The story below is from our January/February 2019 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
Photos By Bob Sowder Photography
An unusual underground home renovation focuses on comfort and sustainability.
Forget the image of a round green door and long, dark hallways lined with coat hooks. John and Jasmine Stapleton’s home is not your average hobbit hole. In fact, it’s not a hole at all, even though it’s underground.
When John’s father, John Stapleton, Sr., built the home for his family in 1983, he most assuredly did not have hobbits in mind. He thought more of comfort and sustainability. Jimmy Dollman, principal of Dollman Construction in Roanoke, describes Stapleton as forward-thinking.
“Between the design of the home and its orientation,” says Dollman, “it’s pretty passive solar.”
Dollman Construction oversaw the renovation of the Stapleton home, which John inherited when his father passed away. The only child of John and Margaret Stapleton, John, Jr. always wanted to return to the Iron Gate community where he grew up. So, after graduating from college as a nurse practitioner, he and Jasmine, also a nurse, returned to Botetourt County in 2010.
Originally, three feet of dirt and grass, acting as insulation, and the surrounding woods, hid the poured-concrete home from view.
“I’m the only kid I knew who had to mow his roof,” John says.
But because he had memories of the roof leaking, John decided to remove all that dirt to make it more accessible for possible future repairs. According to Dollman, the roof now includes a commercial-grade membrane roof over polystyrene insulation, over concrete poured into wooden forms. On the inside, those wooden forms show through as the ceiling.
The first phase of this renovation included the kitchen, laundry, living room, and master suite. Wanting a modern, industrial feel, the Stapletons removed the original wall paneling and flooring. Except for the half-bath off the living room, where they left the concrete walls and ductwork exposed, they painted all the walls a steely blue color. Red oak with no stain and a matte finish covers the floors throughout. The result is a brighter color that looks like raw wood. It complements perfectly their streamlined design.
To open up the property and provide more light for this passive solar home, the Stapletons removed many trees. John milled those trees himself to create the lumber for the flooring, the fireplace mantle, and the sliding barn-style doors. The wood trim that sides the stairway came from another local source. The rest of the wood trim throughout the home—kitchen island and laundry room counters, kitchen shelving, powder room sink, and master bathroom mirror frame—John upcycled from benches he had made for his and Jasmine’s wedding two years earlier.
Other upcycled items include entryway lights from Black Dog Salvage and metal ceiling tiles and a sewing machine base from other local antique stores. The Stapletons used the bricks from the original fireplace to construct the new one. Similarly, they left an original red-brick chimney exposed in the laundry room.
Dollman completely reorganized the living room of the home. Originally, six concrete pillars and the fireplace supported the roof. This layout broke up the space so much it resembled a maze more than a place to entertain friends. Moving the fireplace into the center of the space, and enclosing two of the pillars in its construction, and pouring reinforced concrete beams on the top side where the columns and fireplace were, enabled Dollman to completely remove two of the columns. The result, an entryway on one side of the fireplace with living area on the other.
John also removed the paneling that covered the pillars to expose the concrete. He left scribblings his father made with chalk on one of the pillars—tally marks and calculations for a part of the job, no doubt.
Another rearrangement moved the laundry from the master suite to the opposite side of the home. By closing off the end of the kitchen, the Stapletons created a roomy laundry area with cabinets for storage and a counter for sorting and folding. The exposed red-brick chimney and black and white mosaic porcelain tile support their sleek, industrial design.
Removing the laundry from the master bath made room for a spacious walk-in closet. The bathroom space includes a generously sized soaking tub, open shower with subway tiles, and his and her sinks with a marble countertop. The slate-look, porcelain floorcovering complements the black plumbing fixtures.
Windows, practically floor to ceiling, make up the south-facing wall of the master bedroom. Overlooking the mature oaks and fields beyond, sleeping in this room must feel like an outdoor adventure. A frosted glass panel in the wall over the living room and another one inset into the sliding barn-style door provide more light for this space.
The next phase of the Stapleton project will be the basement. Future plans for two more bedrooms and a family room are in the planning stages. John is just happy to know that going forward, no one needs to mow the roof.
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