Finishes
"...Not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning"
Churchill captured the feeling I have lately. We've made lots of progress over the last 2 weeks but most of it isn't all that visual (new pictures next week). We passed framing inspection which is a major milestone. This means that we can close in the walls and start finish work. The foam insulation is almost complete and the fiberglass will go in next week. Drywall starts a week later. The drywall work will take about a month. The concrete pool surround should be poured next week and the final plaster coat should also go on. As soon as the plasterer is done, the siding can be finished. By the end of September, I expect to be at the beginning of the end.
We finalized the finish materials this week and the first decision was to use Sydney Blue eucalyptus for the floor. Unlike the eucalyptus in California, this eucalyptus variant provides useful wood. When Australians came to California during the gold rush, they brought eucalyptus trees thinking that this fast growing tree would provide useful lumber and firewood. Unfortunately, instead of bringing one of the many useful species, they brought ones whose wood is generally twisted and split.
The choice of this flooring made the choice of wood for the cabinets problematic since you can't get Sydney Blue eucalyptus lumber suitable for cabinet making. It turns out that Oakland has one of the premiere suppliers of hardwood veneers. Their showroom is a veritable fantasy land of exotic woods. I've been a woodworker for 30 years and I saw some woods I'd only read about and others that I'd never heard of. Many are certified as coming from sustainably managed forests. We picked a eucalyptus veneer that closely matches the floors and the company will laminate it to the substrate that the cabinetmaker wants.
We can get the veneer either highly figured or straight grain; we'll be using the figured grain for panels where it will be most visible. When I asked if they had enough veneer for the kitchen cabinets, library, and office, the owner said he had 30,000 square feet of this particular variant. I was so impressed with what I saw, I asked for a tour of the factory in back. As we walked out of the factory, the owner pointed out a big stack of veneer which he said were the ones we picked out. When I asked how many trees it took to generate that much veneer, he laughed and said it took less than one. It was then I realized that this is how exotic hardwoods will be used in the future.
On top of the eucalyptus kitchen cabinets will be stainless steel counters. We were originally going to use stone but we've seen several kitchens with stainless counters and really liked them. They are fabricated as a single unit with an integral sink and backsplash so there are no seams. Our architect says they kind of "disappear" and which would be good in the open kitchen/dining room/living rooms space. We really didn't want the space to be dominated by a counter material with a very strong visual impact. Stainless is also recyclable.
Out by the pool, wood cabinets didn't seem appropriate so we are going to use a material called Richlite. It is similar to a solid surface material like Corian but it is made out of paper. (It is also quite durable since it is also used for countertops.)
Our architect felt that we should visit a local concrete fabricator he claimed could make just about anything out of concrete. We came away amazed at what could be done. I was also amazed that another nationally known green supplier was located in Oakland. This shop was in the process of finishing up a fancy custom counter with integral sink for a house in Miami. They had a bunch of cool lounge chairs that were part of a 40 chair order for a resort in Puerto Rico. (I wonder how much it costs to ship 40 300 lb concrete chairs to Puerto Rico?)
The end result of our visit was that we are going to use concrete for the counters (with integral sink) for the pool cabinets and bath.
We haven't made the final tile selection yet but we've narrowed it down to a couple choices.
Once the drywall is up, I'll post another video walkthrough since the interior spaces will be much better defined.
Churchill captured the feeling I have lately. We've made lots of progress over the last 2 weeks but most of it isn't all that visual (new pictures next week). We passed framing inspection which is a major milestone. This means that we can close in the walls and start finish work. The foam insulation is almost complete and the fiberglass will go in next week. Drywall starts a week later. The drywall work will take about a month. The concrete pool surround should be poured next week and the final plaster coat should also go on. As soon as the plasterer is done, the siding can be finished. By the end of September, I expect to be at the beginning of the end.
We finalized the finish materials this week and the first decision was to use Sydney Blue eucalyptus for the floor. Unlike the eucalyptus in California, this eucalyptus variant provides useful wood. When Australians came to California during the gold rush, they brought eucalyptus trees thinking that this fast growing tree would provide useful lumber and firewood. Unfortunately, instead of bringing one of the many useful species, they brought ones whose wood is generally twisted and split.
The choice of this flooring made the choice of wood for the cabinets problematic since you can't get Sydney Blue eucalyptus lumber suitable for cabinet making. It turns out that Oakland has one of the premiere suppliers of hardwood veneers. Their showroom is a veritable fantasy land of exotic woods. I've been a woodworker for 30 years and I saw some woods I'd only read about and others that I'd never heard of. Many are certified as coming from sustainably managed forests. We picked a eucalyptus veneer that closely matches the floors and the company will laminate it to the substrate that the cabinetmaker wants.
We can get the veneer either highly figured or straight grain; we'll be using the figured grain for panels where it will be most visible. When I asked if they had enough veneer for the kitchen cabinets, library, and office, the owner said he had 30,000 square feet of this particular variant. I was so impressed with what I saw, I asked for a tour of the factory in back. As we walked out of the factory, the owner pointed out a big stack of veneer which he said were the ones we picked out. When I asked how many trees it took to generate that much veneer, he laughed and said it took less than one. It was then I realized that this is how exotic hardwoods will be used in the future.
On top of the eucalyptus kitchen cabinets will be stainless steel counters. We were originally going to use stone but we've seen several kitchens with stainless counters and really liked them. They are fabricated as a single unit with an integral sink and backsplash so there are no seams. Our architect says they kind of "disappear" and which would be good in the open kitchen/dining room/living rooms space. We really didn't want the space to be dominated by a counter material with a very strong visual impact. Stainless is also recyclable.
Out by the pool, wood cabinets didn't seem appropriate so we are going to use a material called Richlite. It is similar to a solid surface material like Corian but it is made out of paper. (It is also quite durable since it is also used for countertops.)
Our architect felt that we should visit a local concrete fabricator he claimed could make just about anything out of concrete. We came away amazed at what could be done. I was also amazed that another nationally known green supplier was located in Oakland. This shop was in the process of finishing up a fancy custom counter with integral sink for a house in Miami. They had a bunch of cool lounge chairs that were part of a 40 chair order for a resort in Puerto Rico. (I wonder how much it costs to ship 40 300 lb concrete chairs to Puerto Rico?)
The end result of our visit was that we are going to use concrete for the counters (with integral sink) for the pool cabinets and bath.
We haven't made the final tile selection yet but we've narrowed it down to a couple choices.
Once the drywall is up, I'll post another video walkthrough since the interior spaces will be much better defined.
posted by Jim Barstow at
10:54 PM
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