The rains are forecasted to arrive this week so Dave Ruiz and Hunter Martinez finshed polishing the concrete on the ground floor.  With this task completed, we can start framing on the ground floor!

Both our son, Nik, and daughter, Kate, came to the job site to see our progress.

Changing the heads on the polishing/grinding machine.

Box of polishing heads.

As with sandpaper, the heads are changed to finer and finer grit as the concrete is polished.

This strip of concrete in the Foyer is too small to be completed with the machine so it is done by hand.

Nik, standing in the atrium in front of our feature concrete wall.

Kate standing on the finished concrete in the Kitchen on the ground floor.

Kate likes the polished concrete!

The rains stopped and Dave Stratton’s team from Pacific Decorative Concrete focused on grinding and polishing the concrete on the ground floor.  Annie Rouse (Murray Windows & Doors) met with Dave Edwards to review the openings for our windows and doors as well.  And, Bryan went to take a complete inventory of our beams that are being milled by Dave Merchant (Out of the Woods), located near Bonny Doon in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

After measuring the beams, Bryan stopped at Beauregard Vineyards‘ tasting room in Bonny Doon.  He took a picture in the tasting room for Chris, from Vinissimo, in St. Maarten.  Chris had recommended a wine from Beauregard when we were there on Saturday, January, 23.

Changing the bits in the 440 volt grinder/polisher.

Dave Stratton (right) reviewing the work completed by his team, David Ruiz (left) and Hunter Martinez (center).

Annie Rouse from Murray Window & Door came over to verify the openings for the windows and doors. Note that Annie has a binder with the shop drawings for the various models of Fleetwood window/door frames.

Bryan drives along Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz on his way to Dave Merchant

To get to the milling operation, the road goes through a clearing that is home to a ~ 20 llamas. Interestingly, under the provisions of a purchase agreement, the current owner of the land must allow the llamas to live on the land for the rest of their lives. There is a trust fund that provides for a caretaker for the llamas. Nice ...

A happy llama.

We took a complete inventory of the beams and reviewed the length and dimenisions of each beam so we could identify where each beam will go in the house.

Our beams are wrapped and tucked away for the forecasted rains.

Given it was Friday afternoon and Bryan was driving right by Beauregard Vineyards

In the tasting room, with the photo taken from St. Maarten last Saturday where Chris had recommended a bottle of Beauregard wine.

There was a gap in the winter rain storms pounding Northern California so we decided to take advantage of the window and buy (pick up) the reclaimed wooden beams that we found in Hayward.

The Plan

The beams were located in Hayward, which at the intersection of Interstate 580 and Interstate 880, and we needed to move the beams to Dave Merchant’s milling operation, which is in Bonny Doon in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Dave owns Out of the Woods, and is supplying our Madrone flooring (we toured Dave’s Out of the Woods operation in May 2009).  Since Dave wasn’t available, he suggested that I contact Rich Carpenter, who had a truck and trailer that could handle the 25 ft long beams.

Rich agreed to meet with Bryan in Los Gatos just after 9:00 am and then they would drive up to Hayward in his truck, towing the trailer.  The expected arrival time in Hayward would be around 10:30 am or so and Kenny, who is selling the beams, would have the beams ready to load.

After loading the beams, we would then take them back to the Santa Cruz Mountains for milling.

Selecting the Beams

Leaving at 9:30 am was perfect - no traffic at all and we navigated perfectly to our destination (not one wrong turn!).  When we arrived at the site in Hayward, Kenny, who was selling the beams, graciously allowed us to go through all 25+ beams that he had and select which beams we wanted.  However, this was not an easy task as the 20+ ft long beams were on his driveway and we needed to inspect each beam from within the stack.  Fortunately, Kenny had an extremely talented forklift operator, Miquel, who could navigate the forklift safely and quickly, so we could go through the beams and load the beams that we bought.

We were able to go through the beams in two hours and selected 10 beams to buy.  The beams have some steel rods in them that must be removed, as well as some nails, and there are a couple notches in the beams.  We require 6×10 beams, which are 5-1/2 inches by 9-1/4 inches and the beams that we selected were 6×12 and 6×14 beams, we we have some room to play with.  Also, only certain faces of the beams will be exposed.

Unloading the Beams

The return trip to Los Gatos was perfect - no traffic!  We cruised along safely at a good pace.  Rich dropped Bryan off in Los Gatos so he could follow Rich to Bonny Doon.  A quick lunch in Los Gatos and we were on our way.

Dave unloaded the beams quickly and Rich was gone.

Grinding the Concrete on the Ground Floor

Back to the job site and, to our surprise (and delight!), Dave and Hunter from Pacific Decorative Concrete were there working on the main floor concrete.

A big day … way, way cool.

Kenny and the driveway that Rich will back into.

Rich 'threads the needle' and backs the 25 ft long gooseneck trailer in perfectly!

Our process was for Miquel to lift the selected beams and then Rich backs up the truck/trailer to load them.

We have our 10 beams and Rich is securing the load for our trip to Bonny Doon.

These are the remaining beams that we didn't take. Kenny will have no problem selling these beams - they are beautiful timbers!

Bryan standing in front of a huge log that Dave will be milling soon.

Dave's current milling order - this is one-inch redwood in long lengths.

Dave unloading the beams from Rich

We were all anxious to see the tight growth rings on the old-growth beams so Dave cut off a small piece.

The growth rings are very tight. Later, we counted more than 105 growth rings in the segment of the tree. It is rewarding to be able to use this reclaimed wood in our house so it can continue in a new life.

Back at the house, Dave Edwards' team continued to make good progress with the framing of the soffits in Nik's room.