You’re not alone if you love entertaining guests on your patio or porch.
Homeowners today love to be outdoors. Designers are now being asked to create outdoor living spaces with all the creature comforts found inside. This task is being accomplished with natural materials like cypress.
Mark Tuck, Southern Cypress Manufacturers Association www.CypressInfo.org“, says “Cypress is a beautiful wood that looks exotic. More importantly, it is a durable wood that – when properly installed and maintained – provides long-lasting performance. It’s perfect for outdoor use!”
Cypress, unlike other species that must be pressure-treated with chemical for outdoor use has a natural durability. Cypress trees make cypressene when they grow. This oil is used to protect the wood from the elements and repel insects like termites, carpenter bees and other pests.
“Thanks to its natural characteristics,”Tuck says, “cypress has typically been used as siding or as an outdoor ceiling product. But more recently, design professionals are using it for a variety of other outdoor applications.”
Cypress as an Outdoor Floor
“Outdoor rooms, peaceful spaces, and low-maintenance materials are the buzzwords I hear most from my clients,”Nancy Moore from The Porch Company, Nashville, Tennessee.
“I like to use cypress in spaces that are exposed to the elements. From my experience, it holds up well to blowing rain that may come in. I love its character, authenticity, longevity, and the fact that it is a renewable resource.”
Moore claims that porch designs that flow seamlessly from the inside to out are preferred by her clients.
“We typically use tongue-and-groove cypress for our porch floors because it makes the space feel like another room of the house – a room that just happens to have walls that breathe.”
The New Heart of the Home
It has always been the kitchen that is the heart of the home. A secondary kitchen outside is becoming a priority as homeowners are spending more time outdoors.
Rod Richardson, Gonzales-based Associated Construction Group uses cypress when crafting outdoor kitchen cabinetry. “It offers value, appearance, and performance that lasts,” Richardson says. “In my 20 years of building outdoor kitchens with cypress, I haven’t had a callback.
“Although there are many building materials, wood is the best. Wood has a look, feel and smell that is hard to replicate with man-made materials. Customers tend to favor cypress when I show them different cabinet materials, even different woods.”
Incorporate cypress into your lavish outdoor space. See how at .CypressInfo.org”>www.CypressInfo.org.
