Posted on

Oldfield Custom Home Gregorie Neck

It’s not always possible to hand select every board that gets delivered from the lumber yard. When time permits, I like to hand select the boards that matter most. Decking boards or flooring boards are visible and they need to look good and they need to last. There are a few basic things I look for. Is the board pretty? Are there knots? How many years growth does this board have in it?

Of the three listed things I look for, the years growth is the most important to me. Notice in the picture the center board has roughly 39 years of growth. The board above it and the one below have less than 10 years. They grew fast and they have more summer (soft) wood. The center board grew in what might have been tough conditions. It could have been poor soil, lack of water, or a high wind area. Either way, it grew slow in the summer and and is comprised of roughly half soft wood (summer growth) and half hard wood (winter growth). It’s a good heavy board that will last. The two other boards are soft and light. They will not last nearly as long as the board that grew under rough conditions.
Treated lumber is placed on the concrete foundation. The treatment is designed to deter termites and add life to the lumber by making it weather resistant.
Framing materials in the South Carolina Lowcountry are primarily southern yellow pine and spruce.


Skilled craftsmen deserve good lumber
Posted on

Townhome vs Single-family Detached Home

In early 2013, Jim Moore, approached me regarding building townhomes on Goethe Road in Downtown Bluffton, South Carolina. My initial impression was to convince him to stay away from townhomes and build single-family detached homes. Afterall, everyone wants their own house and they don’t want their house touching their neighbors. We ate lunch and talked it over with another friend who had an interest in the development, Mr Kumar Viswanathan. They explained the advantages of townhomes and the cost advantages of building three homes in one building at a time rather than building one house at a time. I was still not convinced there would be a market for townhomes vs stand alone homes. We broke ground in December 2014. Pictures is the last of 36 townhomes we completed in 2017. Not only did all 36 homes sell before they were completed, we could have sold twice as many if we had room to build them. It was a great location and buyers loved the concept of living in a small, new, well-designed community. The takeaway for me was not everyone wants to live out in the sticks, with a boat (that doesn’t run) in the yard, and stack of firewood on the front porch.

Posted on

Colored Epoxy Paint

Perhaps there are options other than Glidden, but I’ve had great success with Glidden’s colored epoxy paint. Most paint stores can’t add color to match epoxy paint. Glidden does custom colors. It cost $200 per gallon, but it’s worth it.