I thought I would share an article I came across today in hopes of distracting us (good luck!) while we wait to hear whether the 700 billion dollar bail out package has any life left in it. It’s an article from HGTV’s Frontdoor.com entitled Top 10 Must-Know Real Estate Trends.
It provides a quick Top 10 list with a link to a more detailed article on each trend. It’s not as “gloom and doom” as much of the press surrounding the current market crisis, which is why I chose to share it. The awful state of the housing market is a given- this article offers cautions and suggestions on how best to go forward. It will be interesting to see how events in the coming days affect these trends…
Best of luck to those struggling through these difficult times.
This weekend was my daughter Maya’s birthday party. Well one of them - she had three, one for each year of her life as it turns out. The first was just the three of us; Maya, my wife, and me. We took Maya to Knotty Toys on Granville Island to get her a dollhouse, and generally spend the day with her. The second happened at Maya’s daycare. This third one was the Family Edition, meaning that she was one of many children leaping and cavorting around our house, while the grown-ups sipped their drinks and had cheese and crackers, while waiting for the main course.
All the while, I was ferrying myself between the kitchen and the living room, bringing in plates of food, drinks to guests, and a myriad of other assorted things necessary for the well-being of all, party-wise. Needless to say, there was a lot of chaos. I put on some Chet Baker to provide a counterbalance. Not even Chet had an effect.
We don’t have a big house, at least not one proportional to the size of our family. So, space was at a premium, not that this made much difference to my daughter and her cousins, racing as they were from one room to another, darting around the legs of furniture and people at breakneck speeds. At one point, they decided to employ Maya’s impressive arsenal of percussion instruments (a plastic bass drum, a toy piano, maracas, bells, sticks, tambourines, castanets, etc.) to ‘have a parade’. Cute, very cute. Loud, but cute. It was a fun time, despite the chaos.
But, it was not without its dangers.
One of the objects most important to an event like this of course is a digital camera, and many pictures were taken. Mine was being charged on the food table, with a long cable attached to an outlet. As I mentioned, space was at a premium. So, when the ‘parade’ came around, and a little foot (not sure who’s) wrapped around the cable, the laws of physics didn’t miss a beat. Down went my camera, off the table, and hurtling toward the floor.
Luckily, we’ve got cork flooring.
Cork as you know holds many benefits. You’ve read about them in countless articles. Maybe you’ve read about it on this blog, or in our cork flooring articles section, or somewhere else. But, here was a real life example of how cork flooring saved my Canon four-pixel camera. The camera hit the floor, and the cork absorbed most of the shock, and my camera was saved, if a little shaken (like its owner).
By the time Maya opened one of her gifts, a chest of ‘princess clothes’ given her by her Gramm, all of the kids got in on the act, putting on costumes and posing for pictures. I was able to participate in picture taking, thanks in part to my cork flooring that saved the day.
I found an article in the San Francisco Chronicle which gives some great advice on the common problem of a how to fix a squeaky hardwood floor.
The flooring in question is a vintage hardwood flooring in a building constructed in 1912. And the cause of the squeaks? A piano. Well more specifically, a piano being moved across it. The weight of the instrument as it was rolled along the boards caused the nails to loosen, becoming even more loose as they were walked upon after the piano was moved.
The crux of the advice is that this is a fixable problem, one you can make for yourself. In any case, I suggest you give it a read - and let me know what you think!
And for more information about moving a piano, complete with a video, check out learntomove.com, which not only talks about the subtle art of piano moving, but also about some best practices on how to move your furniture without damaging your floors.
Harvesting cork is more than just a process - it’s a grand tradition. And these days, it’s one which dovetails nicely with the idea that environments should be preserved. Here’s a cool article from the BBC about harvesting cork, mostly in the context of the wine industry.
Cork flooring, which is what we deal in around here at BuildDirect when it comes to the industry, is actually a bi-product of the older wine industry. Well, we deal in the wine industry too. Y’know; non-professionally.
But, I digress.
Part of what the article addresses is the misconceptions people have of the cork industry, and with natural wood products in general. A lot of people are surprised to learn that the trees which produce cork are still standing by the end of the process, preserved not just to keep the industry going, but also to protect the local eco-systems. The cork oak tree is an important species, giving shelter to local wildlife, and also maintaining the integrity of the soil with their deep root systems.
Other than that, it’s a great little article that will give you a general overview of where cork flooring comes from, and a little bit about the people who make it happen too. Be sure to watch the video attached to the article too.
Cheers,
Rob.
Harvested cork oak trees image courtesy of PhillipC
A colleague of mine, Jamie, sent me a link to this episode of the Discovery Channel’s How It’s Made program. In it, you get to see how a raw plank of wood is processed into a finished hardwood flooring board. As a bonus in this clip, you get a bit of info on drainage pipes too, if you’re interested. In any case, the clip about how hardwood flooring is made is a great overview of a detailed process. Take a look:
In days of yore - the 1970s, early 80s, and up until recently - what sprang to my mind when the word ‘shed’ was mentioned was an institutional green and white cube fashioned out of sheet metal, with a sloping roof covered in leaves. When you opened the door, it was as if someone was playing a tympani solo. And inside, it was a little enclosed area full of bikes, rusted gardening tools, garden hoses, hockey nets, spider webs, and dead bugs. In short, it was like a giant outdoor closet, a ‘land of the lost’.
Yet, lately the idea of a shed has gone beyond that - except at my house of course where it’s still a land of the lost, or at least of the jumbled and not-very-organized. In any case, a shed is more than a tacked on enclosure for your stuff. It’s becoming a separate space of its own, used as workspaces, home offices, and as places of contemplation away from the hectic business of household cares. And what do you know, some of them even feature cork flooring!
The Seattle Times has run a story about modern sheds as chic outdoor spaces, showcasing a local firm called Modern-Shed, descriptively enough. The idea came out of a renovation of a 1940s home which had been scheduled for demolition, and a lack of storage space therein. In solving the problem of a lack of space, married architects Ryan Grey-Smith and Ahna Holder designed a shed, separate from the main property and with a life of its own as opposed to a strictly practical addition. The idea for their own space proved to be an idea for their business. Since launching the business, they’ve received attention from print media, as well as TV shows like HGTV’s I Want That.
The sheds they offer range in price, depending on the tastes and requirements of the client. They offer eco-friendly choices, which include the aforementioned cork flooring tiles, which not only provide a green flooring surface, but also provide natural heat insulation and sound dampening qualities. Check out the Modern-Shed website for more information about prices and services.
A follow up to yesterdays post, Transparency- Mmm Mmm Good. For anyone interested in learning more about transparency, I’m currently reading “Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor” by Warren Beenis, Daniel Goleman, and James O’Toole. I’m in the early going, but it’s great read so far. Here’s a quote that I feel speaks to the employer/employee relationship as relates to transparency:
“No matter the official line, true transparency is rare. Many organizations pay lip service to values of openness and candor, even writing their commitment into mission statements. Too often these are hollow, if not Orwellian, documents that fail to describe the organization’s real mission and inspire frustration, even cynicism, in followers all too aware of a very different organizational reality.”
Assuming the Campbell’s add recalls true events (a stretch, I know), it’s my opinion that Campbell’s recognizes the valuable resource right under it’s nose. Employee feedback can be a great indicator of whether a company is living up to its core values. Campbell’s appears to have used employee opinion as a check and balance in this respect. This can lead to valuable feedback on issues ranging from the product the company is churning out to fulfilling its commitments to it’s community. However, in this scenario an employee is only as valuable as he or she is honest. In an environment where this honesty is encouraged, employees are any company’s most valuable asset.
Roughly 3 months ago, BuildDirect conducted a company wide poll asking for genuine, anonymous feedback from its employees. The question was essentially “How are we doing?” The feedback was encouraging, critical, and constructive- all at the same time. The leadership has since used this feedback to drive much needed improvements into the business strategy. This strategy was then made clear and available to every one in the organization- posted on a 5′ x 12′ white board for all to see. This is transparency put to use. Every employee could see that there honest imput was valued and resulted in a shared vision and goal. This initiative has had a positive impact on BuildDirect and, it could be argued, has highlighted the need for more of the same.
As the quote above suggests, transparency should be engaged in as a continuing process. BuildDirect, like a lot of companies, has a long way to go. That said, as an employee it’s nice to know we’re on the path. That’s the important part.
I was watching TV the other day when an ad came on that I found refreshing. It was a commercial for Campbell’s Soup. It begins with a close up of a man’s face and slowly pans back. The narrator tells the story of Campbell’s asking this individual how he feels about Campbell’s Soup. The individual replies that he doesn’t always feel comfortable serving it at home. By now the camera has panned back just far enough to reveal the Campbell’s crest on the individual’s shirt. The narrator then says that Campbell’s found this strange…since the individual actually works for Campbell’s Soup.
The add finishes up by informing the audience that Campbell’s is now producing soups with substantially less sodium. Responding to changing market conditions is natural- if customers are demanding healthier options, give them healthier options. But what Campbell’s has done here is significantly different. They are demonstrating that they believe their wholesome image is a true reflection of their core values. They are intimating that they had the presence of mind to poll those that, ideally, are the safeguards of those core values. Finding their product wanting, they took action. In doing so, they simultaneously improved their product offering and reinforced their valuable wholesome image. This is transparency in action. I hope to see more of it.
Here’s an interesting article about architects from Kansas City.com, which outlines how someone in the profession of building a custom home actually goes about doing it for themselves, a lot of the time using alternative building materials to do it. Four homes will be open to the public, two of which are renovations of historical homes.
One of the things which architects tend to do when starting a project is to focus on a single great idea when building, not throwing a bunch of merely good ideas together. This makes sense, of course. I would have thought that there must be some temptation for these guys to make their homes into huge cathedrals to vast artistic talents. I suppose that says less about their talent than it does about my own potential prowess as an architect myself: that is - none at all!
But, there are some great ideas in there, one being an emphasis on practicality as well as on artistry. For one, keeping rainwater away from a property is a big priority, so the designers have that in mind when mapping out the project. Also, since even these guys are on a limited budget, they tend to use materials which are off of the beaten track to get the visual effects they’re after. One guy used charcoal brick for his exterior. Another used cork flooring, which of course is making something of an impression as a green building material, even if not a lot of people think of it before solid hardwood. But there are a bunch of other great examples of building materials that not a lot of people know about which deliver both practicality, and a stylish look too.
For instance, there are a lot of exotic hardwoods like toona (known as Asian mahogany on our site, Australian Red Cedar on others, although it’s its own species) and taun, which is a fruit tree in China that is plentiful, with regulated harvesting, hardy, easily stained and great looking. Yet both of these choices in hardwood are largely unknown in North America, although they’re standard choices in the Pacific Rim. Additionally, there are a number of bamboo products like strand-woven bamboo which is just as hard, sometimes harder, than many hardwoods. Yet, there aren’t as many people who know about it that would certainly benefit from it in terms of performance as well as design.
Pictured above - stained taun; a type of hardwood which is off the beaten track for most North American buyers, even if this choice is standard in places like Australia and New Zealand.
One thing to do when trying to cut down on costs is to ask about alternative materials like this, which have the potential to help you make the most of your remodeling dollar. As always, my advice is pretty much from the vantage point of one consumer to another. And I find that engaging the experts in dialogue is always the best way to go, rather than just going by conventional wisdom.
Anyway, I was impressed by this article, because I always think it’s great when professionals let you into their worlds a little bit instead of the whole Wizard of Oz model, where they stand ‘behind the curtain’ and only let you see what they want you to see.
If there are any readers out there who get a chance to see these homes mentioned in the article, please drop a comment and tell me what you think!
Expanding from some of the stories I’ve found about hardwood flooring covered by carpet for decades, I found this blog about uncovering and refinishing wood floors that talks about a renovation that was done when a smaller refinishing job in a spare bedroom turned into a sanding extravaganza on the second floor of their home. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of talk about how intense a job sanding hardwood flooring can be. Yet, with the help of friends and a rented belt sander, they got the job done just fine.
You can see the results posted on the blog, along with a couple shots of some of the equipment they used, including a set of homemade knee pads (very nice), a shop vac, masks, a drum sander to get up all of the little bits of nothin’ on the floor (because the people who laid the carpet over top of it used an awful lot of glue, and some paint besides…), an orbital sander for some of the corners and more detailed areas, and other important tools and safetywear.
At least when you work this hard on a flooring project, the benefits at the end are pretty obvious. Sanding a wood floor can be noisy and messy, but for uncovering a real hardwood floor to increase the visual value of a property, not to mention a financial one, it’s worth it to gather your buds, get some burgers, pizza, and fizzy beverages, and commence with the transformation.
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All the while, I was ferrying myself between the kitchen and the living room, bringing in plates of food, drinks to guests, and a myriad of other assorted things necessary for the well-being of all, party-wise. Needless to say, there was a lot of chaos. I put on some 
The crux of the advice is that this is a fixable problem, one you can make for yourself. In any case, I suggest you give it a read - and let me know what you think!
Cork flooring, which is what we deal in around here at BuildDirect when it comes to the industry, is actually a bi-product of the older wine industry. Well, we deal in the wine industry too. Y’know; non-professionally.
Yet, lately the idea of a shed has gone beyond that - except at my house of course where it’s still a land of the lost, or at least of the jumbled and not-very-organized. In any case, a shed is more than a tacked on enclosure for your stuff. It’s becoming a separate space of its own, used as workspaces, home offices, and as places of contemplation away from the hectic business of household cares. And what do you know, some of them even feature cork flooring!
You can see the results posted on the blog, along with a couple shots of some of the equipment they used, including a set of homemade knee pads (very nice), a shop vac, masks, a drum sander to get up all of the little bits of nothin’ on the floor (because the people who laid the carpet over top of it used an awful lot of glue, and some paint besides…), an orbital sander for some of the corners and more detailed areas, and other important tools and safetywear.
