Construction -- Interior Casework

It was the fall of 2023 when this post was posted -- a little over 9 years since we broke ground.  That it has taken this long to be within a few months of finishing shouldn't be a surprise considering our unwavering insistence on time as the variable and quality the constant, that we would spend whatever time necessary to do things as well as we were capable.  And, of course, much of what has gone into the project is entirely without precedent and therefore much more inefficient and time consuming than standardized construction.  Then add DIYing.  I lacked experience in the "real" construction world and, when assisted, it was mostly by other DIYers.  

The interior casework has followed the same pattern but even more so.  Doing it with raw sawmill lumber has been extraordinarily time-consuming, not even counting the time it took to sticker and dry the green lumber.  The advantage of using sawmill material, though, is that it lowers costs sufficiently that a committed worker with the proper shop equipment can produce high grade casework at reasonable cost. 

(Reminder: click on any picture for an enlarged view.)

Acclimating the Sawmill Lumber

Sawmill oak for interior trim

Using the saw table as a "paint station" when the
dedicated area for staining and painting was not enough.

The rough red oak for the interior trim was purchased from a local sawmill.  Since its lengths, widths and thicknesses had to vary to meet our needs, its sawing was done while I watched/helped.  It was "stickered", meaning carefully stacked in level layers separated by thin strips of wood (the stickers) and covered with corrugated metal roofing.  Thus it was protected from direct rain, snow and sunlight but was open on all sides to circulating air so that the sap in the wood gradually dried over time without warping.  The recommended drying time is at least a year but longer is better with the knowledge, however, that stacking too long risks "sticker burn" which occurs when the stickers cause discoloration in the milled lumber.  Fortunately, we saw sticker burn on only a few pieces despite our extended timetable,   And our extra effort in stacking and stickering paid off when even the longer pieces were straight and easy to mill.  When crookedness did occur, the boards were usually okay flatwise but somewhat bent, mostly around knots close to the edges of the boards.

Milled lumber in vertical basement

When it was finally time to begin work on the interior trim, the sawmill lumber was de-stacked and stored for awhile in the vertical basement of the house so as to acclimate to the interior temperature and humidity levels.  Thus, its moisture content was matched to that of the house so that the fit of the installed woodwork would stay tighter over time.

Milling and Sizing

In the garage workshop, a piece of sawmill lumber went through at least four processes to become a useable board.  A jointer was used to plane one side perfectly flat -- no concavities, no convexities, no twisting.  With one side flat,

The window sill is extra wide to hold potted plants.  Notice
in the background the raised metal vegetable gardens
and the fenced solar collector for the AGS system.

the thickness planner shaved the other (rough) side flat, smooth and to the desired thickness of the finished board, say 3/4" for most applications.  Next the jointer was used to true up and smooth one of the rough edges of the board.   And finally, the table saw with a long and stable rip fence was used to cut the board to the desired width, running it through the saw with the true edge against the fence.  The sharp blades in the jointer and thickness planer and a fine-tooth blade in the saw minimized the amount of sanding needed to produce a smooth surface ready for staining and "varnishing".

I milled most of the raw sawmill pieces before starting the trim work so as to know what was available to work with.  Then I segregated the pieces; first the widest for baseboards then the narrower pieces for door and window trim -- head casings, side casings, sills, aprons, plinths, jam extenders, etc. --  in order to be sure there was an adequate supply in each category to finish the job.  To my pleasant surprise, the sawmill operator and I had communicated pretty accurately on the width and thickness of lumber needed -- with one hitch -- I forgot to include jam extenders in the order but was able to use oak veneer plywood for them that blended in well enough.

Fitting, Staining, Poly-coating and Installation

We used pre-hung unpainted solid core oak veneer doors rather than making doors from scratch.  After hanging, the doors were moved one-by-one to the shop for staining and clear finishing.  And the casework was dry fitted then stained and poly-coated before installing.  Only the door frames had to be stained and poly-ed in place.

The doors and windows had been set into the 15" thick exterior walls such that there was a 5" space between the window frame and the back surface of the side and head casings that had to be filled with "vertical jam extenders" on the sides and "head jam extenders" on the tops.  Since I was short sawmill lumber for them, I used oak veneer plywood for an acceptable result.  The windows are set back from the plane of the exterior wall at least 8".  Not having them flush on the outside ruled out windows with nailing flanges, making it necessary to eliminate air leakage by traditional means.  Minimally expanding foam filled the gap between the windows and the rough openings supplemented by generous caulking when the exterior casework was installed then more caulking as the jam extenders and sills went in.

Unique Staircase

When I approached the sawmill operator about "showy" wood species for an open riser staircase, he recommended an option new to me -- hackberry.  We stickered and dried it in the roughed-in walk-in closet lined by plastic sheeting.  Aided by a dehumidifier, it was dry by the time we needed it.

The rough hackberry was drab and uninteresting but, once milled, "showy" did not do it justice.  Pieces wide enough for 12" steps were not available but, just as well, my jointer was only 8" wide.  So the steps had to be assembled from narrower hackberry boards with a filler of black walnut interposed.  The stringers were conventional 2-bye lumber veneered with hackberry.  Clear poly-coating made the unique character of the hackberry pop and the dark walnut added a nice touch.  The store-bought balusters and handrails, stained to match the other woodwork in the house, provide a pleasing contrast to the light colored stair treads and stringers.

Door and Window Trim

In order to mimic the country style of a bygone era, the head casings and the splinth blocks (below the side casings next to the floor) are wider and thicker than the 3/4 inch thick door side casings and the baseboards.  The thickness of the head and side casings of the windows are dissimilar in the same way.  And the baseboards are 6" tall, definitely a throw-back. 

Filling the nail holes in the woodwork was no small task.  It was done with stainable wood filler and a long learning curve to be able to know how soon to remove the excess stain in order to reach an optimal result. The hole filling and wood filler staining nevertheless caused enough blemishing of the poly-ed surfaces that a final (third) coat of poly was required throughout.                                                                                             

Early Spring, 2024

The interior casework is finally finished leaving only three major projects before the house is complete.  The build-ins for the second floor office still have to be done, the porch needs screening and the temporary solar chimney needs to be replaced with a proper chimney with the conduits running to it buried rather than exposed as they are now, mainly for esthetic reasons but also to make mowing easier.

The office project will be the most time-consuming in that the cabinetry will be custom-built from the sawmill walnut that I stickered many years ago then stored under cover until there was a good use for it.  A walnut dining room table is also planned.

A Note of Appreciation

Despite being 90, I continue to work on the house at least six hours daily and often seven days a week but getting up from the floor is harder now.  I completed the more accessible door and window trim but was only too happy to delegate the baseboards to son-in-law, David, a retired machinist who made hundreds of ups and downs from his knees to the saws in the workshop in order to stick to the machinist-like tolerances that made him happy.  He also took on the fastidious job of installing the balusters for the stairs and the second floor catwalk -- about 140 total -- which also required dozens, if not hundreds, of trips to the workshop in order to meet his workmanship standards.  If I had attempted the baseboards or the balusters, there's no doubt the quality would have suffered.