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HEART WOOD

All Heart Redwood

Supply vs. Demand

All Heart Redwood Siding is in very limited Supply. Redwood trees are no longer being harvested. Our supply mills have reached the exact point where redwood is no longer a commodity good but a collector's item. 

Supply is limited and pricing inconsistent because the costs of production vary significantly as stock diminishes. 

The size, grade and pattern you want may not be millable from stock on hand close enough to your job site to accurately predict pricing on our website.

     

REDWOOD HEART T&G Siding CLEAR ALl HEART (CAH) Grade home in IL
REDWOOD HEART T&G Siding CLEAR ALL HEART (CAH) Grade home in Illinois


For the moment we can still source redwood from the old timer mills who stockpiled timbers but we can no longer advertise prices online since they change frequently and are dependent on inventory in hand at time of inquiry.

If you want this beautiful wood on your home I suggest doing it this year because it just might not be here the next.

ALL HEART

All Heart Redwood Siding

A designation of HEART Redwood allows NO sapwood. The only way to get all RED color and none of the lighter sapwood is to specify "all heart". This comes at a price since there is less heart in the world and manual selection of timbers is required to assure the ALL HEART designation.

The difference between SAP B and HEART B ? Color Contrast and Resistance to elements.

Both sapwood and heartwood have similar grades categories - Construction, Selects, Clears - but these grades have nothing to do with sap or heart by themselves they are only specifications of how many knots/flaws are allowed in the grade.

To clarify - unless the word HEART appears in your order there is no limit on the amount of white wood allowed (though most self respecting mills fullfil Redwood SAP orders with 50/50 split heart to sap).

HEART SIDING

All Heart Redwood Siding

There is a LOT you need to know before specifying or using redwood especially Clear All Heart redwood. The first thing I do when consulting with customers and architects is take them on a little tour through the reality of today's REDWOOD.

Clear All Heart Redwood: READ THIS BEFORE YOU SPECIFY OR BUY!!!!

REDWOOD HEART T&G Siding CLEAR ALl HEART (CAH) Grade home in IL
REDWOOD Clapboard Bevel Siding - CLEAR ALL HEART (CAH) Grade - looking great after almost 30 years!


Redwood is beautiful, renewable and sustainable which is why we love it however it is no longer as uniform in appearance or the powerhouse performer it used to be. All Heart Redwood's resistance to moisture and insects has been down graded from "excellent" to "moderate" due to the abundance of new growth in the market.


REDWOOD HEART T&G Siding CLEAR ALl HEART (CAH) Grade home in IL
REDWOOD HEART T&G Siding CLEAR ALL HEART (CAH) Grade near Chicago

MIXED GRAIN - VERTICAL GRAIN

In the All Heart Redwood picture below - the Appearance, Uniformity of grain and Texture of the grain varies from board to board. See the boards I am touching ? They to are both vertical grain - what we call "close grain" which is old growth redwood. The one in the center is "tight" vertical grain meaning that it meets the grade requirements of 8+ #growth rings per INCH.

The board to the right of the index finger is "open grain" or new growth. It is vertical grain but notice how widely spaced the growth rings are compared to the close and tight growth boards ? The surrounding boards are mixed grain.    


example of All Heart Redwood Siding mixed grain boards


Today redwood is probably THE most sustainably forested species in the world which is a good thing however you need to understand what this means to the end product you will get. This was a Redwood Heart Mixed grain order that included some Vertical Grain boards. There is usually some percentage of VG included with all mixed grain heartwood orders and you can select for a more consistent look by grading through your siding boards before you install.

Sustainable harvesting methods are intended to preserve the species survival while maintaining environmental balance. In order to achieve these goals the grade rules allow the use of products made from New Growth forests. New Growth are trees that grew in an area after logging or another disturbance which removed Old Growth trees. 2nd growth redwoods can grow very fast, in optimal conditions a redwood can grow as much as six feet a year or more. A forest in Humboldt Redwood State Park, logged 80 years ago reports New Growth trees that are nearly 200 feet tall today.

This rapid growth creates annual grain rings that are spaced much farther apart than old growth. A product made from old growth could have as many as 50 annual grain rings per inch. A product made from New Growth could have as few as 1 ring per inch.


example All Heart Redwood Siding mixed grain order
ALL Heart B grade Redwood Siding - Mixed Grain


In every redwood order you will get mostly new growth with some old growth mixed in. Above we have Heart B Redwood Siding with a "mixed grain" grade designation. There was no SAP wood in this customer's order. However as you can see - the difference between OLD and NEW growth, VERTICAL and MIXED grain - creates strong variations in color and hue.

There is usually some percentage of Vertical Grain boards included with all mixed grain heart redwood orders. You can select for a more consistent look by grading through your siding boards before you install.

If NO grain designation is made "Mixed Grain" is the standard. The visual variation in a "Clear All Heart" Designation with no reference to grain is striking in both color and consistency.

But if the grade & grain is not specfied when the order is placed, the variation in a mixed grain order can come as an unwelcome surprise to architects and customers expecting a more uniform appearance.


1x6 Clear All Heart CAH Redwood Siding Vertical Grain CVG Factory Stained - Home in Chicago
1x6 Clear All Heart CAH Redwood Siding Vertical Grain CVG Factory Stained - Home in Chicago


WHY HEART?

Why you should pick Heart Redwood Siding


example of home with CLEAR All Heart Vertical Grain Redwood Siding - CAH VG
ALL Heart CLEAR grade Redwood Siding - Vertical Close Grain


Above we have a house with Clear All Heart Vertical Grain Redwood Siding on it installed 30 years prior to these pictures. The owner had not finished it for 15 years before we did this photo shoot.

This type of performance and appearance is what most people expect when they specify, order or go to replace their redwood. The problem is this Old Growth ALL HEART Redwood Siding is vary rare, difficult to find and expensive to get in today's marketplace.

Redwood Clear Vertical Grain Heartwood Sided Home
CAH VG (Clear All Heart Vertical Grain)
Redwood Clear Vertical Grain Heartwood Sided Home
Redwood CVG Sided Home

TODAY'S Redwood Market

There are very few lumber yards carrying Redwood siding, decking and lumber inventory these days so most logs have to be harvested from 2nd and even 3rd growth California forests, processed into raw lumber and shipped to custom pattern mills further East.

They are not harvesting old growth redwood in large volumes anymore. What is available comes from private lands or what old timer mills have saved in their inventories and horde like GOLD.

You can still get a "close grain" designation if you have the budget for it but even that only holds the rule to no less than 8 rings per inch of wood. Take a look at the picture above, you can't even fit a razor blade between those rings - there are a LOT more rings in that old growth redwood siding than 8 per inch.

Which brings me to my point. Redwood is beautiful, renewable and sustainable which is why we love it however it is no longer as uniform in appearance or the powerhouse performer it used to be. All Heart Redwood's resistance to moisture and insects has been down graded from "excellent" to "moderate" due to the abundance of new growth in the market.

Heart Redwood siding can still be used and will perform but you have to take care of it. I would not leave today's all heart redwood siding, decking or lumber to the elements without some form of protection and maintenance.


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Redwood HEART B PRE-Stained - Vertical Install
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1x6 T&G Redwood Heart B Smooth - Carmel Valley


You can see in the customer pictures above that even through this is ALL HEART redwood siding with no SAP wood, the depth of the RED hue can vary from board to board which is normal in today's later growth redwood market. To even out the color the redwood siding was factory pre-finished with Olympic Redwood 717 Semi-Transparent stain.

6 years after installation we contacted her and she was more than happy to recommend "I have only great things to say about your redwood siding!"

PRICES

The PRICING of HEART Redwood Mixed Grain, Vertical Grain, Tight Grain

The blunt part of the equation comes with the price of Heart Redwood. Once you have decided on ALL HEART the next thing that affects price is the number of knots you will allow per board. The fewer knots the higher the price. The next price jump is the angle of the grain - mixed grain vs vertical grain. Vertical is rarer and Tight Grain - 8 or more annual growth rings per inch - even more rare and costly.

Supply is limited and pricing inconsistent because the costs of production vary significantly as stock diminishes. The size, grade and pattern you want may not be millable from stock on hand close enough to your job site to accurately predict pricing on our website.

All Heart Redwood Siding Prices

For the moment we can still source redwood from the old timer mills who stockpiled timbers but we can no longer advertise prices online since they change frequently and are dependent on inventory in hand at time of inquiry.


All Heart Redwood Lumber Timbers Air Drying before milling into redwood siding
All Heart Redwood Lumber Timbers Air Drying before milling into Heart Redwood Siding


Redwood CLEAR All Heart, CLEAR and Vertical Grain
Call for price quote and availability

If you Dare ;-)

A few things to remember-

We can do pretty much anything you want to do in redwood- as long as you know what to expect and have the budget. We have done it and know the best way to mill it and ship it. Is that affordable? All heart redwood despite its reputation - taken what you now know about appearance, performance and the market today - For most people that answer is NO it is not. That is just the blunt truth of it.

I have probably quoted clear all heart old growth vertical grain redwood 100 times and only 2 or 3 people opted to do it.

People ask me "aren't you supposed to be selling redwood siding?". My answer is NO- my job is not to sell you wood, my job is to make sure you know everything you need to know about that wood before you buy it so you will be happy with the result. This entire write up came early in our business from an architect who bought redwood through our company and did not like it because he had the wrong expectation - that the Vertical Grain redwood siding he had just bought would match the 30 year old redwood on the rest of his house.

That scenario cost us thousands of dollars to research our customer's issue and the builder who bought the redwood for him his business. Since that day we have worked hard to develop our educational approach to the redwood market and have not had one single complaint.

The truth as we know it baby!

Chris Buffalo


The full spectrum of stains from clear to solid are also available and finished to your specifications. 


REDWOOD PATTERNS


GRADES

California Redwood Association Redwood Grade Descriptions & Diagrams

Redwood Lumber Grades

Redwood "Clear All Heart" (CAH) grade contains only wood from the heart of the tree and is the finest architectural redwood grade. It is free of all defects on one face. The reverse face is allowed slight imperfections. Our T&G, Shiplap and Channel Lap redwood siding patterns are reversible with one rough and one smooth face. 

Redwood "Clear" grade is the same quality as "Clear All Heart" - the finest architectural heartwood grade - except that it contains sapwood in varying amounts and is allowed slight visual imperfections (which we consider character) on both faces. As far as allowable flaws and defect is concerned it is very similar to Clear All Heart - as far as resistance to moisture, rot and insects is concerned it is nothing like "all heart" redwood and needs to be protected in order to perform.

CAL REDWOOD VISUAL GRADE COMPARISON

California Redwood Association


CRA - Redwood Clear All Heart Grade
CRA - Redwood Clear All Heart Grade
CRA - Redwood Clear Grade
CRA - Redwood Clear Grade


CRA - Redwood  SAP B Grade
CRA - Redwood SAP B Grade
CRA - Redwood STK Con-Common Grade
CRA - Redwood STK Con-Common Grade


The other difference between CLEAR and CLEAR ALL HEART redwood grades is visual - the sap is bright yellow and the heart is deep red. The contrast can be striking. This contrast is beautiful to some (myself included) and this is the least expensive way to get the fewest amount of knots. You are giving up resistance and uniformity but you can augment resistance with technology and "tone" the contrast with stains.


1x6 T&G FLUSH JOINT SAP B REDWOOD SIDING
1x6" T&G FLUSH JOINT SAP B REDWOOD
1X6 T&G V2E REDWOOD SIDING CAH
1X6" T&G V2E CAH REDWOOD SIDING
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