Floors and tile
It has been about 6 weeks since my last blog entry. We saw last year that progress was very slow in December and this year followed the same pattern. In addition, we had some extended periods of rain which slowed things down. In fact, we had one storm which was biblical and which provided a good test for the drainage system. It worked quite well with only a couple minor changes necessary to perfect it. The holidays are over and things have dried out a little so we are now back on track and rapid progress has resumed.
The installation of the thermal flooring has been completed everywhere except for my workshop which the painters are using for painting doors. A temporary water heater has been connected and the heat is now on. The house needs to be heated so that the wood flooring can acclimatize before being installed. We hope to see the first Eucalyptus flooring down next week; the complete installation will take 4 - 6 weeks.
The tile work in the bathrooms has also started. In the master bathroom, we chose a small rectangular tile that looks almost like bamboo when applied. There is some variation in size between individual tiles and we've had several discussions on how to handle this variation. We actually looked for an alternative that had less variation but we didn't find anything we liked nearly as much. Our architect, using architect speak, has encouraged us to "embrace the natural variation". This translates to normal speak as, "nothing's perfect".
Outside finish carpentry has continued with the work around the western deck and pool nearly complete. The trellis wall near the pool makes a huge difference in how the space feels by enclosing it and providing much more privacy. The next step is to install the decking on the western deck and around the hot tub. We have tried to use green materials whenever we could and the decking material provided a real challenge. We considered alternatives that weren't tropical hardwoods but they all had fatal flaws. Our neighbors up at Tahoe used one of the new high tech composite decking materials and it looks awful after a couple seasons. Holly did a review of decking material for NYC's green initiative and she suggested black locust. (Black locust is most commonly used for fence posts since it is nearly indestructible. Our contractor commented that it was so hard it made tropical hardwood look like balsa.) Unfortunately, it is difficult to find on the west coast in sufficient quantity and the color would look awful next to the redwood trim. We ended up choosing a tropical hard wood that is certified as sustainably harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Coming soon are the gates on the road and the final gates in the deer fence. This should make us wildlife proof and ready to plant. That is if the rain holds off.
The installation of the thermal flooring has been completed everywhere except for my workshop which the painters are using for painting doors. A temporary water heater has been connected and the heat is now on. The house needs to be heated so that the wood flooring can acclimatize before being installed. We hope to see the first Eucalyptus flooring down next week; the complete installation will take 4 - 6 weeks.
Thermal floor with finish floor stacked. Looking out to the western deck.
Looking across the kitchen to the covered patio.
The tile work in the bathrooms has also started. In the master bathroom, we chose a small rectangular tile that looks almost like bamboo when applied. There is some variation in size between individual tiles and we've had several discussions on how to handle this variation. We actually looked for an alternative that had less variation but we didn't find anything we liked nearly as much. Our architect, using architect speak, has encouraged us to "embrace the natural variation". This translates to normal speak as, "nothing's perfect".
Victor, the tiling contractor, in one of the guest bathrooms.
Outside finish carpentry has continued with the work around the western deck and pool nearly complete. The trellis wall near the pool makes a huge difference in how the space feels by enclosing it and providing much more privacy. The next step is to install the decking on the western deck and around the hot tub. We have tried to use green materials whenever we could and the decking material provided a real challenge. We considered alternatives that weren't tropical hardwoods but they all had fatal flaws. Our neighbors up at Tahoe used one of the new high tech composite decking materials and it looks awful after a couple seasons. Holly did a review of decking material for NYC's green initiative and she suggested black locust. (Black locust is most commonly used for fence posts since it is nearly indestructible. Our contractor commented that it was so hard it made tropical hardwood look like balsa.) Unfortunately, it is difficult to find on the west coast in sufficient quantity and the color would look awful next to the redwood trim. We ended up choosing a tropical hard wood that is certified as sustainably harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council.
The new pool area trellis wall. (Click for a bigger image.)
Coming soon are the gates on the road and the final gates in the deer fence. This should make us wildlife proof and ready to plant. That is if the rain holds off.
posted by Jim Barstow at
11:08 PM
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