Wall Paneling at Jervois Road

This project is probably one of the most difficult ones, simply because this owner/friend’s attention to detail is mind boggling. My company did his house’s timber floor 2 years ago, and while we were installing the timber floors for his neighbour he floated the idea of installing Teak panels in his bedroom. This got me really excited as it would be a great and fun job. A quick assessment of his existing room and i came up with this specifications. Solid Burmese Teak panels, 11x140x2800mm (every piece is a single strip from floor to ceiling) 12mm Marine Plywood, treated with solignum Kerakoll MS-Polymer Glue Stainless Steel Nails OSMO Hardwax Oil Original Matt Every component is top in its class, so is the installer Ah Zheng Shifu. This is the original state of the room, with nice linen wallpaper.

Original state

If you look carefully you can see the existing timber floor is also 140mm in width. The idea is to install the panels aligned to the floor panels so that they look like an extension of the existing floor.

Day One

Marine plywood panels

Discounting the time taken to set up the logistics, the entire day one was spent on installing the plywood underlay. In this project either a plywood or batten underlay is necessary because hidden nail installation method was chosen. As the Teak panels used in this project is thin relative to its width (11x140mm!), they would have a tendency to warp. After some deliberation the plywood is chosen because it provides a larger surface area to glue the panels and would provide a more solid foundation. The final wall would also feel more solid.

Second photo showing the whole room clad in marine plywood.

The difficulty at this stage of installation lies in the termination and edges. As the request is for the edges of the panel to blend into the wall seamlessly, it was very importation that the plywood is installed properly with no or little protruding edges.

Checking the edges for level

Leveling the edges after unevenness found

Day Tw0

Ah Zheng Shifu started installation of the actual panels on day 2. He spent around 2 hours in the early morning to sort the Teak panels that arrived on site from the supplier. Color sorting for timber is very important, as it greatly affects the final appearance of the wall, even more so than the color tone of individual panels. The concept is the same for timber floors. As long as color sorting is done properly, even panels that look bad by themselves can blend into the rest nicely and unobtrusively. Everything was moving along smoothly but towards the end of the day, a slight hiccup occurred. Ah Zheng Shifu placed 5 similarly colored panels together, aiming for best color blending. However these 5 panels came from the same trunk, hence all 5 panels got knots similarly placed. This resulted in a very odd pattern on the main wall. Upon seeing this, the owner rejected the placement. Luckily for Ah Zheng Shifu the panels were freshly glued, and he managed to remove them without damaging any but the first piece.

Removing the said panels, the odd pattern that the owner rejected is still visible

So day two ended with the incident where Ah Zheng Shifu was asked to remove 5 panels.

Day Three

In day two Shifu installed the panels for 1 wall and took out 5 panels.

Today he continued installation after putting back 5 nicer looking ones, albeit with a slightly more different color tone. Progress in day 3 was good with no hiccups.

The terminations are what will make or fail this project. For Ah Zheng Shifu he knew what to do exactly and we understood each other well enough that he knows what are my expectations and i know what he is capable of.

Ah Zheng Shifu chiseling out the square and straight lines for the recessed light switches

Square recess for switches, check out the clean and straight lines

Rectangular recess for light switches

At the end of the day the second and most difficult wall is completed. This wall is very difficult to install because of a window. The window is not perpendicular (yes it is not), hence it is very tedious as every edge where the panels meet the window has to be custom measured to ensure a tight fit.

End of day 3, most difficult wall completed

Day Four

Building on the momentum accumulated thus far, day four passed by smoothly. Ah Zheng Shifu was able to complete the rest of the room in day four, save for the terminations that would be cladded in real Teak veneer.

By the time i reach the site at the end of the day, i was already greeted with this and finally can visualize the end product.

End of day 4, remaining wall with glass panel completed

Day Five

According to the schedule day five was supposed to be the last day for installation, and day six was strictly only for final coating.

Progress was good but because of the complexities involved with sealing up all the exposed plywood at the edges with Teak veneer, work dragged on into the evening.

In the Ah Zheng Shifu has to ask two of his apprentices back in China to come help him finish up the work.

That day, that night, 那一天, 那一夜, we work in silence till 10pm like covert operatives, but instead of infiltrating enemy grounds, we were busy sticking veneers.

Previously exposed edge sealed with Teak veneer, covering up the plywood base and side of Teak panel

All edges sealed with Teak veneer

The finishing for the recessed light switch posed a problem initially as we debated on how to seal it and blend it into the surroundings properly.

Lots of ideas were thrown around, including wrapping the insides of the recess with Teak veneer or even wrap the switches with Teak veneer.

However since we are running out of time and being a practical person :P, i proposed spraying the edges matt black. And i did the spraying. Haha.

Exposed edge which shows plywood expertly sealed with real Teak veneer

Exposed plywood edge expertly sealed with real Teak veneer

Ah Zheng Shifu also completed the veneers for the window frames in this room. The window frames are made of aluminium and painted grey, which is a mismatch with the theme for this room, which was adorably dubbed “Mandalay” by the owner. Ah Zheng Shifu proposed wrapping the frame with Teak veneer to hide the aluminium. It was an idea whose result hinges on the level of execution.

I have to say the execution/workmanship was excellent.

Window wrapped in Teak veneer

A small but important detail that was followed since the start of the project:

Wall panels lined up with existing timber floor boards

All the panels on the wall are of the same width as the floorboards. Hence the panels are lined up with the floor meticulously right from the start. It may seem like a minor detail but it has a big impact on the final look and feel of the entire room.

This simple persistence for perfection also increased the difficulty of the work as the wall panels have to be installed with constant reference to the floor boards. Because of this the last piece of the wall panels are also at a weird width that required the whole 2700mm strip to be cut onsite with a circular saw. The straightness of the cut depends solely on the skill of Ah Zheng Shifu.

Day Six

I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Room clad in solid Burmese Teak panels

Completed room with furniture moved in

Recessed light switches with edges sprayed black

The result of the sprayed edges. Not bad considering the amount of work involved.

To sum up i am very grateful to the owner for placing his trust in me and Ah Zheng Shifu, and gave me the chance to manage this project in my spare time aside my day to day duties at my company. The entire project took a mere 9 days starting from the day the main contractor took down the old wall paper and applied sealant to the walls. It was an adrenaline filled 9 days with all involved, especially Ah Zheng Shifu and his apprentices, working together to achieve the common goal of completing the project before the 27th July.

It was an invaluable experience that will follow me to the grave.
Thank you John, on behalf of Ah Zheng Shifu and from me with gratitude.

For more photos please visit the web album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/81480538@N03/sets/72157630817379386/