Who is Glencanaan?
Glencanaan is not a person, it’s a place. In much of the world, homes and estates are named, not unlike a pet or a business. This is what we have done with Glencanaan. “Glen” is a Scottish word that means valley. Canaan is from the Bible, and is the land of milk and honey that God promised his people. Our Scottish heritage, faith in God, and the geography of the property make the name a natural.
The Land
Glencanaan is made up of 55 acres of land. There are over 1000 feet of road frontage, and the property is well over 2000 feet deep. We are in the White River Valley, and our property comes to within about 30 feet of the river.
Across the street and 5000 feet up lies the summit of Dirty Face Mountain. In the opposite direction (south) is Nason Ridge, dividing the White River valley from the Stevens Pass Highway.
History
We have been told various stories of the history of this property. Some say it was a hay farm, others say it was dairy. In any case, it has been settled for over a hundred years.
One of the attributes of Glencanaan is that, on the shortest day of the year, the sun tracks just above Nason Ridge to the south. This extra measure of sun makes it well suited for farming, or just living.The White River Road was once considered for a cross-Cascade highway, but the Stevens Pass route was chosen instead. Legend has it that the famed Indian Wars of Washington State ended somewhere in this valley. Interestingly enough, those same wars started just a few blocks from the home of Dave’s grandparents in eastern Washington. A very visible aspect of local history can be found in a grave from almost a century ago, immediately next to the road, about a mile from here.
Wildlife
The wildlife is abundant at Glencanaan. We have seen some, seen evidence of more, and heard from others about still more. The list includes deer, rabbit, coyote, bear, cougar, bobcat, vulture, elk, eagle, bat, beaver and owl. Keep your eyes open; you may not see a wild animal, but you are almost sure to see signs that they have been here!
Outbuildings
Before telling you about the structure we are building at Glencanaan, let us tell you about what others before us have done. Most noticeable is the old log cabin next to the road. We have picked up bits and pieces from our neighbors in the valley, but know little for sure. Rumor -- or should we say, legend -- has it that it is the oldest building in the valley. Some have suggested that it could be over one hundred years old. Beyond that, we know little. When we bought the property, the cabin was in very bad shape. As we fixed it up, numerous neighbors stopped by to make sure we weren’t tearing it down. Clearly, in recent years it has been a garage. Evidence of a wood stove suggests other uses, perhaps even a home. One of the neighbors seems to recall someone living in it in the 1930’s. Even though it was in bad shape when we bought it, it obviously has been repaired many times along the way. Some of the logs have tags on them, indicated they are “retired” telephone poles, evidently used to replace other logs in disrepair. We have been told that the shingles were hand made by a former owner who just wanted the experience.
The other notable building is the old chicken coop out in the field. This is obviously a much newer building, but certainly not new. It looks like the boards were milled from trees from the property. It runs due north and south, thus maximizing its long side exposure to the south for the warmth of the sun. Go inside and you’ll see the nests that were once mounted on the south wall. They are cleverly designed so that the eggs could be gathered from the outside of the coop.
When we bought the property, we noticed that, for a chicken coop, this was a remarkably clean building. Since, we have learned that a recent owner cleaned it up thoroughly and held a fancy, catered party there, complete with white linen tablecloths!
The Lodge
We have been dreaming of this house for years. As we have read magazines, traveled around the world, and researched everything from roofs to foundations, we have made notes of what we liked and what was important to us. We set out to design and build a house that was both traditional and unique; classical yet state-of-the-art. Our aim was to make a house that would outlive us, our children and grandchildren. Also a priority was environmental soundness, energy efficiency, and to the degree practical, self-sufficiency. Lastly, we wanted a house we could viably live in for the rest of our lives.
Given all of that, we picked a building site that was close enough to the road to be practical to plow in the winter, yet relatively quite and secluded. It is also a site that has excellent southern exposure to the sun, and tree protection from the northerly winds. The slight grade was consistent with our design ideas.
The frame of the house is not “stick” construction, as are most dwellings these days. Rather than two by fours and two by sixes as the main building members, our house uses massive beams. Rather than having studs every 16 inches, the beams are about 10 or more feet apart. This is a method that has dominated house construction around the world for centuries, yet has almost vanished over the past 50 years. Many people are perplexed to hear about it, yet declare, “Oh yeah” when they see it. You will likely recognize the style from Tudor houses, old churches, and even barns.
For both environmental and aesthetic purposes, we chose to use re-used, “recycled” doug fir for our frame. These timbers have already been in use for a hundred years or so. Part of the wood came from an old door and sash factory in British Colombia, and the rest came from a building formerly a part of the Port of Portland, Oregon. The buildings were taken down, and the timbers re-milled for us. This results in very dry wood with a tight grain structure that cannot be found in newly milled wood, with classic signs of its previous life.
The frame is enveloped using stressed skin panels. These are giant (often 8 by 24 feet) prefabricated panels of styrene (“Styrofoam”) laminated between oriented strand board (OSB). The 74 panels came to the property all cut to size, window openings cut, even chases for electrical wire. They fit together in a “tongue-and-grove” style in such a way that the only place any piece of wood goes all the way from the interior to the exterior is at the windows and doors. The great insulating value of the styrene, combined with the airtight seams, plus very few pieces of wood spanning from inside to out, make for an extremely energy efficient envelop.
The primary heat source is from the sun. The south side of the house is mostly windows, letting in the warm winter sun (the eves are carefully positioned so that the front room is totally shaded from the sun on June 21, yet the sun goes all the way to the back of the room on December 21). The floor on the main level is texturized concrete, thicker on the south side than it is on the north. This concrete serves as a heat sink, absorbing the warm winter sun during the day, and letting off the heat at night. As a backup (and the official source of heat as far as the county is concerned), we have a Vermont Castings wood stove.
Electric power is from a rather unconventional source: the sun. An array of eight photovoltaic panels (“solar panels”) are located to the east of the house. These generate 860 watts of electricity when the sun is out. This flows through cables through a charge controller to 16 deep cycle batteries in the basement. This 24 volt DC electricity is converted to 120 volt AC by a 4 kilowatt inverter. We have a backup generator as well.
Glencanaan is not finished, and perhaps never will be. We hope that you enjoy your visit. Feel free to wander around, and don’t hesitate to ask questions -- we love to talk about it!
To God be the glory!
Dave, Nancy, Murray, Michelle and Colin Bartholomew
