An active family with five children desired a large, light-filled home near the mountains north of Colorado Springs to accommodate their busy lifestyle. An out-of-state architect designed the home, specifying tropical hardwoods for the accent walls, which transition seamlessly from the interior to the exterior of the home. After a builder was selected and received the plans and budget it became apparent that a different wood species would be required.
Factors including availability, cost, and concerns about the environmental impact of tropical hardwoods led the family to engage a local architect and the builder to come up with an alternative wood species. The solution was redwood from Humboldt Sawmill Company. Sourced from company-owned Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC® C013133) certified timberlands in Northern California, Humboldt Sawmill Company redwood is grown and harvested to the highest environmental standards in the world.
Readily available from the company's distribution center in Loveland, Colorado, the builder worked with a local remanufacturer to custom mill the wood to the desired shiplap pattern. Local availability kept the cost within budget. Natural durability in the form of tannins in the redwood heartwood render the wood resistant to termites and decay, an important factor in the home's mountain environment. All these factors, along with enhancing the modern aesthetic and imparting warmth that might otherwise be lacking in the 10,538-square-foot structure, meant that redwood checked all the boxes the family was looking for in a natural wood species. It also made life easier for the builder as redwood is more versatile and easier to install than tropical hardwoods.
Redwood specification information including CSI 3-part and Canadian CSC formatted specification, BIM objects, CAD drawings, product catalogs, and LEED credit information, along with American Institute of Architects (AIA) LU/HSW credit hour webinars may all be found by visiting https://www.getredwood.com/architects.
Architect: Scott Harvey, Art of Engineering
Builder: Chad Fieber, Palmer Ridge Construction
Photography: Kelly Edmondson
