It was very exciting to finally see the concrete floor in the North Star suite being poured. It will be great to finally be able to walk normally on the floor and up the stairs. Now we can invite the tradesmen to finish their work which will allow us to finish the theme work.
Concrete, pumper trucks and a placing crew are almost impossible to get locally. Everyone is just too busy. After more than a month of trying they all finally arrived bright and early this morning. This morning, the temperatures hovered just below freezing and the wind was fierce but we weren’t about to waste this opportunity to pour the first of the sidewalks at the Hazelnut Inn. As per our usual we weren’t looking for a standard smooth placing job. We let the skillful professionals carefully place the concrete and get it nice and smooth. Then we came behind them, placing a random looking set of planks through the fence over the sidewalk. We balanced on the planks, scattering rocks, twigs and sea shells onto the fresh concrete surface and then troweled them in. Later, after it sets a little, we’ll come back with a pressure washer to gently remove the top surface of the concrete to expose the rocks. Our goal is to make the concrete look like it’s been there for a very long time, well worn through ‘hundreds of years’ of use. Stay tuned for the result…
We regularly get asked about how it could possibly take so long to finish the Hazelnut Inn. The honest answer has everything to do with how the Inn is being constructed. Typically, a building is framed, utilities are installed, insulation is stuffed into place and then the rooms are drywalled prior to paint. Final fit and finish is a relatively simple and quick procedure.
Hazelnut Inn is not conventional by any definition. The main structure was complete a long time ago but that was just the very beginning for this project. We then attached and welded a complete pencil rod frame around the outside of the structure. Galvanized mesh was painstakingly tied to this detailed armature and then our proprietary mix of Fibreglass Reinforced Concrete was troweled on and hand sculpted. After the concrete cured we carefully painted every square inch, with multiple coats of colour, blends and glazes. That work is complete and we are moving on to the interior.
The first order of business is to establish the basic shape of the rooms and built-in features which often has little to do with the structure holding up the building. Only after the project reaches this point can we finally invite the trades to install the venting ducts, sprinkler pipes, electrical conduits, plumbing and more. Each service is terminated to a custom plate in the wall which we hand fabricate and install to our standards. Once the trades finish their rough work including all of the sprinkler heads, air vents, light boxes electrical switches and plugs we will spray in the insulation. Only then can we begin to close things up with our final armature and begin attaching the galvanized mesh which will define the final shape and detail of the room and built-in features. That will allow us to begin the sculpting of the final interior surfaces at long last. Then comes the detailed paint, followed by custom tile work and trim.
The picture below is one small example of the work currently underway in the Copper Crown suite. Pictured is the basic framework for the arched ceiling and one of the air conditioning vents. The ceiling is curved with five smaller arches cut into it. The air-conditioning vent mounting point is custom cut on our plasma machine. We’ll also custom cut the face plate after the ceiling is sculpted.
The good news is that we are making rapid progress. Even so it is still going to take a while before Hazelnut Inn welcomes its first guest. Stay tuned…
