Ah, the delights of winter. Warm sweaters, hot soup and a cozy fireplace or woodstove. With the onset of cold weather, lots of people are lighting the first fire of the season. I've heated my homes with wood for over a decade now, so I thought I'd share a few tips I've picked up over the years for safe, comfortable home fires. Is It Installed Correctly and in Good Condition?
Regular Cleaning Prevents Chimney Fires
The Right Wood Burns Better If you only burn your stove occasionally, you can pick up a tiny bundle of firewood at the grocery store. It's expensive, but it's an easy luxury. However, if you're going to burn regularly, get a stash of well-dried hardwood such as oak or locust. You can also mix a few softwood logs in there, like pine. The soft woods are nice when you're starting a fire because they burn easily and heat the room up quickly. However, the hard woods are better for long-term, regular use because they create less creosote. Hardwoods also burn longer, so you don't have to keep adding logs all the time. In a perfect world, you'll get your firewood a few months before winter sets in, so the wood has time to dry and is easy to light. For the best results, cover it from rain and snow. Prevent Hot Rolling Logs of Flaming Death Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but when you're burning a fire, it helps to keep in mind that hot logs or sparks can come out of the front of the stove. Pay attention to what's in front of your stove. If you have hardwood floors, get a fire resistant hearth rug to protect the floor. An ordinary rug like this one should be moved away from the stove before you light the fire. If you like to leave the stove door open, you may also want to get a fire screen to keep sparks from popping out. Get the Right Accessories
Now that you've got your woodstove in order, what other winter projects would you like to get done? I'll be glad to help with your "to do" list.
Yes, handymen make art too! Take a look: It's been a busy week, but all of my pictures were pretty boring. (Wanna see some photos of a moldy shower surround? I didn't think so.) So instead I thought I"d show off this project from my archives. It's a chair I made from branches of pinon pine. Look a little more closely at the joinery on this chair. See how one branch flows into another as if it grew that way? That took hours to do. I cut a tenon on the end of the branch, then hand-carved the wood above the tenon to make an exact fit to the adjoining piece. Here it is from the sides. The tractor seat is just set in place, so it could be replaced by a hand-woven seat. I tried to use the curved legs to evoke the stance of an animal. You can buy this for $1975, with free delivery within our service area, which is a great deal considering the time that went into it. It would be a marvelous sculptural addition to any artistic home. If you'd like to buy it, please email me using the contact form linked in the button below.
Driveway gates can make a big difference for a small investment. Here's what I like about them:
I've installed several of these, and I'm always satisfied with the outcome. Here's the story of my most recent custom driveway gate installation. One of my regular customers just adopted a 6 week old puppy. She wanted a gate installed so she could let the cute little troublemaker wander around in the yard without roaming into the road. She already had a fence, so we designed a gate to match it. I started with a metal gate kit called "Adjust-a-Gate." This is a really nifty system. It's basically a pair of steel frames that I can adjust to be wider or narrower depending on my client's needs. Once I had the right width, I added lumber to the top and bottom to help it maintain its shape. The diagonal steel cable is also adjustable, and it's what keeps the fence from sagging over time. Although it's very sturdy, I still needed to make sure the gate was level when I installed it. I used an extra 2x4 as a level check. Of course, no puppy is going to consider this a barrier. It's time to make this more than just a suggestion. Ta-da! The neat thing about these gates is that they are infinitely customizable. Not only can I adjust the width and height, but I can change the look depending on what kind of boards I install. This one is made from simple fence boards cut on a straight line, but I could also make it curved, carved or curly. The design is up to you. For example, I also installed a little side gate. Since I reused the old fence boards, the gate is nearly invisible. You can only tell by the handle. (You can click these three pictures to enlarge them.) Here's one I installed a few years ago. I think it has a Japanese aesthetic. The owner later had an electrician install an automatic gate opener, which is nice when you're coming home on a rainy day. And one more example... this has a driveway gate on one side and an ordinary wooden gate right next to it. Since the latches are all on the interior, it looks like a plain board fence from the road. And since this one uses old barn boards to match the barn it connects to, it just blends right into the landscape. These metal gate systems are very durable. Although they can be adjusted if they sag, I've never even had to adjust one of them. In fact, the one shown above is retrofitted to an existing gate, and it's wider than the recommended limit... but it's still in great shape three years later.
Do you have a driveway in need of a gate? If you're in Asheville or Weaverville, give me a call... I love this stuff. I was sorting through my picture file recently and came across a few photos of a project I did several years ago. I thought it might make a good show-and-tell, since rustic beams are very popular right now. This was a large room addition with a kitchen and living room, plus a whole-house remodel of the rest of the structure. It's a much bigger project than I take on these days, simply because I enjoy the smaller repairs more. Take note of the beams. The cross-beams are real, very heavy, 4"x8" cedar beams. On the other hand, the gable "rafters" you see aren't really structural pieces. They are simple 1"x4" cedar boards which are screwed over the Sheetrock ceiling and into the real rafters. This is a neat way to have the character of "exposed beams" while keeping the lower cost of standard framing. As a builder, my favorite part was that the false rafters went right over the Sheetrock joints, so I didn't have to tape, mud or sand the ceiling. The homeowner even saved money on labor. I do think that the real wood is superior to the faux stuff made out of Styrofoam. Real wood has a texture and visual depth to the surface that synthetic materials just can't match. The homeowner picked out some really cool details to play up the beams, including two wrought-iron chandeliers which draw the eye up so that you admire the ceiling. There's also a ceiling fan in the top (which you can't see at this angle) to help moderate the room temperature. The dark kitchen cabinets set off the room with a medieval look, and the collection of globes on top of the cabinets also draws the eye upward. This was such a big job that the property was practically my second home for six months. It makes me a little nostalgic for my days as a builder. Then again, I still get to do a lot of
I recently finished a gorgeous new project for one of my favorite clients: installing a new wooden vanity counter in the master bathroom of her mountain cabin. Photos don't do this project justice, but since you can't see it in person, here goes... (Click on any picture to zoom in and read about it.) And for those of you who use Pinterest, here's the big "before and after" shot: This isn't the final stage; my client plans to add a granite backsplash in place of the white tile. (You can see the gray sample stuck to the wall on the right.) I'm looking forward to seeing the final version; I think it's really going to look good with the rustic vibe of the room.
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