Designed and built by Hamill Creek Timber Homes, this featured home is located in Nelson, BC and has a total living space of 3,300 square feet, as well as a one car garage. Built on a small city lot, the challenge was to design and build an energy efficient three bedroom home with a nanny suite and a single car garage on a footprint of no more than 38’x38’.
The lot is situated in a subdivision with spectacular lake and mountain views, calling for designers at Hamill Creek to maximize this view while retaining as much privacy as possible from relatively close neighbors. To do this the living space was designed on the main and 2nd floor with a planned nanny suite and garage on the lower level. It was important to capture the views of the lake and mountains to the North from the kitchen, dining room, living area and bedrooms and at the same time bring as much light in from the south or street side of the building. In order to achieve this we went with a central hall plan, a large glass entry door and glass gable on the south side of the home. This allows light to emanate from the entry way through the vaulted space of the central stairwell, splashing natural light into the dining and great room area. The large wall of glass on the north side of the home makes one feel they are in a remote setting looking out onto the lake, rather than being on a very confined city lot with neighbor’s property lines a mere four feet away.
Hamill Creek timber framed the entire structure and then built the exterior walls with a 2’x4’ wall system with spray foam insulation and 1.5” rigid insulation for a combined R-Value of 30. The vented roof was built using two layers of rigid insulation for a total R-Value of 40. This home was built with radiant in-floor heating on all levels using a geothermal loop from the nearby lake.
This stunning city home meets all the criteria for LEED Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and it will soon become one of the few such certified homes in the Kootenays region.
