Finishes, fixtures and other details

Since TNT apparently only shows Titanic over and over this summer, I got no more excuses left to keep from staining the new trim in 38. At least this morning I'll throw a coat of stain on the wood for color. It turns out that Minwax English Chestnut is a perfect color match for this very expensive Sikkens Log Cabin brown that Moss Log Homes used here. The Sikkens is likely a good product- derived from a line of marine varnishes-- i know it comes in a glossy and matte formulation and despite my insistence on matte, we got the shiny one and it was thinly sprayed in one coat here so the total result looks pretty crummy. I got around 7-8 half-used $70/gallon cans in the shed here and no way to tell which is which so I'll start with the minwax color and add a top coat of one of the less dried out Sikkens dregs. Next week I'll collar Shannon or Erick to hit the floor with a belt sander and throw some of the Waterlox tung oil finish on that. I love this Waterlox as deeply and passionately as I have come to hate all polyurethane finishes for floors and furniture. We were so impressed with the promise of a durable plastic shield for wood floors that folks go carried away-- and having lived with polycoated floors that do get scratched and chipped and need thsat whole finish removed to recoat them, I wont have it in my life any moe. Really, isn't it better to use an oil or wax that can simply be reapplied and buffed back to life than to sand off the whole finish to deal with a scratch? And anyone can apply these finishes with out special skill or tools. Waterloxx is great stuff really- long lasting and truly water proof and you just pour it on and even it up with a rag or applicator pad- none of the troublesome pools and puddles that always vexed me using gallons of sticky liquid plastics. It may be my own laziness showing too, but have got more and more conscious of how things like scuffs, scratches and marks add character and age to a building. Seeing us try and marry new materials to old one in these cabins (especially 10, which is ca. 1750) its the absence of any kind of patina to the new stuff that makes the rebuilt and restored parts stick out most sorely. So, i don't worry about scratches now. I used an old claw foot tub in the bath at 38 as it is: that means layers fo paint on the exterior and that the minor stains and chips on the enamel stay. When i checked into recoating the thing, I found its not possible to actually have a tub blasted and new enamel sprayed and baked back on. Instead it gets basically spray pained with a thick layer of white acrylic that has a five year life span. why bother?

We settled on a reasonable heat pump and AC unit for 10 yesterday and it should fit nicely under the back porch. Now I'm free to locate lights and receptacles since we have checked the locations of all the stuff like a range and dryer for any problems with the NC Building Code and I can think of stuff like lights- which is a lot more fun that painting. We got a wonderful art glass pendant that has no damage anywhere on it that was discovered in my mom's garage. Its 19" in diameter and pretty big and fancy for a kitchen but will likely hang over a table in 10 West Huckleberry. The electrician and I pondered using it over the stair landing but after sleeping on it that seems risky- plus, anyone one the first floor will only be looking up into ts bulbs, so what's the point. Its a cool light tho: the glass is set in what looks like bronzes at first glance but is actually painted pressed tin. I think it was married to another lights ceiling plate- this one is solid copper with a nice bead cast round the edge. Got some other lantern type sconces at the good lighting store in town and 3 lesser ones on the porch I need to make up my mind about. Since we are resetting the unpeeled poplar logs that were joists for the second floor onto the ceiling, I see no point putting any flush fixtures on the ceiling between the logs- same goes for a fan: its too cramped and low for stuff hanging over head. y'all can oooh and aah over the art glass drop light while i stain trim now.

Baseboards for a log wall

We kept at the work this week and the guys made much progress on number 10- the inside framing is done now and one can walk through the rooms and we are nearly ready to get the old chink out and the first wiring in. I spent the week running around the Blue Ridge trying to find folks to repair salvaged wall sconces and and fixtures i had accumulated over the years that finally have a home. Also, nothing belongs in old cabins like rush seat rockers and I took an old fiddle back and a great big walnut slat back rocker in for new seat. I spent a couple days looking online and after no luck googling local artisans, it occurred that maybe practitioners of the traditional Appalachian craft of caning might not keep websites. so a trip to the caning supply store in Asheville yielded 8 numbers off their bulletin board and one of those numbers was still good. The rockers went to Born Again Furniture Restorers on Swanannoa River Rd in Asheville. I was impressed with the work that i saw waiting for pick up and delighted when i learned that hey would make new rush seats for only $70 and $80. If you cant find a caner in your area, its almost worth shipping to NC.

When a long counter was removed from under the stairs in my little cabin's kitchen, so that i had room to stand in front of the stove, the AC receptacles had to be moved down to the base of the wall and the wire that fed them hid behind door trim. Fortunately the door need new trim anyway to accommodate some sealing. The receptacles were a simple matter to move as well, but allow me to see a nice illustration of he difference between the quick and dirty job done on this cabin and the work of real craftsmen like the Breedlove brothers who are doing the carpentry work on 10 for Celtic Log Homes. Anyone ever wonder how to fit something like a base board against an irregular surface like a wall of peeled pine logs? One solution was to fit the baseboard to fit the one level surface: the floor. In the first picture, y'all can see the space at between the to[ of he base board and the wall. This was done through whole house and, yes, its full of saw dust and other stuff that just don't come out. Besides it has a sort of sloppy unfinished look- but it does safely cover wiring. It wasnt one of the things that brought a smile to my lips when saw the 'finished' cabin, but it was not dangerous or inconvenient and became one of those defects we resign ourselves to simply live with.

The second image shows the baseboard that Erick constructed on Friday for the repair to the kitchen area in 38. Its a nice, finished looking and functional bit of carpentry and fits snug against the log wall's chinking. The carpenter accomplished this end by simply using a second board to cap the one on the floor-- and what a difference this little detail makes. This same attention to detail was carried to some simple wood medallions to accomodate the little spot lights from Lowes' lighting aisle in the kitchen. I had told the first build Todd Moss that i didn't want a lot of elaborate detail on the interior, but i had never meant that to be interpreted as not to finish or measure what was built. many of the problems n the little house here are the result of a simple lack of oversight on our part. It never hurts to ask a builder "how is this going to work?" or "is that really finished?" if you aren't happy with something.

More on 10 West Huckleberry-- walls and chink

Work continues in anticipation of the electrical rough in in a week. Got the appliances "placed" with chalk marks on the floor and more graffiti to denote lights fixtures and extra AC receptacles. Am putting a full-size stacked washer/dyer in the upstairs bath to free up kitchen floor space. Unlike a stick built project, electric service (and plumbing, and even some HVAC) goes between the logs and then chinked in, so its invisible, but requires careful thought before hand. So, the old cement chinks coming out, then we got to clean and seal the logs before the new synthetic chink goes in. Unfortunately, someone used Cabot's Driftwood oil stain liberally inside the walls and we are hoping that we can get some of it off. the build wants to grind them down to unfinished wood, but doing so would lose the wonderful patina of the 1750's adze cut chestnut so am crossing my fingers and mixing up a lot of trisodium phosphate (TSP). I'm big on patina- i dont care how many times you hit something with a chain or wire or finish nails- nothing will duplicate the wear of the centuries and the hands of man that made it. Time takes time. For preservation purposes, chinking is deemed a finish- so anything goes as far as choice of chink. One good thing in the little cabin here (38) is the sand colored Permachink used in the walls. Synthetic chinks like this have higher R-value and while it takes them years to harden past the consistency of stiff toothpaste, they stick top the logs for the duration. that's important. another source of water damage on 10 was the cement chink had begun to protrude from the walls making each chink joint a little collection trough that funneled moisture into each log below. All cement mortar type chink will eventually do this as wood expands and contracts thru the seasons.

Now the finish in a cabin is much cleaner and nicer if you seal or stain the walls BEFORE they are chinked- so I'm thinking finishes his week. The finish is 38 West Huckleberry done by Todd "it don't show from MY house" Moss is pretty dismal. A good product from Sikkens marine varnishes was thinly sprayed and rubbed around the board and batten stick built additions there. Lots of mark on the chinks from touching up and of cpurse the rough sawn board/battens didn't take the finish even at all. Somehow, Moss Log Homes
was unable to actually get the Permachink into the houses corners either- leaving the biggest no-no of all at each corner of the house: caulk. NEVER caulk over chinking- it wont hold up and its looks so amateurish. Y'all can ponder that for the rest of the weekend.