Project One: Eco-Floors

The family who approached us with our first project lived in a great home on a hill above Leadville. From their living room, they had a view of the entire valley. Their house was historic and cozy. It had just one problem: wall-to-wall carpeting that was both ancient and full of just a bit too much dog hair.

They wanted something new, but they weren’t sure they wanted more carpet. They were pretty convinced they wanted wood floors–but they wanted to do them as green as possible.

There was only one problem: certified wood from sustainably harvested forests is expensive.

The solution: beetle-kill pine floors. Right now, across the mountains of Colorado, the pine beetle infestation is climbing higher and higher in elevation–wiping out whole forests. That dead trees have to be used (and as quickly as possible; the wood dries out fast). So the wood is local, and from a good source. Better still, beetle kill pine has a lovely bluish tint.

And, as floors go, it’s pretty cheap.

So the couple didn’t mind springing for the low-VOC finish (with fewer chemicals to breathe.)

One caveat. Pine, beetle-kill or otherwise, is not as hard as hardwoods. So if you really want your wood floors to look pristine in 1o years, it may not be the wood for you.

But if you’re wiling to endure a few scratches, it’s a great eco-wood to use right now. Especially if you live in the Rocky Mountains.

And as one of our installers said the other day, “How cool would it be if years from now people walked into homes like this and said ‘oh, this must be a beetle-kill era home’ the way we now say ‘Victorian’ or ‘Craftsman.’

mill creek carpentry: the beginning

A few years ago, Andy Baldassar was a climbing teacher and guide with an ‘84 Volkswagon Vanagon, a climbing guide service and school in El Potrero Chico, Mexico, and most of his assets tied up in climbing gear.

And then he fell in love with a girl who lived in Leadville, Colorado. (That’s me.) He started spending his summers in Leadville, working on many of the second homes in the Leadville/Twin Lakes area and he even spent a spring learning the art of timber framing at Goshen Timber Frames. Eventually, he married the girl, sold the business in Mexico, and moved to Leadville full-time. He even sold the Vanagon.

But at some point, he started to worry about all the huge second homes he was building. Between global warming, rising fuel prices and mountaintop removal, he wondered if there would be anything left in a few years.

What if there was a company that could help people reduce energy use in their existing homes, help them remodel with eco-friendly options, and build small custom projects (everything from bookshelves to saunas) that would last forever?

…But were also affordable. (The former climbing guide and his girlfriend were not rich people either.) And of course, things made well from good materials will always be more expensive than mass-produced plywood. But surely, they thought, they don’t have to be absurdly overpriced.

So he and the girl put their heads together, figured out how to start a business, and enlisted the help of friends who knew about bookkeeping, small business management or the tax code. And they bought a lot of tools.

And so…Mill Creek Carpentry was born.