In a recently completed project (that my firm designed) we clad some massive interior atrium bridges in wood. As you can see in the attached pictures, they're rather large. We have had some significant issues with the GC with regard to quality, and their acceptance of our displeasure with the product being delivered, particularly with regard to the variation in the stain on these bridges.

Is there a standard (ASTM or otherwise) that outlines the acceptable variation between identically specified stained wood?

Thanks for your time,
Ron

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....... wow..

Wow 2

Why would a crew go ahead and install them ? Yeah....they are off a little to a lot.

Do you Know AWI Standards ?
Did you specify a custom layup ?
Did they at least use sequenced matched and numbered.
Or did the G.C. Go to Home Depot to get these sheets ? Finished onsite or in a shop?

I recently did a rush job for a property management company.
New tenant had to be in by the first of the year.
30K a month rent and 40 new employees to be moved in.
We had the office lobby,reception area wall panels and 600ft of 6" H base to supply and install.
All Quartered Walnut on 3/4" MDF.
There was no time for a custom layup.
This is like ordering wallpaper, all one lot # ..

My supplier -Atlantic Plywood had 3 skids ,120 sheets of it in stock, short run sequences.
They allowed me to go thru them all to get the 24 I needed. Took 28 just in case.

When I got back to the shop (120 Mile round trip) My foreman and finisher stood them up all around the shop.
Wet them down with thinner to see the differences.
Matched them up for the 3 walls they went on, Marked the back up as to there location.
Spent the next day cutting and edge banding them in 1MM walnut.
The next 4 days in finishing. Only 1 sheet did they have to tone and leave the stain on heavy.

This took a lot of care and Extra $$. About $25+ per sq. ft. before install.
We are a small 4 man 1 finisher shop. Proud of we what we send out the door.

How could he even defend that this looks good.........?
As Rob said ,even install them.
Pull them up off the Z-clips ,take them back to the shop and get a skilled finisher to rework them..

AND, where was the construction management or general who let the handrails get installed over them? Sounds like poor work from the get go to me.Lets see your elevation drawings and your specs, You did have them right?

Hey all,
Thanks for the responses, we appreciate your input.

To hit on a few comments:
1. We've had pretty major quality and protocol issues with this GC. The PM for the property is naive and has a long-standing relationship with the GC, and as-such has gotten walked all over. I could go on and on about the specifics, but in summary, we were told that our input on construction matters was not necessary, and that any decisions (changes, acceptance, etc) made by the owner would trump our review of the work. To hit on the protocol issues, we never received shop drawings for any of the architectural work, despite requiring them in our specs...the owner thought this was ok. Nor did we ever receive an RFI at any point in the project.

2. We recommended a local shop for all wood and metal work, one that we have a great relationship with, and know the product they deliver. The GC disregarded our recommendation, and went with a (primarily) residential grade millworker that's 1200 miles away.

3. These panels were not staged, or marked to ensure that any inconsistency in finish could be mitigated by placing similarly colored panels together. The panels were finished in a shop, and shipped to the site. They took the prefinished panels out of the shipping crate, and hung them. We were not on-site during this process to ensure it was done properly.

4. We are familiar with AWI and the AWS documents, they're pretty vague, and we did not provide full architectural specs. We are an interiors firm, and though we have an architect on staff and an architectural background, most of what we do is FF&E and so we don't include arch specs. That will change, thanks to this job.

Frustrating. Thanks again!
Ron

did you have color control samples signed off by both companies?

Chris -- Yes, we did receive a stain sample on the desired species, and it was signed off on.

Despite telling us to our faces several times that they would do something to mitigate the variation (surface gel coat, or something), the GC has reversed his stance: "it was further discussed on site and it was determined after looking at the samples provided to fall within the acceptable tolerances of the natural the wood variances". BS!

r

Also looks like off the rack sheets of plywood rather than custom laid up veneer work. That may have been a contributing factor in the colour variations as well.