Tag Archive for: Sustainable Design Wood Flooring

Video: Legacy Select Heartpine Being Milled for an Adaptive Reuse Project

We absolutely love working on adaptive reuse projects.  The reclaimed wood floor being milled is this short video is a custom width 4-5/8″ Legacy Select Heartpine tongue and groove product.  Goodwin is milling a total of 7000sf total for a restoration and adaptive reuse of the St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington DC (circa 1855).  Once complete, this historic hospital building will be transformed.  Stay tuned for updates.

The wood was milled from reclaimed heart pine beams.  We clean, de-nailed, saw, kiln dry and then mill them into the beautiful heartpine flooring that will be used throughout the building.  Goodwin is proud to partner with Master Care Flooring in Baltimore, MD on this exciting adaptive reuse project.

Enjoy!

Goodwin-PE-Collection-Wild-Cherry-Engineered-Cherry-E-1

Goodwin rescues trees which have fallen during storms and/or are scheduled to be cut down due to development. We work closely with foresters and land planners to sustainably harvest this beautiful wood to ensure it is not doomed to waste. One of the species we rescue is wild black cherry.

Wild black cherry primarily grows in the eastern half of North America and Mexico. Goodwin mills sustainably harvested wild black cherry logs into our solid wood flooring and engineered wood flooring. Some argue wild black cherry is more desirable than standard cherry because it often develops arching and/or burled grain patterns, along with slight mineral colors for added beauty. Wild black cherry’s natural coloration varies from deep pink to rich red brown tones.

This short but informative video shows Dan Petersen of Heritage Wood Finish Company pre-finishing a solid wild black cherry wood floor with a low sheen diamond 7 finish for one of our valued clients:

Our friends at The Sustainable Design Group in Gainesville, Florida are the architects for the remodeling of a home in Cedar Keys where the wild black cherry solid wood flooring you see in the video will be installed.

Interested in a wild black cherry solid wood floor or engineered wood floor?  If so, please give us a shout so we can custom craft a sustainably harvested wood floor just for you.

Reception Desk

Goodwin Company was proud to supply our River-Recovered® Heart Cypress Character for a reception desk, kitchen and a number of gorgeous feature walls in the ultra-modern office space for Visit Tampa Bay. Located in one of the beautiful skyscrapers that adorn the Tampa, Florida skyline, Visit Tampa Bay is a premier promoter of “the hip, urban heart of the Gulf Coast of Florida.”

Goodwin’s River-Recovered Heart Cypress Character adorns the walls and various areas throughout the office space and is also featured in the Unlock Tampa Bay Visitors Center. The heart cypress paneling gives a nod to the 2000-year-old bald cypress trees that historically lined all of the bayous and sloughs around the bay.  An added touch is the cigar boxes that are embedded in the various walls denoting Tampa’s (and Ybor City’s) rich history as the cigar capital of the world.

Check out these stunning photos by Native House Photography:

Goodwin produced 1600sf of 5-1/4″ River-Recovered Heart Cypress Character for this project.  The wood was prefinished with oil by Heritage Wood Finish Company and installed by AWS Carpenter/ Contractors of Clearwater, Florida.

If you are in the Tampa area, be sure to stop by the Unlock Tampa Bay Visitors Center.  They have some great gifts and mementos of Tampa.  The wonderful staff are also available to direct you to points of interest and help plan your stay. Oh, and while there, be sure to check out the heart cypress feature wall and let us know what you think!

Matheson-102

Goodwin is fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with environmental foresters who manage longleaf pine plantations. When storms cause damage in the forests, Goodwin removes the threatened trees to help ensure the continued growth of the ecosystem. Goodwin then mills them into our beautiful Old Florida heartpine paneling and flooring.

Old Florida heartpine warms up contemporary spaces…

Old Florida Heartpine – A Staple in Sustainable Design

3-1/4″ Old Florida heartpine tongue and groove with Clear Diamond 7 finish by Heritage Wood Finish Company.

Old Florida Heartpine – A Staple in Sustainable Design

3-1/4″ Old Florida heartpine tongue and groove with Clear Diamond 7 finish by Heritage Wood Finish Company.

…and is perfect for historic renovations as well.

Old Florida with a stain

Matheson History Museum Library & Archives. Old Florida heartpine flooring with a stain. Installation by Rudy Dittmar of Rudy’s Professional Floor Sanding Gainesville, Florida. Joyner Construction – General Contractor. Jay Reeves – Architect.

Matheson-102

Matheson History Museum Library & Archives. Old Florida heartpine flooring with a stain. Installation by Rudy Dittmar of Rudy’s Professional Floor Sanding Gainesville, Florida. Joyner Construction – General Contractor. Jay Reeves – Architect.

Matheson-109

Matheson History Museum Library & Archives. Old Florida heartpine flooring with a stain. Installation by Rudy Dittmar of Rudy’s Professional Floor Sanding Gainesville, Florida. Joyner Construction – General Contractor. Jay Reeves – Architect.

Let’s look at some key features of Goodwin’s high quality Old Florida heartpine:

  • While more frequent knots than in original growth, these old growth trees provide a beautiful and durable floor.
  • 95-100% heart
  • SELECT grain, knots up to 2 or 3 inches.
  • Four to eight growth rings on average.

Contact Goodwin to learn more about how we can help make sustainable design a reality in your home or office.

Educating the Next Generation of Sustainable Building Design Professionals

Goodwin Company was proud to welcome students from Will Zajac’s architectural design studio at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville. Goodwin’s marketing director and resident historian, Jeffrey Forbes, gave the group a behind the scenes tour of Goodwin’s lumber mill.  Students learned about how River-Recovered® and reclaimed wood is sourced, processed and incorporated into sustainable design projects. Heart pine and heart cypress is not only ideal for traditional building, but these woods are trending in contemporary design.  Reclaimed wood feature walls are becoming especially popular in office buildings, high rises and ultra-modern living spaces.

Enjoy the photos of the tour!

Goodwin Proudly Sponsors Another Sustainable Design Project 1

Goodwin is a proud sponsor / partner of Team Daytona Beach and their participation in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Team Daytona Beach, which includes faculty and students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Daytona State College, is embarking on a Solar BEACH (Building Efficient, Affordable, and Comfortable Homes) House project.  The

BEACH House is designed for a small family to live sustainably without sacrificing comfort.  Goodwin contributed 1000sf of random length heart pine shorts and a 6′-8″ River-Recovered® heart cypress slab to be used as a countertop.

Goodwin was approached by members of the Embry-Riddle and Daytona State College Solar Decathlon team to become sponsor of this project, which strives to promote environmentally responsible and sustainable building practices. Team Daytona Beach will build The BEACH House as an entry into the larger nationwide competition that features university teams from all over the country designing and building sustainable design projects. The 2017 Solar Decathlon Village will be open to the public in Denver, Colorado on Thursday, October 5th – Monday, October 9th and Thursday, October 12th – Sunday, October 15th.

Go Team Daytona Beach!

Learn more about the Solar BEACH House project:

Snow Slater House 2015 009

Floor featuring random length heart pine shorts, similar to the ones used in The BEACH House.

66812 2.25x24-34x6-8 SOLD

Slab #66812, which will be converted into a gorgeous River-Recovered Heart Cypress countertop for the project.

NIMBUS Building Nominated for 2017 AIA People’s Choice Awards

Goodwin proudly partnered with Trimark Properties to mill 2000sf of wood for a feature wall they installed in the Nimbus building in downtown Gainesville. We also provided our reclaimed wood for the staircase, landing and treads.

We are excited to learn that Nimbus is one of the 2017 Florida AIA’s People’s Choice Award nominees.  Click below to see photos and to vote for the Nimbus project until July 28th.

Special thank you to Jason Owen for this incredible testimonial. Goodwin approaches each and every project as a partnership. This longstanding philosophy is one of the many aspects that separates Goodwin from other antique and reclaimed wood companies. Thank you for the kind words, Jason!

Sawing Sinker Cypress

Antique Heart Cypress is one of only a few remaining prehistoric tree species. Goodwin Company is proud to specialize in working with sinker cypress. Check out this video demonstrating how Goodwin transforms River-Recovered® Heart Cypress logs into gorgeous wood paneling and ceilings:

Rescued from a North West Florida river bottom, the River-Recovered log in the video displays an ax cut end, dating its harvest prior to 1870.  This was before the large scale introduction of the steam engine and arrival of the railroad in Florida.  The sheer size of these logs attest to their age, and, with an approximate diameter of 3ft or greater, their size allows for larger cuts unattainable in modern cypress. Each log has at least eight growth rings per inch… and often times more. The unique tight, fine grain gives antique Heart Cypress a soft graceful pattern that varies from warm honey and cinnamon tones through to light chocolate coloring in its grain.

Goodwin founder George Goodwin has been the company sawyer for over 40 years.  He saws each log to ensure the most wood is preserved with each cut.  The mill carries the sawn wood down along a conveyer belt to its first level of grading by Goodwin’s specialists. After grading, the boards are cut into standard widths, placed in the kiln and later moulded into heart cypress flooring and paneling as featured in the modern offices of RRSimmons.

A Search for Quality 2

When did we stop reaching for the most inexpensive item on the shelf at the grocery store? When did grabbing a carton of milk or eggs on our way home from work become result of a series of ethical decisions?  A few years ago, I would have scanned the refrigerated section of the grocery for the least expensive carton of eggs, put them in my cart, then moved on to the next item on my grocery list — 2% milk with the latest expiration date.

But recently, I have noticed myself analyzing my purchases with greater detail before I make a purchase. A quick Google search led me to a list of all the varieties of eggs sold at my local supermarket: organic, free-range, naturally pasteurized, vegetarian, and the list goes on. In choosing the type of eggs I want to buy, I also have to consider the packaging of the eggs. If I buy the plastic carton, it will hold up long enough to be reused when my roommate brings eggs home from her coworker’s farm. But if I buy the paper carton, it will recycle most easily and doesn’t require any plastic.

Why did such a small task begin to involve so many decisions? I think it is a result of our increased demand for quality. We have all heard that ignorance is bliss, but with limitless information at our fingertips, we can no longer claim ignorance. As a result, our culture is becoming more ethically concerned. This means we are looking for products that meet our needs, but we also want to spend our money investing in the local economy, and caring for the environment. Maybe this is why the millennial generation has also been called the “civic generation”—a name earned by our desire to care for place—the environment in which we invest our lives.[1] We crave uncomplicated quality and authenticity in our spaces.

I have found that nothing brings these elements to a space as effortlessly as nature itself. Natural light, plants, or even an earthy color palette can bring the simplicity and life we crave in our spaces. But nothing has the same transformative impact as wood. It brings the outdoors in while contributing a durability and livability unique to the material. As a product of nature, it does not try to mimic the life we wish to find in our spaces but exposes the authenticity and history innate to the material. We see this in the pictures below that show the transformation that Goodwin’s heart pine LEGACY®  floors had on the historic Firestone building in downtown Gainesville, Florida.

The tongue and groove flooring in this room are building recovered, meaning they were once beams in 19th century industrial buildings in the U.S. The reuse of this wood speaks to its strength as well as the sustainability of the product. A room long forgotten and left lifeless is now a hidden gem in the city…and it’s available for lease starting November 2016!

…………………………………………….

Lauren ColeyGuest Post by Lauren Corley

Lauren Corley is a guest author for Goodwin and is a senior in the Innovation Academy at the University of Florida studying Sustainability in the Built Environment with a minor in Innovation. She began her involvement with Goodwin at the 2015 Greenbuild conference in Washington D.C. She is from the Panhandle of Florida and gained an interest for sustainability and its use in space as a high school student. Since moving to Gainesville she has interned for the Repurpose Project as well as the Alachua County Public Schools under the Energy Conservation Specialist.

[1] Morley Winograd, and Michael D. Hais. Millenial Momentum: How a Generation Is Remaking America. New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers UP. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Pop-A-Top 5

We were so excited to visit the new Pop-A-Top General Store at Depot Park. Goodwin’s Legacy heart pine floors and wall paneling make the old depot look as it did when it was first built in 1859[1]. Once a gathering place for travelers, the old train depot is now a community space again—but this time it is a congregation area for those who want to kick back and stay a while.  Park-goers can even stop in for a cool drink in a nostalgic atmosphere.

Goodwin is proud to have been a part of this renovation project. We provided our Legacy heart pine flooring back in 2012. Now, with the opening of the park, we have seen the space come alive. We love this type of project because it is both sustainable design and historic restoration through and through. At Goodwin, we get to see forgotten, antique wood brought to life each day. We understand the value of our history and its integral role in shaping our future.

 

Lauren ColeyGuest Post by Lauren Corley

Lauren Corley is a guest author for Goodwin and is a senior in the Innovation Academy at the University of Florida studying Sustainability in the Built Environment with a minor in Innovation. She began her involvement with Goodwin at the 2015 Greenbuild conference in Washington D.C. She is from the Panhandle of Florida and gained an interest for sustainability and its use in space as a high school student. Since moving to Gainesville she has interned for the Repurpose Project as well as the Alachua County Public Schools under the Energy Conservation Specialist.

[1] https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=21025

Visiting an Old Friend While Meeting a New One 6

Goodwin milled the 36,000LF of River-Recovered® Heart Cypress (sinker cypress) siding which was installed after the original modern growth cypress began to rot. Antique heart cypress is rot resistant, making it perfect for the outdoors.

Sinker Cypress – The Gentle Giants of the South: Part One

Goodwin’s resident history enthusiast, Jeffrey Forbes, describes the origins of River-Recovered® Heart Cypress – a.k.a. sinker cypress.  Hundreds of years ago, the Suwannee River ran “clear”, more like a spring, as opposed to the murky waters we know today.  Both sides of the river were literally walls of bald cypress (a.k.a. tidewater red cypress, sinker cypress). These gentle giants were more than 100 feet tall and 2000-3000 years old. Behind the wall of bald cypress you would find millions acres of longleaf pine, which Goodwin also recovers today.

Goodwin recently recovered a 35 foot long sinker cypress log that was left by loggers of yesteryear in the Withlacoochee river (which runs into the Suwannee) hundreds of years ago.  Much of it has now been milled and is being used at the Bok Tower Gardens expansion project in Lake Wales, Florida.  This is what sustainable design is all about.  Rather than cut down forests, Goodwin recovers antique logs from river bottoms for architects and interior designers to incorporate into award-winning, sustainable designs. Homeowners love the wood because it is not only beautiful and durable, but it comes with an intriguing and rich story behind its origin.

The above video is the first in a multi-part series outlining the “story” behind  these gentle giants of the south.  Enjoy!

When We Say Custom Crafted... 2

Did you know we have a huge pond filled with sinker heart pine logs right behind our mill? When we say custom crafted, we mean it!

As you know, George Goodwin is the pioneer of the River-Recovered® process. Goodwin Company has been recovering sinker logs from river bottoms for 40 years and turning them into the most beautiful wood flooring, wood paneling and wood ceilings in the world. We do not immediately mill all the logs we recover; instead, some find a temporary home in our log pond, which is the best way to preserve them until needed. This isn’t a new idea either. Historically, mill sites were often accompanied by log ponds as a way to preserve and easily move their raw materials. When you place a custom order, many times we head to the pond, select a nice sinker heart pine log and mill it just for you!

Sustainable design is the heart of what we do. Building design professionals work with us because we not only partner with them every step of the way, but our eco-friendly process and high quality, sustainable products qualify for LEED credits. Homeowners contact us because they desire more than a store-bought floor in a box that will likely not wear well and will need to be replaced in a few years. Our sustainable wood flooring, paneling and ceilings are handcrafted from centuries old sinker logs and are designed to provide you and your family with a quality product that can be enjoyed for generations to come!

Take a quick peek at our large and impressive heart pine log pond:

Ready for us to begin handcrafting your new wood floor, ceiling or paneling? Please give us a call!

Another Zero-Energy, LEED Certified Home 9

Marc Rutenberg Homes has been the trailblazer in building Zero-Energy, LEED certified homes.