Work continues on the Hazelnut Inn. From the outside things look quiet but inside talented tradesmen are working their magic. Electricians are busy pulling wires through conduits in the North Star suite. Once this work is done we will resume the theme work there to finish the suite. Underneath the North Star is the maintenance/support room which houses all of the technical components of the Inn. There the gas fitter was busy doing the final hookups. This room is also the centre of all of the plumbing for the structure. To carry out this complex task we hired the same fellow who installed a smaller, but similar system in our house ten years ago. This handles the domestic and hot water for heat. Sean is one of those craftsmen who takes great pride in his work. Everything is planned, square and neat, and the solder joints are perfect. This attention to detail gives us great confidence in how it will function for decades to come. The system is massive for a three-room hotel but should three guests each decide to fill their giant soaker tub at the same time there will be ample hot water. The same exquisite attention we are applying to every square inch of the Hazelnut Inn goes into the inner workings. Inside and out - pure magic!
Each week a little more of the later to be hidden infrastructure of the Hazelnut Inn is completed. This past week it was the fire sprinkler crew who wrangled the necessary pipes. threading them through the trusses, beams, vaults and domes. We had a great crew who were up to the challenge. When we finish our theme work they won’t be noticed by our guests.
It was out goal to make the concrete sidewalk of the Hazelnut Inn not look like a sidewalk but rather a dirt path. We started with a small stoned but regular mix and then once it was troweled flat we tossed various stones onto the surface. Most of the stones were placed near the edges of the walk and then fewer into the middle. The stones were then worked into the surface using a trowel. As a last step Peter scattered pea gravel along the edges. A final trowel finished things off. The next day Peter used a pressure washer to gently remove the top surface of the concrete revealing all of the stones. We’ll let the concrete cure nice and hard and then use some stains to make it look more like the dirt pathway we imagined.
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…
