then declaring , "It has such potential!"
101. Painting over original polished aluminum Nutone range hood and splash shield.
102. Removing original skylark boomerang formica countertops
103. Tearing out original award winning landscaping to plant box woods.
104. Planting boxwoods
105. Planting bradford pears
106. Yard ornamentation
107. Turning your front yard into a playground with playset and/or trampolene
108. Inappropriate landscape lighting
109. Hanging towels up in place of curtains
110. Non thoughtful placement of new thermostat
111. Inappropriate storm doors
112. Bad porch lights
113. Horrible door knockers
114. Fake stained glass inserts
115. Painting your concrete porch green
116. Satellite dishes
117. Less than thoughtful placement of the ac unit
118. White plastic lattice screens!
119. Shutters!...
120. Screwing down additional insulation onto your t&g wood roof deck with screws that are too long and pierce through to the inside.
121. Painting over birch (or any other wood) closets/paneling.
122. Let the realtor do it, so you don't have to
123. Installing a classical European wallpaper mural
124. Letting a real estate agent list a house as "desirable lot" and not even showing pictures of the MCM house.
125. Hiring a realtor who just doesn't get it

Here's a good article about 4 renovation trends that
should go away.

-- John

Bubbling Crude

2009-10-11T23:31:00.006-04:00

Yesterday (10.10.09) Cindi called to tell me there was a large puddle in the middle of the yard. I came home to find water bubbling from the ground - since it was about 15 feet behind the meter I figured it was a leak in the galvanized water line - something we've been wanting to fix but there have always been other things more pressing. After a phone call with our friend Bruce Wilson (Master Plumber), he volunteered to come by today (Sunday) and help hook up a new line. I woke up early this morning and spent time moving things around in my shop where the water line ties in in the basement. I then ate a quick breakfast and went outside to start digging while Bruce purchased the fittings he'd need to complete the job. We decided to use Pex pipe - if you don't know about this stuff Google it - the stuff is amazing.

View from the Meter back to the front spigot

View from the spigot out to the street

I managed to get about 20 feet (total run about 70 feet) dug when Bruce got to the house - Cindi started digging from behind the meter so by the time Bruce had the meter dug up, all but about 15 feet remained to be dug in the middle. I think I started digging about 11, Bruce got here about 12 and we were done with all the hook ups by 4. After Bruce left I finished waterproofing the hole in the basement block and filled in next to the foundation. While the front was open I added a line for an external circuit so I can add an outlet to the front (not tied in yet). I also spread out any remaining dirt and raked up to get everything looking back to normal. It's been quite a day.

Starting my dig

About 25 feet out from the house - that's Bruce working on the meter in the background

-- John

The Modern Doll House

2008-07-23T09:52:00.004-04:00

As some of my acquantences and friends know, one of my other passions is woodworking and restoring Old Woodworking Machinery. So I hope it explains why I have possession of a set of 4 volumes of The Deltagram - books that detail shop projects for the owners of Delta Power Tools. This publication began in 1932 and continued to be published until 1949 - earlier issues seem to have been more prolific but they averaged about 6 issues per year. In 1949 the publication became "Wood Chips" or may have merged into another Delta publication (I'm unclear as to the series of events), which continued to be published into the 70's.

Besides being of interest as an idea storehouse for woodworking, this publication as is true of so many others, also details the styles and likes of homeowners and the US pre-war through post-war. Of particular interest are the modern furniture and furnishing designs featured all through these magazines and aggregated in these 4 volumes. The earlier issues have some wonderful ideas for Deco and Machine Age items, while the later feature "modern" design. Today I'm featuring the latter - and in this instance it also features one of my other passions - vintage toys.

There have been a number of threads over the past several years that regarded Modern Dollhouses offered to young girls during the post-war period. What interested me in this 2-page spread, found in Volume 4 of The Deltagram (originally published in Vol. 16 No. 2 in 1946) and revealed as page 28 and 29 in the hardcover editions, was the floor-plan, the shed roof, corner window and port-a-chere. I don't believe I've ever seen all three elements in a doll-house before. Even the plastic modern doll-houses seem to be based more on the modular Eames house design that this one. Apparently this doll house followed the styles of "Architectural Forum" and used plywood for construction - also a modern building material.

For a higher-resolution image of the above scan
click here.

-- John

Urgent Need for Support of Riverview HS

2008-06-12T11:19:00.004-04:00

I was forwarded this email today and I urge everyone reading to respond:

Hi All:

Sorry for the "crisis mode", but SAF needs
e-mails of your support for the Riverview HS
reuse by this Friday, June 13th when SAF
will submit its proposal. The Board will make
its final decision on Tuesday, June 17th.

If you can spare just a moment, please
address statements of support to:

School Board of Sarasota County, Sarasota, FL. 34231
and send your e-mail to: RVGarvin@comcast.net

Many thanks,
Bill

Bill Liskamm, FAIA

Link to the blog: http://saveriverview.blogspot.com/
Let's save this wonderful building!

-- John

A Visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Auldbrass

2007-11-14T09:09:00.000-05:00

I was invited by Nelson Brackin (President of the Friend's of Kebyar: http://www.kebyar.com/) to attend the Biannual public tour of Auldbrass in Yemassee, South Carolina. Auldbrass is the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed southern plantation nestled on property along the River. From the Beaufort Open Land Trust site (http://www.openlandtrust.com/auldbrass.html):

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939, the Auldbrass Plantation buildings, consisting of the main house, kennels, stables, barn and various outbuildings, were constructed during the forties by the late C. Leigh Stevens who called on Wright to design a self-sufficient modern plantation for farming, hunting, and entertaining.

In keeping with his theories of organic architecture, Wright designed Auldbrass to be in harmony with the landscape of which it is a part. Constructed of native cypress boards laid diagonally at 80 degree angles and held by brass screws, the exterior is intended to conform to the lean of indigenous live oak trees, while the abstract forms of ornamental rainspouts suggest hanging clumps of Spanish moss.

In 1987, the plantation was purchased by Joel Silver, a successful film producer and ardent admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright. Mr. Silver has meticulously completed the majority of Wright’s original plan, thus fulfilling Wright’s and Stevens’ dream of making Auldbrass a great 20th century architectural treasure. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We drove down Friday so we could get an early start for the tour - actually arriving about 30 minutes before the tour started at 10:00 AM - which was beneficial as they allowed those already there to enter early - the initial group was about 25 people (there were 2000 tickets sold for the 2 day tour). The docents for the tour were standing at the gate for the estate, which is surrounded by a wooden fence (angled at 80 degrees to emulate the other use of 80 degrees in the wall angles - this is repeated continuously in Wright style). The walk to the main buildings allowed for little preview of the actual structures, until almost upon them so the "reveal" was heightened. It was a beautiful day, slightly chilly but warming up nicely as the day progressed. The place is truly spectacular.

Rather than talk about the obvious, here's an album of images I took:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14338634@N02/sets/72157603003163021/

Lunch was held at the Old Sheldon Church right around the corner. Seems the ruins were from the first attempt at a Greek style temple in the Americas. Images and info here: http://www.charmingtowns.com/dir/society/historic_sites/sheldon_church.html

In all it was an exciting and delightful trip, which I hope to do again. It's also exciting to see such a well done restoration (kudos Joel Silver!). From the book (which I purchased on Amazon) it appears Mr Silver plans to build the additional structures planned but not completed (with the help of Eric Lloyd Wright).

-- John

DOCOMOMO Home Tour Reception at context

2007-10-28T19:17:00.000-04:00

I found a few shots that I took at the DOCOMOMO Home Tour reception (this was the night prior to the actual tour on Saturday) at * context * gallery. Images are of the volunteers, guest speakers and some very interesting furniture on display (all for sale - see http://www.contextgallery.com/ for more details).

-- John

Some Interesting Modern Homes

2007-10-24T15:16:00.000-04:00

Check out these Cantilevers:
http://www.mvrdv.nl/_v2/projects/015_wozoco/index.html

Dome House:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/reviews/dome-house-hawthorn/2005/06/21/1119321730611.html

Forest Spiral Building:
http://www.darmstadt.de/en/sights/hundertwasser/index.html

Vertical House:
http://openformarchitecture.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/vertical-house/

Billboard House:

http://www.frontarchitects.pl/PROJEKTY/HOUSES/shauz/sha1.htm

Read the rest of the post "Architecture From Another Planet - 25 Incredible (Real) Abodes"
http://www.intlistings.com/articles/2007/architecture-from-another-planet-25-incredible-real-abodes/

-- John

2007 DOCOMOMO Home Tour - Part 3

2007-10-03T11:05:00.000-04:00

The final house on the tour will be of most interest to this group. This house is owned by Jeff Dowd and his wife and is also in the Amberwood sub-division. It's located on the crest of a ridge so the yard slopes both to the front and back, as well as to one side.

The owner knows very little about the original designer of the house and has spent the last few years since his purchase in doing remodels, adding an addition behind the left side (one bedroom was made into an office, the garage on that side closed off for storage, parking moved to the rear part of the addition and additional family room space added to that side). The house has a full basement that is used as an apartment by Jeff's mother (it has a private entrance and driveway on the right side of the yard, below the decking). The master bedroom and master bath have both been reworked by Dowd as well as the rather involved landscaping.

When purchased, the rear wall had been pushed out to incorporate the patio (original fire-pit style grill is still attached and uses the existing chimney for ventilation, though it's unused). An arbor-style extension (extending the existing beams past the rear wall glass-wall) was added to the back to provide some much needed shade to the rear of the house. The front door has been replaced by a really beautiful, hand-carved mahogany double door from Brazil. The over-all effect is a large living expanse open to both front and back with some amazing birch trees obscuring the street from the living room.

Jeff decided to keep and have restored the original wall-mounted oven with slide-out stove. To the right of the sink is an original counter-top Nutone blender unit. The bathroom remodel is stunning, with a large tiled tub and exterior sliding glass to the exterior and over-head skylight. The real beauty of the house is in it's modernistic, very Asian design elements - the owner had viewed the botanical gardens in Portland used these as influences in the deck railing design (top rail is roof-beveled to shed water).

Photo Album here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14338634@N02/sets/72157602234061713/

-- John

DOCOMOMO GA Home Tour 2007 Part 2

2007-10-01T20:02:00.000-04:00

This is the second part of three describing the DOCOMOMO Home Tour held on 2007.09.29 in Atlanta, GA. The second house on the tour was also designed by Robert Green and construction was finished in 1964, I believe. The story is that RG had designed the home for a client who then decided not to build. Around the same time, RG was designing homes for the Amberwood development - this was a unique neighborhood with a business model of selling unbuilt lots - the buyer would then either purchase plans and construction from the developer or bring in his/her own architect and building crew. In this case, RG built one custom house (the Nicoll house - more here: http://www.modusmodern.com/robertgreen/nicoll.asp) and had been hired to build the entryway to the neighborhood - the developer saw the original plans Robert had created and hired him to adapt them to the lot it's currently on - the developer's name was Robert Witcher (more images and the plan here: http://www.modusmodern.com/robertgreen/arrowhead.asp).

The Witchers lived in the home with their two small children for 7 years before selling to the current owners (actually the surviving second wife of the second owner). The House featured an 8x8 tiled bath that could be filled with water that the children referred to as their "kiddie pool." Unfortunately I didn't take any images of the room, as it's quite spectacular with a full skylight above the space and light green jade tile, commode and sinks. The house is quite unusual with a main structure making up the "point" of the arrow, a long hall with small alcoves opposing bedrooms, and a "tail" family room that was formerly a carport - RG was hired to transform the carport into the current family room and an external 2 car garage was added - at some point the garage was extended upward and a guest house was built, much to RG's dismay. Two additional structures were also added, a pool house and a workshop - neither of these three structures have more than a passing resemblence to the original structure (the garage has obvious lines in the bottom floor and some details were carried over, but the general lines were all abandoned).

The long hallway reveals many surprises, FLW style, with new rooms, alcoves, shelving and geometric shapes around every corner. The main living room comes to a slightly acute point, with a two sided fireplace in the opposite corner. The front eave of the house actually comes down to chest level making this a remarkable construction indeed.

Photo Album here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14338634@N02/sets/72157602225231786/

Part 3, the Dowd residence, will go up shortly.

-- John

DOCOMOMO GA Home Tour 2007 Part 1

2007-09-30T10:22:00.001-04:00

I thought I would provide some running commentary plus some photos from the DOCOMOMO Home Tour yesterday (2007.09.29).

Cindi and I left the house at 9:00 AM but had to run some errands (placing directional signs and ballons around the Amberwood subdivision for the tour) before arriving at the first house. Because we shared responsibilities as docents at the Dowd House (in Amberwood) and were expected to arrive by 1:45 to relieve the first docents, we were limited in time and decided to only view the 3 houses on the tour, regrettably bypassing the condo at Plaza Towers. There were four homes in total on the tour and they were separated by some distance so one would need to factor in some travel time. This year two homes were designed by Wright Fellow Robert Green - the first is the Copeland house near buckhead off of Northside Drive. This first photoset features the images I took in the morning before heading back towards Amberwood (the two remaining homes were both in Amberwood).

As to the Copeland House, there's not much I can say that hasn't already been said. The current homeowners were present and had photos of the original construction and comparison shots of two historical remodels, passed to them from previous owners. The house is simply amazing. The level of detail and use of materials was quite stunning, even the furnishings (I wish I would have taken some images of the Nakashima table) had the effect of flooring me as I crossed rooms. I was running low on disk space so I spent most of my time taking shots of architectural details. I also tried to get shots that didn't contain people, so some of the details are sparce. I hope to aggregate photos taken from others to make a more complete journal of the visit - an hour went by very quickly.

Photo Album here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14338634@N02/sets/72157602207959344

I'll try to get photos of Arrow Head up later tonight or tomorrow.

-- John

Review on "Consider the Ranch" Lecture

2007-08-23T09:33:00.001-04:00

I wanted to report a bit on the DOCOMOMO "Consider the Ranch" lecture held on 8/21/07 at DWR in Buckhead. It was attended by 15-20 people (I didn't do a head-count) and was once again a very informative and enthralling presentation. Part 1 (which I missed on the 14th, however the speaker, Richard Cloues from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division, did a quick 15-20 minute review) featured the development of the ranch house in the united states - basically its influences and first appearance outside of a typical western farm or ranch setting (thus the name). He made mention of "Chicken House Gothic" which I found enlightening and humorous, and discussed Cliff May as well as Joseph Eichler's influence (the latter on the post and beam construction typical of Eichler's dwellings). There was also mention of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie home and his influences on ranch design (in particular the prominent fireplace as a design element).

Part 2 focused on the appearance of the ranch house in Georgia. The ubiquitous "red brick ranch" so popular in Georgia, was highlighted several times, but the primary focus was on classifying the actual building of the Ranch into developments, sub-divisions, in-fill and stand-alone construction in context by year and region. Some significant information I'd like to bring attention to:

The first Development (defined as a large land tract built from a multi-use, community perspective with schools, churches and some commercial properties within the plan) that contained ranches in Atlanta (and perhaps Georgia) was along Buford Highway in the North Woods area - this was the brain child of Walter Talley, funded by "bankers in Boston." The neighborhood features parks, divided roads, churches, schools and homes built with a similar look and feel (even though the home styles changed as the neighborhood was built-out - the earliest are simple boxy ranch houses - the later mid-century moderns and tri-levels).
Walter Talley is significant to me as my own community of Northcrest also had Walter Talley as either a silent or early partner (The original builders appear to have been three gentlemen, Walter Talley, Howard Hardrath and Paul Edwards who laid-in the roads for Northcrest under the name "THE, Inc" (from their last names, get it?). At some point early on, Walter Talley either became a silent partner or bowed out completely - leaving Paul and Howard to continue under the P&H Realty Company name (from their first names - Paul and Howard). P&H Homes, Inc began building Northcrest in the mid to late 50's and Northcrest was probably one of their largest if not their only development.
From part 1, it was noted that the split-level actually pre-dates the Ranch - it's commonly thought that it came after as a variation of the design, but Frank Lloyd Wright used the split-level concept going back to the 20's - the ranch wasn't really marketed until the 40's (whether by that name or any other). A ranch can have a basement or partial basement - what distinguishes the ranch style is a single floor of living space (open stairs to a finished basement would put the structure into a split level classification). It's my opinion that the Ranch attained popularity as builders across the US attempted to do a "cheap" version of the FLW prairie home.
One very good example of ranch development is along Lenox Road - there are very-built ranches along the road and it can be used as a catalog of different styles.

In any case, for those who attended, the lecture was very informative. For those of you who couldn't attend, my hope is that a transcript will become available at some time, as well as some of the photographs used in the lecture.

-- John

Greetings from the UK!

2007-08-19T09:30:00.000-04:00

I received this email from Sharon in the UK

Hello , You may or may not find this interesting, but we have purchased a modernist bungalow in Horsham Sussex uk. 1968 that needs complete restoration. We are currently opening out all the rooms to give a light and open plan airy feel to the house and it's back garden. We love late 50's/ 60's furniture. Perhaps you know of some good web sites that might be able to help us?
Ignore the chesterfield in the pic, isn't so Victorian ha ha. !! Would you like to see a pic or two on our back garden. No grass to cut ! oh bliss.

Regards
Sharon

This is the first Modusmodern "fan" email - thanks for the images Sharon - love the herringbone floor! Keep the images coming!

-- John

DOCOMOMO Atlanta, GA: Consider the Ranch: August 14th and 21st

2007-08-18T18:33:00.001-04:00

I missed this DOCOMOMO seminar on the 14th but plan to attend on the 21st. The host is the DWR store in Buckhead. These seminars are usually very good and informative, plus you get to meet other modernists from around the Atlanta area.

What: Consider the Ranch, a look at the development of the Ranch House

Who: Richard Cloues, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division

When: 6 PM, Tuesday August 14th (part 1); Tuesday August 21st (part 2)
PLEASE RSVP: info@docomomoga.org

Where: Design Within Reach, Atlanta Studio, 295 E Paces Ferry Rd, NE, Atlanta, Georgia (404-841-2471). For directions, click here.

-- John

Thinking About a New Roof?

2007-07-29T07:57:00.000-04:00

I put together the following and posted the information on the Lotta Living Forums - the thread was about the differences in roofing methods used both in the past and in the present, on Mid Century modern homes. I believe that readers on ModusModern could also benefit from my past roofing experiences, so with a small amount of editing, here you go...

A New Roof

After being sold on a membrane roof on my house in Atlanta (this is often referred to as a "torch-down modified" roof - it's applied in layers using a MAP gas torch), only to have it fail within 6 months, I can give you quite a bit of qualified advice.

First, if you have a flat roof, it was probably installed as a "built-up" roof, using an underlayment of felt, some type of insulative barrier (my roof had 1 inch styro board - these days they use perlite and possibly ISO board, which is actually for insulation with perlite). These boards were typically nailed - note that if your ceiling is also the roof (in my case the roof boards are the same as the 2x6 tongue-and-groove ceiling) and any wiring for lights is typically nailed to the roof under the boards (be careful and mark where the wires are) with special fasteners - then a layer of hot asphalt is applied with a mop (called hot-mopping). Over this is laid sheets of 15 or 30 pound fiberglass/asphalt felt. This is repeated, possibly twice (for 2 to 3 layers), before a cap of asphalt is hot-mopped. Onto this is spread pea gravel as ballast. The gravel also plays an important part in continuing the life of your roof - the rock reflects light away from any exposed fiberglass underneath - it's actually the UV rays of the sun that causes the most damage to this type of roof, and not the weather per se.

There are usually four avenues for a replacement/repair for this type of roof, depending on the condition (in order of cost - least to most):

1. Rolled touch up using some type of liquid barrier/sealer - the cheapest method, the gravel is brushed to the side and the sealant is applied with a roller - then the old gravel plus any extra for coverage is spread back over the roof. This is usually only good for very temporary repairs - say you need a year to get your money together for a real repair. I would actually not recommend this method but it could get you dry for a little while.

2. Torch-down Modified - with this method, a roll of thick roofing material is melted onto the existing roof using a MAP torch - can be risky as the whole roof can literally catch on fire (asphalt burns!). To meet manufacteror's specifications, the roofer should actually fasten a layer of perlite to the existing roof after brushing off the gravel (using approved fasteners), the roof edges should be built up with a nailer board, the material applied (hopefully melted onto the substrate) and new flashing installed. Typically the old flashing is left in place but cut-off where it extends to the eaves. This method works well if done correctly but understand what is really happening is that the roof will "float" on top of the existing roof. The roofer will tell you this is a 10 year roof or some such. I would consider this temporary at best - you might get 5 years without issues - but if the membrane is ever penetrated you will get wet. Also, because you are not removing the existing roof, any existing wet spots can stay saturated against the original asphalt (I added below what happened to me using this method so read on).

3. Asphalt Built-up - this is the original technique used by the builders of these homes - however it requires the removal of the original roof which can add quite a bit to the expense. Since you are pulling everything off, this is the time to replace any rotted or twisted boards. This is also a good time to locate any additional lighting and shore up any rotted beams, etc. The original flashing will be removed along with everything else. If you don't mind the look, raise the roof slightly by going to 1.5-2" of ISO board - it will add an R-value of 10-14 and improve your utility bills. You will also need to add a wood nailer around the perimeter to raise the flashing to the height of the ISO board. I've described the methods used above and this is still the most common method used on commercial buildings. This type of roof can last 20-25 years or more (manufacturer usually states 10-15, but the reality is that this last a long time).

4. Asphalt built-up with a Modified cap - this is the method that I actually chose (the most expensive method but worth it if you plan to living in your house forever). This method is similar to the Asphalt built-up above, only a hot mop-down modified membrane roof is attached to the top of the asphalt layers. This can be doubled up to extend the roof even longer.

The initial Torch-down modified roof I had put down was improperly installed. The roofer (who was supposed to be qualified with experience in this type of installation and was also highly recommended) gave me a very reasonable bid of $5k do do the roof (the roof is approximately 40 squares or 4000 square feet - I should have figured it was a scam and too good to be true) to place a membrane roof over the existing asphalt "built-up" roof. As the other bids I received were over $10k for the roof, we went for the cheap, thinking that we would get 5 or so years out of the roof - the plan was to eventually get a better roof through a complete tear-off and rebuild. We actually got about 6 months before things started to go wrong.

First, the roofer used a shovel to scrape off as much gravel as possible - this turned out to be stupid as everywhere a stone was pulled from the existing asphalt, a gap appeared in the existing roof as a potential leak. Second, the roofer did not cut off or replace the existing flashing. Third, because the substrate was not reinforced with some type of nailer, the new roof was not truly melted onto the old - the roof basically was sitting as a flat sheet on top of a sieve. Because the flashing was not replaced, the edges were not sealed - this made this worse as the roof "crawled" across its expanse, water crept under the edges and found the missing rock holes to penetrate - the result was massive leaks, with water coming down almost every wall. Every attempt to get the roofer back to fix the issue was ignored - ultimately we had to litigate (we won, but have as yet received no money on the judgement, nor do we anticipate we will).

When reality hit we knew we needed to do something quickly. Not wanting to get bitten twice, we heavily researched roofing methods and applications. That was when I discovered that 90% of the roofs for our type of house in the area are incorrectly installed - meaning that even if we had a claim against the manufacturer of the roof with a 10 warranty, etc., the claim would have been invalid as the guarantee is only good if the roof was properly applied. We ended up getting 12 estimates, ranging from $7500 to $40k (ouch!). We decided to go with a real commercial roofer who did a phenomenal job. The original estimate was for $14k, however we went with 1.5 inches of ISO board and replaced several hundred feet of rot, including the ends of two beams. This brought the price up to about $17K plus an extra thousand for additional wood materials.

I think the greatest lesson learned is to research the roof options, then really question the roofers to make sure they know what they are doing. Our final roofer actually had the GAF rep come out and do a core sample so that the warranty was registered with them. The cores they cut exceeded the manufacturer's specifications. I'm happy to report that three years have gone by on the new roof without any issues.

John Eaton

(Originally published 2005.01.10 in the thread: "Flat Roofs Don't Like Rain" on the Lotta Living forums)

Modern Landscape Design

2007-07-27T11:43:00.000-04:00

I attended a really wonderful DOCOMOMO lecture last night in regards to Modern landscape design. James R. Cothran lectured and featured images from a recent tour of Thomas Church designed gardens in the San Francisco area and locally, plus a pretty much intact garden in Columbus Georgia designed by James Rose - the current owner's of the latter property were also in attendance, as well as some faculty that worked with both architects during installations at UGA. Although I had an above-normal awarness of modern landscape architecture, the lecture really brought things into focus for me and provided some great ideas - also the reference materials got me searching for some books (two that I bought online today were "Invisible Gardens" on Amazon and "Modern Garden Design" by Janet Waymark) - both featured works of Church and the former James Rose.

If you're into Modernism and live in Atlanta, I highly recommend the DOCOMOMO sponsered events and lectures. Blog is here: http://www.docomomoga.org/wordpress/

-- John

Welcome

2007-05-14T07:13:00.001-04:00

Welcome to ModusModern's blog on the web.