Fescue to the Rescue
New Material Puts Green Back in the Driveway
Monday, January 15, 2007
It’s a lawn! It’s a driveway! It’s actually drivable grass — a new take on the old dilemma of how to combine aesthetics and environmental considerations with the demands of the automobile.
Drivable grass is a concrete grid made up of 2? x 4? mats. You fill in the grid with soil, plant grass seed and soon you have a green driveway. Because the surface is permeable, it allows runoff to soak into the ground where it can be absorbed and filtered. And a swath of green is always more appealing than a swath of concrete or asphalt.
Do-it-yourselfers can install drivable grass or contact Soil Retention of Carlsbad for a list of local installers.
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Working for Scale
You've Never Seen Marble Like This
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Scagliola, the venerable art of engraving intricate designs on slate or marble, is alive and well. Scagliola comes from the mineral selenite, a variety of gypsum that in its natural state appears in the form of thin plates or scales (thus the name scagliola, from the Italian word scaglia or scale).
After the mineral is cooked and ground to a fine powder, it is mixed with pigments of colored earth and glues to form a thick paste. The colored paste is applied into designs carved in slabs of marble or slate.
For elaborate decorative motifs, subtle gradations of color are added in diluted scagliola applied by hand with a fine paintbrush. Lastly, the slab is polished with polishing stones, wax, and lacquer.
Scagliola’s complex twists and veins go deep into the stone, providing a durable surface which is far more permanent than faux surfaces that are painted to resemble marble.
In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, scagliola was also very popular in the United States. Artificial marble furnishings at that time were created chiefly by itinerant plasterers, men who kept the details of their fabrication process a secret. After the 1920s, however, techniques of fabrication were forgotten. Scagliola virtually disappeared from American architecture.
Today, the use of artificial marble has again revived. This resurgent interest is the result of four factors: a new appreciation of marble-like finishes, a dissatisfaction with the limitations that real marble places on design, the unavailability of traditional colors and types of marble, and the rising costs of quarrying.
Scagliola is inherently beautiful and can duplicate the appearance of any type of marble, and it can be molded into any shape. Decorative, three-dimensional motifs impossible to produce in marble can be fabricated in scagliola. Because the artificial stone is less expensive than its marble original, it is a particularly attractive option for interior design and decoration.
The premier practitioners of the art are the Bianchi family of Florence. Among their clients are the likes of the Agnellis, Prince Michael of Kent and ZaZa Gabor. But you too can have your own little piece of Bianchi scagliola—prices start below $500. Make an appointment to drop by the workshop or showroom if you’re planning to be in Florence, or view their catalogue online.
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Aw Nuts!
Hardwood Floors Take a Tropical Twist
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The search for sustainable alternatives to traditional hardwood flooring has brought us bamboo and mesquite, a tree formerly regarded as a “pest” species by ranchers but now allowed to thrive for commercial harvest.
Now comes the coconut palm. Grown in plantations, these trees produce nuts for up to 80 years, after which they are cut down and replaced. The roots are left to fertilize the soil while the wood is milled to produce vibrant, durable and exotically beautiful flooring.
Palmwood is dense with a stunning grain pattern and deep, rich color. At 1600 on the hardness scale, palm is much harder than red oak (1290). Planks are made by slicing the timber, then drying and laminating it into a sandwich of multiple layers, a process similar to that used for bamboo flooring. Manufacturers like Smith & Fong use non-toxic adhesives to maintain ecological soundness. Palmwood can be sanded like an oak floor using the same techniques and sanding patterns.
Because there are more than 250 species and sub-species of palm, the wood is available in a wide range of natural colors. It can also be dyed or stained for even greater variety and can be ordered unfinished or prefinished.
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Put A Cork In It
The Wonder Material for Floors
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Walking on a cork floor is a little like a warm bath for your feet.
Cork is quiet, soft and warm to the touch. It’s perfect for the bedroom, yet it’s durable enough to stand up to higher-traffic areas like kitchens. Because of its unique cellular structure, it springs back from compression, each cell functioning as a miniature shock absorber—its 200 million air cells per cubic inch make it a back-saver for people who have to stand for long periods of time. And that’s not all—it also insulates against sound, noise and temperature change, and it’s water resistant, insect resistant and fire resistant.
Could it get any better? Well yes, actually. An environmentally friendly choice, cork flooring is made from bark stripped from cork trees. Fortunately, this peeling doesn’t harm the trees. Harvesters leave a thin layer of protective inner bark on the tree, and the outer bark regenerates in a few years. Most cork is grown on sustainably managed tree farms in Spain, Portugal and North Africa.
Cork tiles and planks are available in a wide range of natural colors which can be mixed and matched to form mosaic-like designs. For more information on cork floors, visit Cork Flooring Biz. San Luis Obispo retailers include Phillips Floor to Ceiling and Green Goods.
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All Bottled Up
From Trash to Tile With Recycled Glass
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
That beer bottle you tossed in the recycle bin just might end up gracing your kitchen backsplash or your bathroom floor. Glass tiles and terrazzo made from recylced glass are gaining in popularity and variety.
Glass tiles have been around for a couple of thousand years. They offer a clarity and depth impossible to achieve with clay tile. Despite their delicate translucence, glass tiles are harder than clay and are stain- and waterproof.
While upscale European manufacturers use raw materials, here in the U.S. most glass tile is made from beer bottles, windshields and other recycled glass.
Located in Carlsbad, California, Oceanside Glasstile has been producing and selling luxury glass tiles since 1992. The current glass tile operation uses 1000 tons of recycled glass each year. Oceanside’s varied offerings include several collections of pearly iridescents.
Boise, Idaho-based Sandhill makes its tiles from 100% recycled glass which would otherwise end up in landfills. Each tile takes less than one-half of the energy to produce than ceramic tile, and less than one-fourth of the energy of cast-glass tile. Sandhill’s tiles are available in 36 colors with evocative names like buttercream, honeydew and sandalwood.
In San Luis Obispo, Artisan Tile & Marble carries tile from Oceanside Glasstile. Sandhill tiles are available at Matt Clark Tile & Stone.
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