LIFE

Home of the Week: A round house above Black Mountain

TEXT BY JAKE FLANNICK CITIZEN-TIMES CORRESPONDENT PHOTOS BY WILLIAM WOODY WWOODY@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM

Steven and Nancy Zuk left the big city for the mountains a while ago, longing for a more natural setting for themselves and their two children.

Now, after living for years in an Arden subdivision, the middle-aged couple once again is planning to uproot themselves, this time to an even more serene backdrop: a mountaintop south of Black Mountain where they had a contemporary, cylindrical house built for themselves earlier this year.

"We were looking for something unique," Nancy said, describing the house as a "dream" that started taking shape when they bought the secluded property a couple of years before moving to the region.

Assembled with more than three dozen wooden panels that were hoisted into place with a crane, the three-story house appeared earlier this month on a DIY Network series called "Breakneck Builds," which features unconventional prefabricated homes across North America that are assembled within 48 hours.

Containing about 5,000 square feet with five bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths, it has a spacious feel with a modern aesthetic, featuring a light-filled interior with an open floor plan and no load-bearing walls that Nancy helped envision.

Three of the bedrooms are on the top floor, which includes a light-colored cathedral ceiling made of tongue-and-groove wood that stretches more than 20 feet high in the center. Occupying much of the second floor is a kitchen featuring a 16-foot-long granite countertop, a glass tile backsplash and wooden cabinets a Hendersonville craftsman fashioned from walnut and wormy maple trees.

Its layout is accommodating, Nancy said, adding, "I love to cook."

The house was assembled in March by Deltec Homes.

Although it has no energy-saving certifications, it's more energy efficient than a new standard construction home by perhaps by 30-35 percent, according to Leigha Dickens, manager of green building and sustainability for the Asheville-based company. That measurement is based on where other houses the company has built tend to fall in the Home Energy Rating System, which measures energy efficiency.

It has a heat pump water heater and better-than-average insulation, with a ventilation device to pull fresh air inside.

Originally from New York, the couple spent years in Atlanta before moving to the region, having decided that "we did not want to live the rest of our lives that way," Nancy said of the hustle and bustle of city life, citing urban sprawl and traffic congestion.

Although work on their mountaintop home is all but finished, the couple does not intend to settling into retirement there until as soon as late next summer; they are waiting until their daughter, Jessica, a senior at Roberson High School, goes off to college. While Nancy is already retired, Steve still works in the paper mill industry.

Beyond its aesthetic, their home is remarkable for its soaring mountain vistas from an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet. Among the vantage points are three decks around its olive-green exterior, including a cantilevered one outside a reading room on the top floor, as well as an outdoor hot tub.

On a clear day around this time of year, the couple said, views can extend as far as 40 miles.

As for the property, it is serene, stretching over about 7 acres in the Catawba Falls Preserve, a nearly 900-acre expanse on the edge of the Pisgah National Forest that is largely undeveloped. Hiking trails and streams abound there, and the couple has already begun exploring, taking 45-minute hikes to the upper part of the namesake waterfall.

"That's why we bought out here," Nancy said, later adding, "We want to see where the bears and the waterfalls are."

NUTS AND BOLTS

The home: A prefabricated house sitting on a mountaintop south of Black Mountain of about 5,000 square feet, including five bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths.

The homeowners: Steven and Nancy Zuk, who bought the serene property a couple of years before moving from Atlanta to an Arden subdivision. They plan to move there as soon as late next summer, after their daughter goes off to college.

Wow factor: The aesthetic of the cylindrical-shaped house, featuring an open, light-filled floor plan with a contemporary feel, as well as its soaring mountain views from an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet.

NOMINATE A HOME

To nominate your house or that of a friend for this feature, contact Bruce Steele at bsteele@citizen-times.com. Include your telephone number and a telephone number for the homeowner, if not you.

DO YOU DECORATE?

The Citizen-Times has a couple spots left for Home of the Week features for the holidays. If you decorate your home or property for Christmas, send a description of your decorations and a contact telephone number to Bruce Steele at bsteele@citizen-times.com.