You dig the Cape Cod seashore's endless vistas of water and sky. The ocean's always been an absorbing presence for you. How it turns ultramarine, slate, and blue. Walking along it, throwing rocks at it, or pulling out your old school long board when a storm's approaching and the surf's way up. When the water's cold, there's the rush of running out, then flopping face down on the toasty sand. The surrounding landscape kills you, too. Its uncomplicated stretches of woods, moors, marshes, bogs, and inlets.
It's all Zen.
You want to build a beach house here, escape the hurly-burly of city life, and restore your sanity.
What Is It?
Back in the Day, when "The Endless Summer" was released and gonzo Dick Dale ruled, a beach house was a shack near the sea. Its size was modest but its pleasures profound. By the end of the go-go 80s, beach houses were Hamptons-inspired mansions. Today, the scale's more human again. Like the 60s, these getaways are intimately connected to the sand, surf, and stars.
Beach houses require their own unique design and construction, and you'll certainly want an architect and contractor who specialize in building homes on the sand and by the ocean. (Some full-service builders have in-house architects, too.)
For instance, the foundations of a beach house are different your typical suburban home. They're specifically designed not to get literally washed away. Or, for that matter, carried away, like in The Wizard of Oz. Beach house architects and contractors combine aerodynamic design with strong building materials to stand up to the structural demands of living on a seashore occasionally visited by hurricanes.
Who Needs It?
Nobody needs a beach house. But everybody wants one.
Benefits
A responsible builder or architect who is sensitive to your budget will tell you smaller beach houses are in vogue. In fact, GD2 (Great Depression #2) has made the market for large beachfront estates all but extinct.
Your builder or architect will also point out how the interiors of cool beach houses enhance the feeling of the seashore's openness. These smaller homes, where it only takes a few minutes to move the broom around, emphasize a connection to the surrounding expanse of sea and sky. For that reason, savvy architects and contractors will tell you your new ocean getaway is about integrating indoor space with livable outdoor space. That is, how porches, observation decks, and patios can expand a beach house's floor plan while, at the same time, minimizing building costs. It's common that as much as a third of your living space will be an outdoors extension of your home. Moreover, vaulted ceilings, large entryways, and French doors all contribute to this liberating sense of openness.
Good floor plans can be understood at a glance. Say, for instance, a plan where a galley-style kitchen is located one end of the house. At the other, a small bathroom. And in the center, you have a dining space and living area. The latter doubles as sleeping accommodations for the kids. Your bedroom, with a sloping ceiling and skylights, is on the mezzanine above.
Plans like this one unfold without the fuss of suburban arrival spaces - their foyers and hallways - and instantly bring you into the heart of your home. You can walk right in and drop the booze and saltwater taffy smack on the kitchen bench.
Any sea-salty contractor will say your building materials must always weather well. For instance, like a stainless steel bench that gets filled with scratches over time. A beach house constructed of cedar will become more beautiful with age.
Location is important, too. A beach house should be sheltered by a copse of trees or behind a dune. What's more, your dutiful contractor or architect will stress an energy-efficient design and construction. Solar panels and geothermal heat pumps often produce more power than the beach house consumes.
Build it now, and you can experience awesome seashore living for a measly $70,000.
The Downside
The dreamy beach house involves more than just cost of construction. Since beach front property is becoming scarcer and scarcer, you'll find prices shooting right through your skylights. Of course it all depends on whether you favor the snooty beaches of Martha's Vineyard, or Ecuador's Bahía de Caraquez.
Plus, once you have your beach home, every wormy, long-lost friend will want to crash.
Robert Rava is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find a
contractor or more
home care articles at Yodle Consumer Guide.
The Shore Thing: Beach Houses and Beach House Builders
