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Tag Archives: Douglas fir flooring

  • Reclaimed Douglas Fir Round-Up

    Posted on September 28, 2011 by Jennifer

    Everyone knows that wisdom comes with age—but sometimes, beauty does too. When it comes to choosing building materials, many homeowners, interior designers and architects are now turning to reclaimed Douglas fir when they want to create a unique look that can’t be duplicated with new materials.

    Reclaimed Douglas Fir beams.

    Using reclaimed Douglas fir is good for the environment—rather than clogging a landfill with old boards, when old buildings are dismantled, the usable materials can be given new life in a new home. And while environmental concerns play into the decision to use reclaimed materials, that’s not the entire story. Designers are choosing reclaimed Douglas fir because its unique blend of durability and beauty only improves with age. Creative designers across North America are featuring reclaimed Douglas fir in new and innovative ways.

    In Lake Tahoe, architect Dennis E. Zirbel found that reclaimed Douglas fir was the perfect choice for the interior of a remodeled cabin. According the Tahoe Daily Tribune, the interior of the home previously incorporated modern styling that didn’t match the home’s vintage wooden exterior. By using natural materials like granite and Douglas fir, Zirbel brought back a rustic mountain feeling with the re-model. The home’s gorgeous vaulted ceiling with exposed beams and rafters is made entirely of reclaimed Douglas fir. Wainscoting and built-in cabinets also feature the weathered material. By using reclaimed wood, with the patina that has built up from years of use, designers can create a cozy, vintage feeling instantly.

    In Berkeley, reclaimed Douglas fir provides warmth and history to a new, top-of-the-line concert venue. The Freight and Salvage organization, a folk music institution born in the 1960s, is known for its history of performances in gritty urban warehouses. The new project, a performance hall built on the site of two auto repair shops, successfully marries that gritty feel with the latest in acoustic technology, largely by its use of reclaimed Douglas fir from the garages.

    ArchDaily reports that the salvaged Douglas fir was repurposed as wall slats for the auditorium and lobby of the new venue. The old boards were adapted to enhance the acoustics of the space, while their weathered patina fits in perfectly with the Freight and Salvage’s tradition of informal, blue-collar settings. The dramatic floor-to-ceiling lines of the Douglas fir wall slats give a feeling of warmth and authenticity to the new, tripled-capacity performance hall that brand-new materials would not impart.

    The rustic, weathered look isn’t the only design possibility for reclaimed Douglas fir, though, as architect Omer Arbel shows in his 23.2 house, a striking modern home outside Vancouver, Canada.

    In Arbel’s creation, Douglas fir beams reclaimed from burned-down warehouses were the inspiration for the house. The huge beams, up to 65 feet long and 35 inches deep, were of different lengths and cross-sectional dimensions. According to Arbel’s website, the design team decided to treat the beams as “sacred artifacts”—he didn’t want to manipulate them or finish them in any way. To accommodate the mismatched dimensions of the Douglas fir beams, Arbel created a triangular roof system that melts into the sloping landscape surrounding the house.

    The 23.2 house features a mixture of materials and angles. Steel columns, huge glass windows and doors, and warm-toned Douglas fir coupled with the angular structure make for a stunning home with a distinctly contemporary feel, a stark contrast to the rustic Tahoe cabin and the urban Freight and Salvage performance hall. The 23.2 house was recently featured in the design publication Inhabitat and was on the short list for the 2011 World Architecture Festival’s recognized homes.

    And for a smaller reclaimed Douglas fir project that can only be described as whimsical, look to a high-end treehouse in Southampton, N.Y. The Lake Nest Treehouse, designed by Roderick Romero of Romero Studios. Featured on parenting website Babble.com, the Lake Nest treehouse features large, rugged Douglas fir doors, perfect for giving children the sense that they are opening a door to another realm. The vines and driftwood nestled around the 100-percent reclaimed Douglas fir structure enhance the nest-like look of the project.

    No matter what feeling you want to create your building project, beautiful Douglas fir flooring, paneling and beams are an investment that will stand the test of time in your home—and perhaps one day in someone else’s home as well.

    - Jennifer Rouse



    This post was posted in All Entries, Douglas Fir Flooring, Douglas Fir Trim, Douglas Fir Paneling and was tagged with Douglas fir flooring, douglas fir paneling, reclaimed douglas fir

  • Altrufir Provides Douglas Fir for a Beautiful State Park Renovation

    Posted on August 25, 2011 by nell

    Beautiful new Douglas Fir Floors

    Russ Hendricks, Maintenance Manager at Fort Worden State Park on the Olympic Peninsula, is very happy with the recent renovation at one of the park's many historic buildings. Altrufir is overjoyed that our Douglas fir flooringwas an integral part of that renovation.

    Douglas Fir Floors at Fort Worden State Park.

    Russ called us this spring looking for a suitable replacement for the old growth Douglas fir material used when the historic park structure was originally built. "Replacing historic Douglas fir is our specialty!" we told him. And a few weeks later we shipped the material to him. Despite a brief moment when he thought he might need just a smidge more material, the floor installation went off without a hitch. And Russ was very satisfied at how beautiful the floor looked.

    Nice picture of the natural variation in Douglas fir.

    Recently, Russ sent us pictures of the completed project and we think they are mighty nice. We like seeing how good the material looks. The natural beauty of vertical grain Douglas firis on full display, including occasional small knots, color variation, and short pitch streaks.

    We're so proud to have taken part in restoring this piece of the Pacific Northwest's history. What can we do for you?

    *CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE THEM IN DETAIL.*



    This post was posted in All Entries, Douglas Fir Flooring, History and Interest and was tagged with Douglas fir flooring, douglas fir floors, clear vertical grain, douglas fir restoration

  • Making Your Wood Shine – Finishing by Hand and Machine

    Posted on August 19, 2011 by Ian

    One of the last steps before installing your fir floors is choosing how the wood is finished. There’s a world of a difference between hand-finished and machine-finished lumber. Hand-finishing wood can be a long, involved process, but any carpenter will tell you that the finished product is well worth the time and effort.

    Finishing lumber is a four-part process. First, the wood has to be sanded down to a smooth surface, so that the finish can be applied evenly. Second, the wood may be stained to a desired color and tone. In hand finishing, the stain is rubbed on, ensuring that the color penetrates deeply into the wood. On a machine line, however, the stain is sprayed on and left to dry, which is less effective.

    Finishing your floors: apply by hand or machine?

    The next step in the process is applying the finish itself. There are many types of finish – wax, lacquer, shellac, drying oils, varnish – and which you choose should depend on several factors, including the amount of protection you need for the floor, and what kind of sheen you want. The finish is applied in several layers. Again, the rubbing motions used in hand finishing the wood are far more precise than the methods on an automated flatline system. Since each piece of lumber is unique, a human eye is preferable for finding and filling the contours of the wood grain. Methods such as French polishing – where layer after layer of shellac is applied via a rubbing pad, leaving a highly glossy sheen – this simply cannot be done in a factory.

    Finally, buffing or polishing the surface can bring beautiful surface shine out in finished woods. Here, more so than in any other step of the process, hand finishing is without a doubt the superior method. For polishing, one rubs abrasive materials on the wood to scratch out a glossy sheen. Different materials of various roughnesses are used in succession to buff out the scratches left by the previous abrasive. Being able to handle the wood by hand is a great advantage in this process, because being able to feel the contours in the wood is key.

    However, finishing wood by hand can be an exhaustive process, and as a result it’s far cheaper to buy machine-finished lumber. As flatline factory systems improve, hand-finished lumber is becoming a rarity. Nonetheless, there’s no replacing the care and attention that a human hand can lend to wood, and it’s no surprise that hand-finished wood stands up to the test of time far better and longer than machine-finished wood. When deciding what’s right for you, the choice will come down how much you’re willing to pay for a superior product.

    - Ian Friedman



    This post was posted in All Entries, Douglas Fir Flooring, Care & Maintenance and was tagged with Douglas fir flooring, finish douglas fir, finish wood flooring

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