The owner’s tour | A life project that is both simple and excessive

Owners open the doors of their exceptional homes to us, offered on the resale market.

This is a property that can certainly be described as out of the ordinary. Wanting to do away with the usual practices in residential construction, the owners have spent the last 13 years building the house of their desires. A little excessive? Yes. But certainly surprising.

Nestled at the bottom of a plot of land, in a modest neighborhood of Châteauguay, not far from the river, the house stands out from its neighbors. By its architecture and its enneagonal shape (nine sides), which give it the air of a holiday lodge, but also by its fiber cement covering, its path made of honeycomb slabs, the stone fence which surrounds it and the wine cellar exterior concealed on the ground, among other things.

A cabinetmaker by trade, Didier-Alexis Gouriou taught architectural carpentry at college before retiring and embarking, with his partner, Viviane Primeau, on the construction of this house. In 2009, they purchased land on which there was an orchard with many plum trees and mature trees. They wanted to build a house in their image, in which they could grow old.

“It was a bit of my end-of-career dream to use all the skills and knowledge I acquired over all these years,” says Didier-Alexis Gouriou. We ignored everything that existed and asked ourselves: “What is our dream?” »

They dreamed of a house with a refined design, a low ecological footprint and which would require minimal maintenance. A logic taken to the extreme, right up to the bed, without legs, hung on the wall cantilevered to facilitate vacuuming.

“We wanted to eliminate everything that doesn’t need to be in a house,” says Mr. Gouriou. He cites, for example, the handles which are recessed into the doors, the stainless steel plinths, installed recessed under the plaster walls and the moldings, which are completely absent. “Pure design is beautiful, but it’s a lot more work. Lots of work for precision. » And for research. For example, it took the owners six months to find a maple veneer with the patterns they wanted.

“Over 13 years, about 50% of the time was devoted to research and drawing,” says the man who also carried out a large part of the construction. I went looking for training, especially in the first year. »

Although construction officially ended in 2017, the project was never finished. The owners are still working on its finishing these days, particularly for the management of the lighting which can be modulated in different tones of white.

Energy efficient

Motivated by an ecological approach, the duo based their choices on the standards of the LEED Platinum and Passivhaus programs (house using little energy to be comfortable), although they did not complete the procedures to obtain the certifications. official. Beyond the certificate, “it made us push our thinking further in terms of ecology”.

This results in the recovery of rainwater, which is used in particular for toilets and watering plants, optimization of the orientation of the house with large windows facing south, a double-framed structure to eliminate thermal bridges, a modest surface area (around 1,200 square feet) and the absence of a basement – ​​the house being built on a monolithic concrete slab, heated with hot water.

“As for insulation, we wanted something very comfortable. Even if you approach the windows, you don’t feel the cold at all. The house is extremely airtight, so much so that we had to add a system of electric shutters in the mechanical room. When you start the vacuum cleaner, the bathroom fan or the hood, the shutters open a little to let air in and balance the pressure. »

A niche product

The mechanical room is a room in itself. The machines pile up there. Here a system of batteries and low-voltage electricity which allows, in the event of a breakdown, a week of energy autonomy for lighting and emergency equipment and for some power outlets; there, a computer to control home automation and lighting. Enough to confuse newbies, Mr. Gouriou is well aware of this.

Even though all procedures are documented in manuals and it is always possible to contact a technician in the event of a problem, future buyers will at least have to like new technologies. The style of the house too, since it is a niche product.

“People who buy from the house will have to have a crush. We cannot compare the price with the houses next door or with the municipal evaluation which does not take into account the design and the quality of the materials,” notes Didier-Alexis Gouriou, who estimates having invested nearly $555,000. (1900 supporting invoices!) for materials and the fees of some consultants.

“We didn’t think about resale or return on investment because we thought we were going to end our days here. We wanted to have fun. » However, life takes them elsewhere, on different paths.

Excessive as a project, you think? Mr. Gouriou agrees. “Already by nature, I’m a little excessive, but here, we really let ourselves go and it’s too much. To someone who would like to do the same, I would say don’t do it! It’s been 13 years of my full-time life. I learned a lot, I had a lot of fun, but it wears you out in the long run. »

Incapable of half measures, upon the sale of the property, the original Breton plans to leave on his sailboat. “When I leave my house, I don’t pay rent, I don’t buy anything, I leave on my sailboat. For how many years? I don’t know. When I get tired of it, I’ll stop sailing. It’s sad [de quitter la maison], but at the same time, life goes on. »

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