Hi Sheila,
There was ZERO unusable lumber caused by mill waste.
There was ZERO damage during shipping.
All pieces were dimensionally perfect.
Your website was explicitly clear on how to install the siding and it went up easily.
The siding is all on and in the process of being painted. We will send before and after pictures.
So here's just a little detail on the project.
This house was a restoration rather than renovation. The original portion of the house was built in early 1830's. It was added on to periodically but at least one addition was completed on Thursday June 13, 1907 because during the restoration, we found a board signed by Wm Sheffield with that date on it.
We were originally only going to work on the inside of the house and ALL material removed from walls and ceilings was restored and returned back into the house.
However, much of the exterior siding was rotten and had to be replaced. We struggled for a little bit with the decision on whether to use wood or some type of composite material (like Hardy board or vinyl) but finally settled on wood as being the most historically accurate. This decision was made, in part, as a result of the information on your website. Although ,the original material most likely would have been poplar (all other wood in the house, including the original logs from the log cabin, was poplar), when painted you can't tell and the cedar will last longer.
I cannot stress how helpful the website and EVERYONE at Buffalo was. Buffalo Lumber is without a doubt, the easiest company to do business with. There was some fear at making such a significant purchase over the internet on "sight unseen" material but the overall quality of our contact with all personnel and the website made it much easier to just "close our eyes" and jump. Boy are we glad we did.
This siding is now the crown jewel on what we hope is a historically accurate restoration with a few concessions to modern living.
Cheers,
Bill and Donna M.
