If you were going to get someone to design and build your dream, off-the-grid country property, you could not do better than calling on Logan Muller. He was a geothermal and sustainability consultant before most people were aware of such things.
His work takes him all over the world, most recently to Mexico, and he confesses that for the build of his house on the hills above Warkworth, he and his wife Heather did go to extremes.
“We designed it ourselves — we’d built a number of eco-homes before,” Logan says.
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“We wanted to go all-natural products and, apart from a bit of Gib in one corner of the living room, we’ve achieved that.
“It really is over-designed and over-engineered — the walls are eight or nine inches thick, it’s double braced inside and out, and we used so much pure wool insulation that the R-rating (thermal resistance) was high enough not to need double-glazing on the windows and doors.”
Logan and Heather had lived off the grid in nearby Puhoi, so they knew the region. For this build they spent years looking for the right plot.
It needed to combine a northerly aspect and serenity, be close to major highways for access to the airport for Logan’s work, and near the sea, as they love boating and fishing.
They found the plot at the end of Moir Hill Rd, high on a ridge and by coincidence mere kilometres from their previous home.
It was the views that drew them. But although it’s the last property on the road, a real “back of beyond” spot it’s only 5.5km from State Highway 1.
Boat ramps at Jamieson and Mahurangi bays, and Warkworth town are only 15 minutes away. The ridge is adjacent to nearly 242ha of native bush reserve and is protected from the southerlies.
The couple wanted a house that was warm and chemical-free for their combined family of five kids, now aged between 19 and 30.
Over the years they’ve had up to four of them living at home, and right now their eldest and second eldest daughters live on the property — one in a caravan house, the other in the guest whare up from the main house.
Builder Steve Golder brought on tradespeople who were new to sustainable ways of building.
“They came in a bit sceptical, thinking it was all too difficult,” says Logan. “But by the end everyone fell in love with the project. So many brought people to come and look, saying ‘I want to build a house like this’.”
The all-natural timbers included matai floors (recovered from a firewood stack, in perfect nick), walls made from wide-board macrocarpa milled just up the road, and ceilings using lawson cypress and macrocarpa.
The exterior is totara, milled from logs recovered from swamps. Some of the best slabs, still with their live edges, were saved for benches for the kitchen and bathroom vanity.
The couple stretched to heart rimu for the windows and doors, a six-month build by an old craftsman in Silverdale. (Logan says half the fun of the project was finding skilled people who knew how things used to be done).
In keeping with not using new materials, the window latches, plumbing fittings, even the light switches are all recycled. An old clawfoot tub makes an outdoor bath with views across the valley.
The house is arranged around courtyards and terraces to bring in the sun and open to views that on clear days stretch northwest to Dargaville and northeast to the Hen and Chicken Islands.
The solar-energy property is efficient to run (Logan says with all the kids and computers, kitchen appliances, lights, shower, they never ran out of energy) and the wood stoves in the kitchen provide both heat and great cooking facilities.
With a 45,000-litre rainwater tank and a natural spring, and its own septic system, running costs for the property are close to zero.
The couple have put in a kitchen garden with 200 fruit trees — over 22 varieties. A 120sq m workshop is a dream for handyman work and storage.
3+1 bedrooms, 1+1 bathrooms, 2 garaging
SIZE (more or less): Land 18.189ha, House 115sq m.
INSPECT: By appointment.
SCHOOLS: Ahuroa Primary, Mahurangi College.
CONTACT: Chelene Allinson, Barfoot & Thompson, 021 608 714.
