Fallen Architecture
Tour 5 Unique Beetle Kill Homes in Routt County
By Dagny McKinley
Steamboat is growing up while everything around us seems to be falling down. Nearly two million acres of trees in Colorado have been affected by pine beetle disease and are either standing dead or have already fallen. A community that has always taken advantage of opportunity, Steamboat residents are using beetle kill trees to build homes and accent existing properties. The benefits of using a local resource like lodgepole pine include the elimination of transportation costs (most wood comes from Canada), employment for the local community, and disposal of wood that rapidly is becoming a fire hazard. What better way to keep building costs down while using timber supplies that are literally at our doorstep?
Beyond these obvious benefits, aesthetics also come into play. When pine beetles bore into the tree to lay their eggs, the fungus they carry enters the tree and spreads, choking off nutrients to the tree, and causing the pine to turn blue. Because the fungus lives in the sapwood, the heartwood (or interior of the wood) retains its yellowish color. A downed lodgepole pine looks as if a flower has spread blue petals along the outer rim. As the tree is milled, the outer pieces of wood have a heavier presence of blue, and as the logs get closer to the heartwood, blue streaks eventually disappear into the original golden pine color. This indigo color creates contrast and adds character to houses, stairways and ceilings.
While the spruce beetle has been around for a while, giving a bluish hue to trees around town, there's now an urgency to dealing with lodgepole pines. Their shallow root systems make them more liable to fall during heavy wind storms. Affected trees begin to dry once dead, but rot can set in if the trees are not harvested in the first five years. However, in the first few years, there is no compromise to the trees structure or strength as long as the trees are cut, dried and stored out of the elements. In fact, two police officers from California who bought property in Stagecoach are cutting, milling and stacking the wood now for use a couple of years down the line when they plan to build.
Other homeowners around town have also taken advantage of the abundance of beetle kill wood. Jay Czarkowski of Construction Design Group bought a piece of Steamboat history when he purchased Johnny Wisch's house. A legend around town, the Wisch house used to be a hangout for world-class skiers and boarders and base for all night parties. Initially, Czarkowski wanted to tear down the house, but the more stories he heard about Wisch and the indoor hot tub where you could watch skiers flying off a jump right outside the window, the more he knew he wanted to preserve the space as best as he could. The exterior remains the same as when Wisch lived there, but the interior has been gutted and almost all of it now showcases the classic blue and gold of beetle kill wood. While still very rustic on the inside, beetle kill adorns the floor, stair treads, staircases and railings inside and out. Accent pieces on the ceiling utilize the rough bark of the outer log. A new outbuilding is being constructed entirely with beetle kill and will be about 1,400 square feet. All the wood Czarkowski used is Routt County wood. Looking at the outer structure, the blue seems to become part of the architecture and sets the house apart as something more than ordinary.
Unlike Czarkowski who used an existing shell, Scott and Jennifer Kempers couldn't find a cabin that suited them. Looking for a second home getaway, they turned to open land. Incorporating designs from a few cabins they had looked at, as well as ideas from magazines, they were able to create exactly what they wanted. The next step was to have it built. A friend of Scott's suggested Tom Wood of Thomas Wood Handcrafted Log Homes, who has a reputation for building incredibly beautiful log homes. The cabin was built in town, then trucked up to the property. The Kempers went with a log home because of "the way they are framed," says Scott. "They have an open feel, space flows from the kitchen to the dining room to the family room creating a very social atmosphere." What Tom built lets us feel like we are "living in the woods," says Scott. By putting the home on a concrete foundation which houses a basement, they were able to increase the square footage of the house without increasing the amount of wood. However, they framed walls and windows with log accents to keep a congruent feel throughout. "There were tens of thousands of decisions and we're happy with ninety-nine percent of them," says Scott. As it turns out, Wood was the driving force behind using beetle kill. Scott and Jennifer wanted logs as big as they come and Wood knew that now was the time to access dead standing trees that were off limits before. Wood used exposed peeled log on the exterior and interior. The stairways are also beetle kill as are the log railings, with some of the beetle kill even coming from the property. With help from Shannon Bearss, General Contractor of Bearss Construction, they also have custom doors and windows of lodgepole pine. Bearss was the force behind getting the house built through a winter with a ton of snow. "This property is a dream come true for Jennifer and me," says Scott.
After building several houses for clients, Wood wanted to build his own place with beetle kill. From the timber frame, to the structure in the roof, ceiling paneling and indoor window casing, Wood was able to bring the beauty in the blue tones of the beetle kill wood into his own space. “I've always liked the way it looked,” says Wood. For the project he brought in wood from his land in the Hahn's Peak area. “The natural stain of the wood has unique characteristics you can't find in other timber,” says Wood.
Having the perfect surroundings at home and work is key. The Marshall barn, an artist's studio, was built by Dave Mark of Hahn's Peak Construction. "The owner liked the look of beetle kill and wanted to build with local materials," says Mark. So, Mark purchased a mill and logged wood up at Dutch Creek. "The blue stain is the most unique feature," says Mark of the studio that was built entirely of beetle kill. "Using a lot of lighting brings out the color in the wood." Contrast that with three hundred year old doors from Spain and the result is grandiose. The post design was done with rounded logs and character logs with vertical posts, in keeping with the traditional mountain cabin design. As Mark notes, "Now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to harvest trees up to 150 years old." He plans to continue building with beetle kill as long as we have our own resources "lying on the ground."
Over at West End Village, Steve Meyer of Scribeline Timberworks built his own timber-framed home out of beetle kill with the engineering help of Steve Moore of Steamboat Engineering and Architectural Design, who understands that beetle kill can be used for structure as well as for decorative trim. "I choose beetle kill because it's local and affordable," says Meyer. While beetle kill has been used as a resource since 1990, it is just starting to become available in lumber yards as a framing product. Generally it's been seen as decorative tongue and groove pieces. Meyer, not one to be dissuaded by lack of product, bought a load of wood from Kremmling and milled it himself. He's also building a railing on the back deck to match everything else. Moore recommends beetle kill for ceilings, decks and character logs. “With lodgepole pine, the wood will deteriorate much sooner by being out in the elements unless the bark is stripped off and the wood covered,” says Moore. Right now, beetle kill is part of the green trend, says Moore "People are more aware of our environment and they want to use this huge resource around us. It also gives jobs to people who live here and there's a lot of awareness as far as that's concerned." Along with entryways, trusses, timber frames and log homes, Scribeline Timberworks also built the picnic shelter and log picnic table at the park for the West End Village homeowners association from local beetle-kill lodgepole pine.
Joe Bonn is one of those people benefiting from the beetle kill epidemic. His lumber yard near the James Brown Bridge deals primarily in Routt County beetle kill. “Wood is wood,” says Bonn. “You can use it for any application.” Bonn also does timber framing. Having built at least a dozen timber frame packages around town, he also does siding and flooring with decorative beams of lodgepole pine. He's built countertops and tables, picnic tables and Adirondack chairs as well as one house that used about 160 beetle kill trees or twenty-thousand board feet of wood. That equals four log truck loads that are no longer a fire hazard for Routt County.
Steamboat is known as the cowboy ski town and in line with that come the mountain cabins and wood interiors of multi-million dollar houses. “Pine adds to the rustic look,” says Craig Frithsen, president of Engineering Design Works. “Blue-stained beetle kill wood is solely cosmetic, leaving the structural values unaffected.” So as the landscape falls, just think of all the ways it can be picked up and put to use. This is Steamboat's once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase our environment in creative and architecturally relevant ways.
Features
The Beetle Kill Issue
10 Years Strong
Building Green With Beetle Kill Wood
A Cut Above - Harvesting and Milling
Securing Safer Forests by Salvaging Snags
Stimulus Funding Hits the Ground
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The Green Scene
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