| When my husband and I bought a vacant lot near | | | | various lengths and widths. They require careful |
| Charlotte Street ten months ago, we only considered | | | | installation over a plywood substrate and a layer of |
| one material for the exterior as we got ready to build | | | | roofing felt, but once nailed in place according to |
| a house there: poplar bark shingles. We were used to | | | | manufacturer's guidelines they remain flat and stable |
| seeing 100-year-old chestnut bark houses farther up in | | | | for decades. |
| the mountains, and wanted that same kind of | | | | Our lot's small dimensions -- 3,900 square feet, or .09 |
| no-maintenance durability for our new Asheville home. | | | | acre -- dictated a small building footprint, in this case 30' |
| Apparently not many Asheville residents are used to | | | | X 32'. That includes a 24' X 24' two-story core of |
| seeing all-bark houses, though, because the | | | | heated space linked by an 8' X 8' bump-out stairwell, |
| construction site has been stopping traffic since the | | | | with covered porches upstairs and downstairs in the |
| bark went up in the fall. | | | | Asheville bungalow style. |
| Today, chestnut bark is no longer available since a | | | | Builder Frank Wilson of Candler has overseen |
| blight wiped out all the trees. However, poplar bark | | | | construction, with Asheville carpenter David McCaslin |
| shingles are a worthy substitute, and because I was | | | | hand crafting stairway and porch railings from locust |
| writing a book about poplar bark shingles, we felt no | | | | poles. Custom cabinetry by Carl Hankins, owner of |
| reservations about that material. My co-author, Chris | | | | Asheville's Kitchen Concepts () looks like fine furniture |
| McCurry, is one of the owners of Highland Craftsmen, | | | | instead of just cupboards. |
| the company in Spruce Pine, N.C., that produces the | | | | The downstairs consists of a great room with kitchen |
| shingles. | | | | and living/dining room, flanked by a guest suite with |
| Poplar bark is a reclaimed forest material which would | | | | bathroom; upstairs there's an office and spacious |
| otherwise be mulched, burned as industrial fuel, or left | | | | master suite. The house has an energy-saving |
| to rot on the ground after commercial timber | | | | on-demand water heater and only an under-counter |
| operations. Instead, squared by hand, then kiln-dried and | | | | refrigerator, and the covered porches should diminish |
| carefully wrapped until installation, the shingles provide a | | | | the need for air-conditioning. |
| hardy exterior cladding that never needs paint or stain. | | | | One observer said, "It looks like it rose from the |
| Poplar bark shingles are being used not only for homes | | | | ground." That's exactly the feel that poplar bark |
| all over the United States, but also for commercial | | | | shingles give a building. A squirrel took off running up |
| applications. The shingles range from ½" to 1 | | | | the back of the house once the bark was on. |
| ½" thick, depending on grade, and come in | | | | |