About Rustic Roots Warehouse
The mantel shelf sits higher on the left. A gap shows where the old trim stopped. You can hear a drawer scrape when it shuts. So the question is what to ask before you book. Custom Woodwork in Matthews starts with the room you already have. Ask how the piece will fit that room. Ask how the wood will behave through a humid summer and a heated winter. We will tell you what we can build. Then we will say what we need from you first.
Bring a few photos and a rough width. We do not need a finished drawing on the first visit. But tell us if the piece stands alone or has to meet old trim. After that, we get into species and the shop calendar.
Always Growing. Always Creating.
Room Fit for Custom Woodwork in Matthews
Matthews houses range from older in-town homes to later subdivisions. Room widths change a lot between those houses. So a built-in sized from a photo may miss your wall. When we measure, we start with the wall length. Then we check ceiling height. After that we look at baseboard thickness.
In a humid summer, wood takes on moisture across the grain. Then heated winter air indoors gets drier. After that, the wood gives the moisture back. Because of that, we leave a little room for a wide top to grow in width. But length barely changes. We have seen wide tops press into a wall because nobody left a gap. So ask where that expansion room will sit before you book.
Where the Work Begins
Here is the order we walk on a booking visit. First we look at your photos and the rough sizes. Then we walk the slab racks, or the lumber we already have. After you pick a board, we talk about the legs and how the piece meets the wall.
A built-in usually needs room measurements before we cut. But your own numbers can carry a freestanding table when the room is open. When the piece has to clear a doorway on the way in, tell us that early. We have had to rethink a top after it would not turn a hall corner.
Shaped by Nature. Finished by Hand.
We mill our own lumber here, and we can custom-mill a qualifying log you own. The Lucas mill cuts slabs up to six feet wide. So ask if your log qualifies before you haul it over. Because kiln drying for customer wood starts at a 500-board-foot minimum, a small log may not fit that service. Then we would look at a slab we already have in the yard.
We keep live-edge slabs and rough-sawn boards on hand. Some of that wood is air-dried. Some we have already run through the kiln. Epoxy is an option when a void needs filling. For the finish on Custom Woodwork in Matthews, ask what we would put on that piece. A varnish film sheds a short spill. But oil looks dull when it needs another wipe.
A Resource for Ideas of Every Size
Shop Time for Custom Woodwork in Matthews
Shop time depends on the wood. We write each step on the quote, line by line. When the wood is still green, drying gets its own line. Then you can see the saw and sand hours.
From Matthews, the shop is a planned trip. Bring photos and the rough sizes. If you want us to mill your log, ask that day whether it qualifies. If the log is under the kiln minimum, we may use a slab we already dried.
More to Discover Around Every Corner
Cost depends on the wood and the hours. We write quotes out line by line so you can see each one. Milling your log is a separate line, and only if the log qualifies. Epoxy adds bench time when a void has to be filled.
Several coats of film finish add bench hours on the quote. Ask us to keep those lines apart on Custom Woodwork in Matthews. Then you can drop a line if the total runs past what you planned. We will not name a number before we know the slab and the size.
See What We’ve Been Creating
Questions People Ask on Custom Woodwork in Matthews
How Should Humidity Change Custom Woodwork in Matthews?
In Matthews, tell us which floor the piece will live on. For example, people in older houses have told us an upstairs room stays closer to the outdoor air. But we have also seen rooms run drier while the cooling is on. So the gap in a wide top has to match that room.
Can Our Log Supply Custom Woodwork in Matthews?
Sometimes a customer log can supply the job, if it qualifies and you want us to dry it here. Bring photos of the log, plus the length and diameter if you have them. But we have turned logs away that were too short for a kiln load. Then the job moved to a slab from our sawmill pile.
Planning an Outdoor Project?
Porch Pieces and Custom Woodwork in Matthews
In Matthews, North Carolina, porch air stays damper than indoor air in a cooled room. A screened porch holds that damp air, and a covered entry often does the same. So if the job is exterior, ask about the finish before you book. We have built mantels and other specialty pieces for outside use.
Look at our custom woodwork if you want the range of tables and mantels before you visit. Ask which finish we would use outdoors. Then ask how you would wipe the piece after a wet week.
People have called after a door rubbed through a hot spell. The rub eased once the air dried. Some of those calls traced back to a missing gap from the booking talk. When you ask about movement up front, we can point to the spot we will leave loose.
After install, expect a little seasonal movement. Wipe standing water the same day. We have gone back to ease a door that rubbed. The return visit was short because we had already left a gap.
Come See What’s Taking Root
If you are still choosing, ask how that species moves in damp air. Then look at the live-edge slabs on the rack. We will say what we have seen that wood do in a wide top.
Bring the wall length, and the ceiling height if it is a built-in. Add a note about door swing if a door sits near the piece. Those numbers let us start a quote for Custom Woodwork in Matthews. We will mark what we still need to measure on site.