Property Details

The owner for over 20 years was a major importer of ceramic tile and marble to the mass merchant home center trade. He founded a company called Tilepak, which for years was the exclusive national supplier to such retailers as HomeBase, Lowes, and Builders Square. As he wandered the world looking for products for the American and Canadian markets, he encountered exotic deposits of stone, only available to the "Rich and Famous", which were being quarried by boutique manufacturers.

The principal stone at Luginsland welcomes you as you enter the front doors. From a very small quarry in Ipoh, Malaysia, came large cuts (24" X 24") of Rosso Malaga, a burgundy colored limestone with intriguing deposits of quartz crystal. At the time in the '80's, the quarry was "yielding" approximately one block per month of production. This stone was being cut and polished for a noted Southeast Asian Sultan for his summer palace. The owner was able to "negotiate" approximately 1500 square feet of the stone for Luginsland.

In 1988, Ipoh, Malaysia was referred to as "a remote location". No airport, no real highway to speak of, the only way to go to the quarries was by government van, 6 hours drive along one of the most dangerous mountain roads on the Planet. Picture washouts, trucks billowing diesel fumes, and hairpin turns. A trip worth the danger when one sees these magnificent floors.

Another beautiful and intriguing stone, this time used in the Sun Room at Luginsland, is Serpentine. A hydrostatic product in creation, this product is formed by the leeching of water through a mountain. Many refer to this as green marble, but there are contradictions to this description. The three most famous sources of Serpentine are Greece (called Tynos), Costa Rica, and the island of Formosa, now known as Taiwan. The stone for Luginsland, both on the Sun Room floor and in a lighter shade in an upstairs bathroom is from quarries in the mountainous Hualien region of Taiwan.

Months later as flooring started to arrive in California, top-loaded on tile containers, it was apparent that the moisture content of the wood was significantly higher than allowable in Central California's dry climate. As the owner sat on the Board of Directors of one of America's largest timber companies, he requested they run moisture meters on the product, and when found to be 24% (8-12% is standard for California) he inquired about renting kiln time to prepare the product for installation. He was informed that soft wood kilns would "explode" if subjected to this exotic Asian hardwood, and was then informed by the Forestry School at the University of Wisconsin that the nearest kilns were in Evansville, Indiana.

Cost prohibitive to ship the product cross country, the owner researched and found a specialty dry kiln operator in Linden, California, whose business is the drying of exotic woods and typically works on cuts for museum quality furniture, musical instruments such as ballalankas, and other small projects. The specialized kiln was occupied for many months.

The wood was so hard that it was difficult to find a local craftsman to do the installation. Eventually the owner found the "Three Brothers Caromatsov", like something out a Saturday Night skit... three Romanian brothers who swam the Danube River to escape Ceausescu's Communist regime and were now working in northern California installing floors. They were truly Old World craftsmen.