What Makes a Peter Asher House?

Working with Clients

• We work as a designer-builder-client team, maintaining a high level of communication throughout the project.
• We begin a design project by considering the site.
• Our planning aids organize and simplify the many choices and options available, enabling you to focus.
• Design-build projects are hands-on from concept to completion.
• Design-only projects are done in close cooperation with your builder.

Overall Design

• A Peter Asher house is a warm and comfortable space, even as storms rage outside.
• The design of the house showcases your land and views.
• The exterior design may include vaulted hip gables, overhanging floor levels, vaulted window walls, and wrap-around decks.
• The house looks good from every angle, not just the front, for curb appeal, back yard appeal, neighbor appeal, and interior appeal.
• We like to design open, flowing living areas, perhaps with multiple levels.
• Interior spaces merge in a three-dimensional flow, resulting in fascinating and aesthetic interralation of spaces, ceilings and walls, windows and beams.
• We do not follow trends. Instead, each house is an original in form, function and aesthetics, individually designed.
• We solve problems: space, structural, and aesthetic.

Structural Design

• Trade-secret framing methods enable us to frame open designs in a structurally sound manner.
• We use engineered timber for dimensional stability.
• Our cedar roof decks are built with precision joinery on floating frames over torch-down roofing.
• Abstract interior vaults are made possible because of sophisticated structural support systems.

Exterior Details

• Closed cedar soffits with routed edges and built-in vent slots
• Milled cedar deck rails
  
• Hand-crafted corner boards, rakes, trim and other architectural details.
• Spacious decks blend the landscaping with the home and include cedar benches, planters, and stairs.
• Deck railings may be made of marine stainless steel or glass, which do not impede your view.

Common Specifications for Interior Details

• Milled hardwood hand rails, wall caps and other trim.
• Fitted woodwork on window walls.
• Hand-rubbed stain and oil finish.
• Tongue-and-groove planks on ceilings and beams in cedar, hemlock, or oak.
• Custom-milled base and casing.
• Master bath surrounds incorporating tiled steps, ledges and benches.
• Minor level changes setting off different living areas.

Specifications for Coastal Construction

• Stainless steel for flashings, deck railing cable, and siding and trim fastenings.
• Adhesive ice-and-water protector installed around windows and at corners, under the siding.
• Asphalt shingles individually attached with caulk, in high wind areas.
• Exterior doorknob and hinge finishes which oxidize naturally.
• Gutters and drains designed for heavy water conditions.
• Thirty-pound felt, rather than house wrap, for siding underlayment.
• Air penetration points sealed with foam insulation.
• Fixtures (such as windows, doors, chimneys, lighting housings, and vents) suitable for these extreme weather conditions.