Lookout Mountain home
Architect: Chesmore Buck Architects
Engineer: Charles Voelker
Owner: Private residence
ABC members: Andgar Corp., Columbia Cabinets
A new private home near the top of Lookout Mountain is 1,200 vertical feet above the town of Cle Elum. Dykstra Construction Services overcame several challenges during construction on this remote site, which was only accessible by a three-mile winding dirt road with an average 5 percent grade.
Dykstra used a mechanical pick to excavate solid rock in order to place the foundation, then set infrastructure inside the rock-formed site for operation during construction.
Installations included an electrical transformer with a mile of buried electrical conduit; a water well drilled 1,100 feet deep with an associated pump house; a septic system and drain field; and three wind turbines.
Weather created constant obstacles, with temperatures reaching 100 degrees in the summer and minus 20 degrees in the winter. Also, access roads were impassable in the winter snow and wind gusts reached 80 miles per hour.
The difficult site conditions necessitated careful work sequencing and extended the project duration. Work halted during the first winter of the project, with construction resuming after the spring thaw. In order to meet the target finish date, Dykstra completed the building shell by the following winter. Interior finishes were completed throughout the winter despite the need to transport personnel and materials up the mountain. The homeowners occupied the property by early spring.
Dykstra self-performed most of the construction work, including the foundation, rough framing, selection and placement of peeler logs, and interior finishes. It also fabricated some of the cabinets.
The house has an open floor plan around a stone fireplace, a series of angled interior walls to highlight the spectacular views, and a porte-cochere with vehicle turn-around at the main floor.
The house's three levels are connected by a wood open riser stair with a guardrail built from vertical grain fir pickets. An elevator connects the utilitarian lower level to the main entry and living level with great room, master bedroom and bathrooms. A small upper floor contains an office with expansive views.
Some of the home's high-end finishes included exposed log columns, Montana ledgestone, clear horizontal cedar siding and vertical grain Douglas fir trim.
The project was completed on time, with no injuries during the 12,270 hours worked.