Galvalume - Metal Siding Everyone Loves

September 08, 2013 in Siding, Exterior, Materials

By far the most commented on and requested material on the blog is the Garage Metal Siding (the cedar siding on the main house comes in as second). Nearly everyone we meet that has been by the house mentions the garage siding. Many people are so in to it that they then drive down the alley to check it out up close. Don’t get us wrong, we love it too, but covering the entire house with it probably would have been overkill, not to mention a bit noisy with expansion and contraction.

The beauty of Galvalume is that it behaves so differently based on the lighting condition – it can vary from a very light aluminum silver all the way to a very dark blue gray color. There is a richness to this finish that goes beyond anything a simple paint finish can ever achieve. Plus, it is way nicer than any standard metal siding we have seen.

The concealed fastener version of this metal panel also keeps the focus on the panel and corrugated pattern vs. the distraction of exposed fasteners. We used Berridge’s HR-16 wall panel in their “Pre-weathered Galvalume” finish. The installation is fairly straightforward--we used an OSB substrate with felt over a simple 2x6 stud wall.

Check out the installation photos to see it going in and some of the finished photos too.

Playing with FLOR

January 18, 2009 in Interior, Materials

We've followed Interface's FLOR tiles for a while now and it's nice to finally have a spot to experiment with them. The girls had fun trying out different schemes, and after we lamented the fact that the "red" really looked pink, Nina came up with a good alternative to the checker board pattern. We will add one more row of black to fill up the front foyer.

Art Room Cork

December 06, 2008 in Art, Interior, Materials

We spent a recent weekend installing two large cork panels in the Art Room for the little ones. Having a spot where they can pin up all their drawings really changes the feel of the room. Homasote makes these panels with a natural cork tackable surface with their recycled paper backer board. Read about the product here: Homasote NovaCork

Siding - Horizontal Cedar

November 07, 2008 in Cedar Siding, Design, Exterior, Materials, Siding

The Haida cedar siding has arrived from the staining shop. Nicholas and his crew started installation right after completing the door and window installation.

We are getting our heads around the fact that the “representative” samples we received from the stack aren’t that spot on. Considering our entire house is being covered with this stuff, its character will define it. Unfortunately, there are some very, very dark pieces and a significant number of them. We were trying to achieve a more uniform and lighter look.

Nicholas has been dutifully blending the batch, but the outcome on the first two elevations is very stripey. Some may see it as adding a richer character to the exterior, however, we had always envisioned it being a clear and even color throughout. Nancy will explore some additional staining options - maybe we can tone the spectrum of color down a bit.

Other than being extremely wasteful (ordering a lot more than we need and picking through it), I don’t see many other options to getting a single color product from a mill.

Siding-Take Two

March 26, 2008 in Design, Exterior, Materials, Siding

Much better now. We lost some sleep over this siding thing. The contrasting stripes were getting to us. Nancy and I spent a considerable amount of time sorting the entire stack of pre-stained clear cedar and sorted it into light, medium, and dark.

We suggested that the guys mix the two lighter varieties on the front and north elevations. The result is a more subtle appearance and much more palatable to us.

Numerous people said they liked the “character” and “richness” of the dark mixed in, but there was just a little too much of that for us! Another point that was made, is that by year two, the colorado sun will have this wood bleached out anyway...A big thanks to Nicholas and his crew - they did a fantastic job on the remaining areas of siding.

You’ll see the color differences depending on the location of the sun.

Break Metal Work

March 22, 2008 in Breakmetal, Exterior, Materials

Break metal work on residential projects is frequently done poorly - there always seems to be something wrong - the gauge is too thin so it “oil cans” (waviness), or it’s some color that clashes with the rest of the colors, or it’s just plain poorly installed! Curt found what appears to be a very good metal sub contractor, and we’ve been talking through the parapet and fascia details. The lower roofs are so thick (SIPS + roof curb), that we are attempting to bring the scale down by stepping the metal fascia into three sections. Jerry of CO Metal Source mocked up a section to review. We adjusted the top section to better match the parapet above, and stepped it out a little further to help differentiate it with more of a shadow line. It will be installed some time this week!

Siding Samples

March 12, 2008 in Cedar Siding, Design, Exterior, Materials

For many months we explored combining different materials on the exterior - mostly stucco and cedar. However, we decided to simplify in order to achieve a subtle more understated look. Ultimately we selected a simple tongue and groove western red cedar board with a very small exposure - similar to flooring in width. We will place this horizontally around the entire house. We purchased this clear smooth cedar from Haida.

The boards have been delivered to a local staining house, and we ended up selecting Sikkens “Natural Light” - the lower right-hand sample above.

Bathroom Tile

October 22, 2007 in Bathroom, Flooring, Materials, Tile

Nancy has spent a lot of time scouting for unique materials for our project. One of the items we have purchased way ahead of time are the floor tiles for the bathrooms upstairs. These tiles are have a steel-like texture and tone - from Porcelanosa. The pallet arrived the other day and I can’t wait to see them go in. (I know, it’s going to be a long wait!.)

Porcelanosa web site