Burning Wood and Stripping Paint

I was turned on to an excellent blog that takes you on a building crews adventure erecting the Newport Ranch Inn along Highway 1 near Fort Bragg, CA. I usually check it while eating breakfast. These guys are pros and skilled craftsmen, and the redwood they use is amazing. Makes me wonder why I work alone, these guys get a lot of work accomplished in a short amount of time.

I torched the Doug Fir from Dave with a propane torch... that was fun. It would be real easy to burn down a barn with one of those. I kept a hose nearby and burned it over dirt. I burnt three sides of the board and then wire brushed every single stick. It took some time but now it is over and ready to install.

Of course there are a few things to do before installation. We figured the hearth for the wood stove should go in before the wood floor and it seemed like we should finish all the dirty work before starting on the hearth. The dirty work I am referring to is removing the paint from the redwood bead board ceiling. That is almost as much fun as torching and wire brushing a huge stack of wood.

The heat gun finally gave up the ghost. It has removed almost all the paint necessary on our house, it only had about two more days to go. My focus instead went to finishing up the drywall. As you can see this wall doesn't have any and the opposite side of the room needs it too. We have decided to keep the ceiling bare instead of painting it which will save us some time, that means this room is nearing completion. The last room to finish is the kitchen. Unfortunately I am pulling away after Labor Day to make some money building upper cabinets for a house in Arcata. I also have cedar shingles to install for a client nearby.