In 2010, Central City Millworks submitted a bid for the renovation of a New Orleans restaurant at the corner of St. Charles and Napoleon Avenues, and was subsequently awarded the contract. The location had previously been the site of a Copeland’s Restaurant for many years.

Central City Millworks was tasked with taking the architect’s concept drawings and transforming them into reality while maintaining the intended design aesthetic and keeping the project within the owner’s budget. The design was inspired by a Paris bistro that the owner discovered and immediately fell in love with the ambiance. That experience resulted in a commitment to recreate that venue for New Orleanians and city visitors to enjoy. CCM duplicated the style and many of the details of the bistro from the owner’s photographs.

The name of the new restaurant is Superior Seafood, and it is owned by the same company that owns and operates Superior Grill on St. Charles Avenue near Touro Hospital. This will be their second dining location in New Orleans, and will be the more upscale of the two restaurants and specializing in Gulf seafood.

To date, Central City Millworks has completed fabrication of all of the exterior and interior millwork using African mahogany (Sapele), a very stable wood that is resistant to termites and rot. All of the exterior millwork (doors, windows, exterior trim, and raised panel walls) has been fabricated and installed on-site, and CCM is in the process of completing the interior on-site installation.

A list of the millwork that we have fabricated and installed (or in the process of installing) includes:

• Exterior single hung windows
• Exterior glass panels
• Exterior raised panels
• Side vestibule entry
• Handicap entry door and sidelights
• Entry door with curved transom
• All interior wainscoting
• Main bar (with raised panels including one curved raised panel)
• Main bar pilasters (with CNC intricately carved cameos)
• Main bar back base cabinets
• Main bar back display cabinets (with pilasters)
• Oyster bar (with raised panels including two curved raise panels)
• Oyster bar pilasters (with CNC intricately carved cameos)
• Oyster bar back
• Booth divider walls (with curved glass panels over paneled wainscot with cap rail)
• Bathroom stalls
• All interior custom wood doors with transoms.

Central City Millworks is in the final phase of a project that we have worked on for a year. Every separate item listed above has its own story, and the stories of those different components may be appended as this job nears completion.

Central City Millworks was subcontracted by The McDonnel Group, a Louisiana based general contractor located in Metairie, LA, to provide all of the millwork to repair several water damaged areas of the exterior trim of a prominent historic house on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.

The first area of the house that we worked was the Porte Cochere (a roofed structure extending from the side or front entrance of a home over an adjacent driveway to shelter those entering or exiting a vehicle). The original scope of work was to repair molding around the perimeter of the Porte Cochere ceiling. But once the demolition of the damaged crown molding began, it became apparent that the damage was much more extensive. Upon opening the existing ceiling we exposed severe structural damage that dangerously compromised the floor system. In fact it is amazing that the floor system had not catastrophically failed since the room above was being used for a weight/exercise room.

Once we discovered the moisture and termite damage, we contacted the contractor, and he had the structural engineer, Michael Bailey with Avegno, Bailey and Associates, develop a plan to correct the damage. His solution was to replace the damaged pine wood joists with structural LVL’s (Laminated Veneer Lumber, a high strength engineered wood product), attached to a perimeter band of pressure-treated 2 x 12′s. The band was to be attached to the masonry structure with anchor bolts set in epoxy. The pressure-treated band was further protected from future moisture damage by isolating it with a heavy vinyl barrier (essentially a vinyl shower pan material). The LVL’s were attached to the band with Simpson joist hangers.

Central City Millworks is molding, fabricating, and priming all exterior trim material to match the old historic trim to complete this work. Hal Collums Construction in New Orleans is doing all the install work for Central City Millworks.

Source: Wikipedia – Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is an engineered wood product that uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. It offers several advantages over typical milled lumber: it is stronger, straighter, and more uniform. It is much less likely than conventional lumber to warp, twist, bow, or shrink due to its composite nature. Made in a factory under controlled specifications, LVL products allow users to reduce the onsite labor. They are typically used for headers, beams, rimboard, and edge-forming material.

Higher Than Average Storm Forecast

Hurricane shutters have traditionally sold well in regions after a hurricane hits. The 2005 storms Wilma, Rita, and Katrina caused a spike in the demand for storm shutters. But according to Google Trends, the number of searches for “hurricane shutters”, “storm shutters”, and “window shutters” has steadily declined since 2005 even though the number of storms is trending upwards.

In 2010, the famous team at Colorado State University headed by Dr. William Gray and Phil Klotzbach predicted a higher than average number of storms. Their forecast called for 15 named storms compared to a 50-year average of 9.6 storms. But they underestimated last year. Actually, there were 19 named storms in 2010, tying 1887 and 1995 as the third highest number on record.

Twelve of the 19 became hurricanes, tying 1969 as the second highest on record according to the National Hurricane Center.

Increased Threat, Decreased Interest?

Obviously, this decline in interest in searching online for shutters is not because most homes built in at-risk regions already have them installed. Remember, interest increases only after a storm hits. In 2010, the jet stream steered most storms away from the U.S. mainland. Fewer hits, less interest.

“This recent 9 of 11-year period without any major landfall events should not be expected to continue.”

But just as obviously, putting up shutters after a hurricane has hurled 2×4′s and lawn furniture through windows is backwards thinking. Unfortunately it’s human nature. Many people react to actual events rather than prepare for even highly possible events.

What’s the Forecast for 2011?

The forecast suggests higher percentages than last year. The Colorado team predicts there will be 16 named storms including nine hurricanes, five of which will be major.

Says Dr. Gray,

We remain – since 1995 – in a favorable multi-decadal period for enhanced Atlantic Basin hurricane activity, which is expected to continue for the next 10-15 years or so. Except for the very destructive hurricane seasons of 2004-2005, United States coastal residents have experienced no other major landfalling hurricanes since 1999.”

So What are the Odds?

According to the team, there is a 47% chance that a major hurricane will hit the Gulf Coast this year compared to the long-term average of 30%. That is a significant increase in the odds.

But, with this increase in the predicted threat is there an increase in preparation? Not yet, at least according to Google Trends. Human nature, remember?

But, from our perspective, we’d rather install shutters for new customers before a tree limb comes through their window, inviting the wind and rain to follow.

Human nature aside…doesn’t that just make sense?

Call us.

Central City Millworks built these kitchen cabinets for a New Orleans condo. More accurately, the cabinets were designed and built to hide the kitchen. Appliances, sink, and storage areas are concealed by the cabinets when they are not in use. The result provided the owner with a multi-use area that had the required utility when needed, but at all other times presented a clean, open space.

First, metal framing was installed to define the enclosures for the various kitchen appliances, pantry, and storage areas.

However when faced with the wall of doors, first-time guests will no doubt need an orientation as to what is behind which one. Otherwise, they may find themselves staring at shelves of canned goods… when they were looking for the hidden bathroom.

Central City Millworks was contracted to provide heart pine flooring as part of the renovation of buildings at Jackson Barracks, located in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.

The Barracks, established in 1834, served as a military base as well as the home of the Louisiana National Guard. But during Hurricane Katrina the base was severely damaged when Federal levees failed and flood waters filled buildings, destroyed equipment, and challenged the personnel stationed there with their survival.

CCM was selected for this flooring project because our millwork shop had the source for the salvaged heart pine, and because we have the capability to store, handle, de-nail, cut, and mill it to match the original historic wood flooring that needed to be replaced.

Heart pine flooring sawn in the CCM millwork shop

Heart pine flooring in New Orleans millwork shop ready for install

As part of the renovation of a New Orleans warehouse district condo, designed by the firm of architect John Chrestia, Central City Millworks created the detailed design of the custom kitchen cabinet millwork as CAD (computer-aided design) drawings. The CAD files were then loaded into our CNC (Computer Numerical Control) router to precisely fabricate the various parts of the kitchen cabinets. Because of the extreme precision with which each of parts were cut, all parts fit together perfectly.

Cabinets constructed with computerized accuracy allows for the option to use of specialty hardware (that requires highly accurate fitting) that can provide especially smooth operation. The CNC router can easily cut hidden mortises and tenons that ensures the highest quality joinery for optimum durability.

Once the kitchen cabinets were completed, they were installed by Hal Collums Construction of New Orleans. Because the cabinets were constructed perfectly square and plumb, HCC had to ensure that the rough framing and drywall of the spaces where the cabinets were to be installed were equally square, plumb, and level, resulting in a hand-in-glove fit.

Central City Millworks recently acquired a pest control company as a new custom millwork customer. They contracted us to perform a warranty repair in a house to replace some old specialty crown molding that was destroyed by termites in spite of their efforts to eradicate them. Prior to contacting us, our new customer had contacted several companies that specialize in custom carved moldings, but none were able to match the 2 1/2″ crown molding that had a beaded rope accent seen on the left in the photo above. Our customer then contacted several custom millwork shops, but all of them refused the job.

Finally, the pest control company contacted our custom millwork company and told us of their plight. We have a great deal of experience in matching custom molding designs, and gladly fabricate small orders for our customers. We were confident that we would be able to help.

As expected, manufacturing a match for the crown molding profile was no problem for our custom molding department. However, the beaded rope accent piece turned out to be another story. Fabricating the accent piece presented us with quite a challenge, and was, of course, the reason why all of the other shops had turned the job down. In spite of our confidence in having the expertise and equipment to tackle the task, we had to determine just how we would put that expertise and equipment to use to solve this unique challenge.

We conferred with our CNC/CAD expert, Rob Thornton. Indeed, he would be able to program our Computer Numerical Control milling machine to cut the beaded rod profile. We then determined that with a 12′ bed, we could cut 8′ lengths of the accent rod stock. We would then cut and sand pieces to fit on the crown and glue them in place. The photo below shows the accent piece rods still attached to the milled rod stock…freshly cut by our CNC (making another pass in the photo above).