The Strangest Wainscotting You'll Ever See

KentWhitten

I've been digging through memories today and found these.

I worked at this condo in early 2007. I contracted for the installation of all the kitchens. When I got to the end, the GC asked me if I wanted to install wainscotting in the "luxury penthouse" units. There were 4 units.

Now, a little background. The project was on the cheap side. Much of the "woodwork" came from China. Doors, casing, base, wainscot all came from China on a boat.

The guy that contracted to do the doors was pissed to say the least. MDF casing, 2-1/2" thick entry doors with who knows what was inside. A weird slot to push the tongue of the casing into (I don't know how to explain it any better than saying a split jamb type of connection for casing). The doors weighed a ton. Junk. Crap. Some veneer wrapped around MDF. The finish was....unusual. Smooth as a babies bottom. You put a brad nail through it and it made this little white mark. I found out why.

Here's my best work on this wainscot. It came in panels 8' long and 36" high. Looks sort of OK. I know there's nail holes. Stay with me.



See, from a distance it looks....OK so it looks bland, let's call it what it is. But....look closely! Nice stairs huh?



Here we see the incredible finish! Yep, you guessed it. A large piece of scotch tape! Or something like it. Vacuum sealed, who knows. All of the finish was like this.



And to make everything just so wonderful to work with, the Chinese decided to do....whatever the **** this is. The best way I can describe it is that there were these pieces of 1x1 red oak #3 sistered with a thin veneer of mdf, spaced out, not tight together AND.....get this....brad nails everywhere! Oh what fun this was. I went through a saw blade every piece of "wainscot". Oh but they saved a bunch of money!

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loneframer

Ummmmmmmmm, OK the wainscoting looks like a major nutbuster, but tell us mure about those stairs is that precast concrete? How are they to be finished? I gotta know Framerman.

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dkillianjr

Man, I can just picture how much that sucked to install. It looks liek you did a pretty good job though

The two middle pics disapeared though


Dave

KentWhitten

Man, I've had it trying to post pics to Picasa. They never work for some reason.

That is NOT precast concrete, it is poured in place! The finish is yet another story in itself. Some of my last days there was templating the treads, measuring the risers, etc. After, I found out they were sending my templates to...you guessed it...China!

The stairs, if they are finished, are to be marble. Underside also. Railings and ballustres. I can't even describe how they were figuring the templating for this. I had to see a chiropractor to fix my neck from shaking my head. Cost for this I was told was $75K per x 4 units. Kitchen cabinets came to around $1200 or so LOL!

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Mike Finley

Okay, that's freak'n bizzare to say the least.

Now what I want to know, is what was this Chinese connection? I mean I have no clue how I would send something to China or to order products from China, (not that I want to) but what was this Chinese connection all about? Sending templates to China. I would think that you'd be more likely never to hear from whomever you would send them to again.

Those stairs look like something you would see in Mexico. I toured a half completed luxury condo building in Cozumel last fall when I was there and it was different to say the least.

Leo G

It's beautiful and ugly all at the same time. Are you saying that the finish is really some sort of plastic wrap? Or does that come off and there is a finish below it?

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loneframer

That's what I love about this site, just when I think I've seen everything Framerman goes and smacks me back down a peg. What else you got in that photo library Framerman?

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KentWhitten

Well, I'm not 100% positive on this, but I'd say I'm pretty close. The job superintendent was banging this Chinese woman every month or so. She had the direct connections to China. Anything you want, you can get. Five dolla, make you holla kind of deal. So I imagine that she is banging both sides. He needed something cheap in materials, she knew someone in China with factory connections. I'd say she has quite a gig going. Though she's definitely losing on the sex deal.

Plastic wrap. No finish below it. It is a real veneer, not laminate. I was trying for awhile to figure out the finish. It was too perfect, yet something didn't quite seem right to me. It is almost impossible to take off. We took a piece, cut it and tried to peel the finish off. Could not do it. The adhesive is bonded too much.

Now the door jambs were something to behold. the door jambs had a groove in it, top to bottom. I do not have a picture of that, I wish I did. Then the casing had this piece of MDF attached to it, like a tongue, that slipped into this groove in the jamb. It acted like a split jamb door, but it wasn't the jamb that was split, it was the casing.

If it makes no sense, I'll make a CAD drawing of it. Interesting, but horribly a PITA. The mdf swelled a little and it was tight.

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Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

KentWhitten

Here's a backside of one of the panels. You can see how this....whatever it is....treats the wood like a finish. Who knows, maybe we need to start bringing scotch tape to work for that fine finish.

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If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

KentWhitten

hey, waddya know. I found some of the casing pieces for the door. That little tongue thingy stuck into the groove in the jamb.

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If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

irockwithdirt

I like the stairs just the way they are!!!

Worked on a big condo complex few years back. All cabinetry came from china in containers. Like your pictures, weird stuff.

The crown moulding was, imagine if U took a 6X6 and routed a profile on it. Could've built a log home with this stuff LOL! VERY HEAVY

Was a 2mo. turnaround on anything we had to order

Mike Finley

OW! My thumb

THAT was the finish????? If so, what did you do with the bubbled up plastic? Iron it back down?

ChrWright

Thanks for sharing those.

Bizarre material to say the least--but looks like you did well with it despite the PITA factor.

Would love to see the finished stairs. Did you say you built the forms and they were poured in place? What kind of concrete/reinforcement was used?

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KentWhitten

No good. Throw it in the dumpster if I couldn't use the good part.

I didn't form those Chris. I would've done a much, much better job than that. It was interesting to see at least. You get something out of it.

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If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

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