335 Maplewood Ave Renovation: Floor refinishing is done

A Brief History

The project entails repairing the building at 335 Maplewood Ave in a manner that meets both preservation and sustainability goals. The building is the new location for Petersen Engineering, a firm that has been located in Portsmouth since 1992, and specializes in sustainable building engineering. We intend for this project to showcase techniques & materials that promote both preservation and sustainability and intend to share all aspects of the project locally and regionally through open houses, presentations, industry tradeshows, case studies and publications. We foresee this project being a valuable educational tool to demonstrate that preservation goals need not be compromised by sustainability goals. We have teamed with Bruss Construction who we know from past collaborations has exceptional experience and expertise on projects with the dual goal of preservation and sustainability.

The project received approval by the Historic District Commission on January 6, 2010 with construction scheduled to begin early February 2010.

The projected peak heat loss reduction is 85%.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Floor refinishing is done

Heritage Hardwood Flooring's third and final coat of varnish has finally dried. Finally! After applying each coat of varnish, windows were closed to prevent dust from blowing in and stirring about the room and disrupting the finish. The varnish had nowhere else to off gas to except to the interior of the building. This anti-dust precaution set the stage for a flawless finish but on the other hand created a toxic experience for us building occupants to deal with. Luckily, most of us were out of the office during this time or were able shuffle around the building to get away from the odors.

Next time around we plan on looking into other water based low or zero VOC options.

We could not be happier with the finished product. It came out looking great. These pictures do not begin to do the floor justice.