A New Yankee Floor

Norm Abram, that talented master carpenter and all-around great guy I had the pleasure of working with for 17 years, is building a kitchen from scratch during the current New Yankee Workshop season. Although viewers won’t see the final product until the last episode is broadcast this spring, TV being what it is, the actual kitchen is finished. At the wrap party, once I got over the beauty of the cabinetry, I was immediately taken by the new floor.

It’s a dynamic duo of antique southern heart pine on an engineered substrate, topped off by a tough-as-nails factory-applied finish. The pine forms the top wear layer, down to the tongue of the tongue-and-groove plank. In this way, it’s as “refinishable” as a solid pine floor, since one can only sand down to the tongue of any floor. Whether you’ll need to refinish it anytime soon is debatable, as today’s factory finishes with their aluminum oxide coatings are much tougher-wearing than any field-applied finish. Furthermore, the jobsite doesn’t need to come to a standstill for sanding and finishing—the floor is laid, and that’s that.

The substrate is “engineered” by virtue of its being plywood, whose cross-ply construction makes it very stable and less prone than solid wood to cupping and warping. It’s perfect for use over radiant heat.

And the look is just gorgeous. The wood comes from old logs that sank during long-ago drives, when wood was floated down river from the forests to the sawmills. This is old-growth wood, pulled up from the river bottom perfectly preserved and brought into service in a century it hadn’t been destined for.

Norm’s kitchen’s floor is 4 ¾” engineered reclaimed heart pine from the Trout River. New Yankee Workshop executive producer Russ Morash got it from:

J & T Associates
174 Cleveland St., Suite 1
Blairsville, GA 30512
Contact: Jason Bennet
912.437.3944 or 800.820.1150

Another source for engineered heart pine flooring is southernwoodfloors.com.

Two more notes. 1) Heart pine isn’t right for every home: a Queen Anne Victorian would rather have strip oak; a contemporary might look better with maple, ash or bamboo. 2) Some heart pine flooring is recycled from old buildings, some is recovered from river bottoms, and some is being grown now. The first two categories are a finite resource, so make your move sooner rather than later. One of these days, there won’t be any more.

In Hot Water, Happily

At the recent Build Boston trade show, I went to a seminar on hydronic heating, which is the heating of a building by radiation from panels containing hot water. This includes traditional radiators as well as radiant floor heating, both of which, in my (and many others’) opinion, are vastly superior to forced hot air. Hydronic heat is quiet, clean, even, and inexpensive to operate—and with radiant floor heating, it’s invisible.

I was impressed by the way the hydronics industry, despite being full of competing companies, seems to have banded together to present a cohesive face to the public. The myhomeheating.org website does a great job explaining hydronics, while another website names names on what companies use trained technicians to install hydronic systems. One of the scariest things about hiring a heating system contractor is knowing who’s good—natex.org tells you companies in your area that have people trained by North American Technician Excellence (NATE), an independent certification program.

Seal the Deal

One product that really caught my eye at the show was from Sto, a well-established maker of modern stucco coatings. Called StoGuard, it’s a spray-on building wrap—waterproof, vapor-permeable and, if applied correctly, free from air leaks.

Now, building wrap ain’t exactly the sexiest thing going—and not something a homeowner will be dealing with on a regular basis--but it’s absolutely crucial in modern construction. Unlike fabric wraps like Tyvek, StoGuard has no seams to admit water and air leaks, nor holes caused by fasteners such as staples. It provides waterproofing, protecting sheathing and everything inside the building from moisture intrusion. It provides an air barrier, which reduces the risk of leaks and the moisture condensation they cause in or on walls—condensation can rot wall assemblies and will reduce the thermal efficiency of the wall. It’s also breathable, allowing for water vapor to diffuse through the wall assembly, which is particularly important in climates like New England’s, where seasonal temperature and humidity changes make water vapor want to either pass into or out of the building envelope.

StoGuard is for use under brick, wood, vinyl, cement siding (like HardiPlank—another winner of a product), and traditional or modern (EIFS) stucco. For (nearly) everything you ever wanted to know about it, check this out.

A New Book for Old-House Fans

In my time on the Cambridge Historical Commission, as well as with This Old House, I’ve come to appreciate the different arguments about the right way to build additions on older homes. Some say the new work should be clearly distinguishable from the original, going so far as to put glass-and-steel wings on Georgian houses. Others argue for a more seamless approach. One eloquent proponent of the latter approach is architect and author Frank Shirley, who has a practice in Cambridge and happens to serve on the historical commission with me. His new book, New Rooms for Old Houses (The Taunton Press), is a passionate treatise on ways to add space to a beloved home without damaging the character that drew you to it in the first place. Case studies, diagrams, and 300 luscious photographs make the case well for ways to teach an old house new tricks.

Replace Your Old Windows and Save! Not Likely.

‘Tis the season for window salespeople, contractors, and other parties who either have skin in the game or are incorrectly informed to try to sell you on the idea of replacing your old windows to save energy. STOP. Very simply put, if your windows are original to your house, you should think long and hard before replacing them with double-pane, insulating units. Not only are original windows key to a house’s look, an old wood window can be made to operate well; with a good storm window over it, it can equal the energy performance of a modern window. Do not believe anyone who tells you that new windows “will pay for themselves.”

Let me put forward a scenario:

Assume $300 per new window in installation cost (and that’s cheap). How long will it take to make that up in energy savings? Windows account for, at most, somewhere between 20% and 30% of your house’s energy loss. So, take 25% of your yearly heating bill (heat loss through windows), then take 10% of that number (improved efficiency with a low-e double-glaze replacement window over an old window with a storm window). The result is the amount of money you could expect to save in energy use. Replace 25 windows at a cost of $300/window: total installation cost = $7,500. Let's assume $5,000 in annual heating and cooling costs. 25% of $5000 goes out the windows = $1250. Now, 10% of that you will save in energy use = $125. SO...in 60 YEARS (not accounting for inflation) you will have earned your money back. Of course, during that time you also will have replaced your replacement windows at least once, because very rarely will modern windows last that long.

For more information, visit the website of David Liberty, one of the Boston area’s best old-window specialists.

In defense of modern window manufacturers—employees of which I count among my best friends in the building industry--quality new wood windows most definitely have a place in new houses, in additions, and to replace replacement windows that were crummy to start with.