Period Perfect Panels

ADD AUTHENTIC MID MOD ACCENTS TO YOUR INTERIOR WITH RECREATED WELDTEX AND EICHLER SIDING.

Have you ever noticed a “combed” or “striated” accent wood panel in a midcentury home and wondered what exactly creates the texture? It may look like wallpaper at first glance, but “Weldtex” is actually a decorative form of plywood, developed by Donald Deskey in 1940. Produced throughout the midcentury, it was especially popular in the 1950s. Jeff Nichols, owner of Vintage Plywood Millworks and Eichler Siding, began recreating this unique plywood about 5 years ago in his Novato, California, workshop.

Prior to making Weldtex, Jeff began recreating Eichler siding, a grooved plywood used heavily by Joseph Eichler in his midcentury homes. After numerous requests from builders, architects and realtors looking for replacement siding for their Eichler homes, Jeff started producing the panels. “I learned very quickly that [Eichler siding] wasn’t available and I was … surprised because I knew there were at least a couple thousand [Eichler] homes in Marin. I later found there were close to 11,000 Eichler homes in the Bay Area,” says Jeff.

WELDTEX

Vintage Plywood Millworks produces the Weldtex panels and ceiling tiles in the same way it was done in the 1950s. “It was almost always 3/8" thick plywood with a pine face,” says Jeff. Split into three sections (1/8" back, 1/8" center core and 1/8" face), the striations are milled onto the top face layer to create a decorative appearance in softwood. Plywood made from hardwoods, however, comes from mills with an extremely thin face layer to save cost, making them unsuitable for creating striations on the thin top layer. “But then I started thinking, ‘What if somebody wanted walnut or birch or oak?’ So that’s why I make the hardwood planks,” Jeff says. Also called “solid stock,” the hardwood planks are 3/8" thick, made from solid wood instead of 3-ply.

Because of their porous texture, the pine plywood panels and planks are best finished with primer and paint, rather than stain. “However, some clients have had good success using a stain conditional prior to staining. This helps even out the color between the soft and hard grain on the plywood material,” Jeff explains. The hardwood planks, however, look best with a clear-coat finish. When it comes to installation, a combination of panel adhesive and finish nails (instead of larger, heavier nails) works best. “Because of the uniqueness of the combed texture, the finish nails kind of hide themselves in the valleys … if some care is taken,” Jeff advises.

EICHLER SIDING FOR INTERIORS

“The three main Eichler patterns are thinline, wideline and Plank-tex,” explains Jeff. “The best one that works on the interior is the thinline, and that’s because the grooves themselves are narrower and shallower and give a crisp appearance of the pattern without exposing too much of the inner veneer core,” he continues. While the deeper grooves of the wideline siding are generally used for exteriors, some of Jeff’s customers have used it for inside walls. Planktex, with its very rough face, is almost exclusively for exteriors. “It’s meant to look like resawed planks that came out of a sawmill,” says Jeff.

Originally designed for siding, the panels tend to be a bit thicker and heavier than average interior panel. However, standard interior application for wall paneling can be used during installation. Jeff advises to find the studs in the wall, use standard nails along with panel adhesive and ensure the panel is placed against a solid substrate. “For the most part, these are painted and not stained,” he adds.

DESIGN IN MIND

Joseph Eichler’s homes are known for their easy transition from inside to outside, created with a variety of different design tricks. “Eichler had a number of floorplans where he often brought that exterior siding into the room itself, so it looks continuous. He did that with both the thinline and the wideline,” says Jeff.

TO CREATE A UNIQUE LOOK, PLACE CEILING TILES AT 90-DEGREE ANGLES. LIGHT REFLECTS OFF OPPOSING GROOVES TO MIMIC THE LOOK OF DIFFERENT SHADES. LARGER WELDTEX PANELS ARE USED UNDER THE ISLAND TO ADD TEXTURE IN THE KITCHEN. PHOTO COURTESY OF STARLIGHT VILLAGE

PLYWOOD WELDTEX PANELS ARE BEST FINISHED WITH PRIMER AND PAINT.

PHOTO BY DAN CHAVKIN (ABOVE) BUILT IN 1955, THE ORBIT IN HOTEL PROVIDES AN EXAMPLE OF WELDTEX USED IN MIDCENTURY ARCHITECTURE (SEEN HERE ON THE ACCENT WALL WITH BUILT-IN CLOCK). THE ARCHITECT, HERBERT BURNS, USED THE COMBED WOOD IN SEVERAL OF HIS PROPERTIES.

(BOTTOM, RIGHT) SQUARE WELDTEX TILES ARE USUALLY USED FOR THE CEILING, WHILE THE LARGER PANELS CAN BE UTILIZED FOR ACCENT WALLS.

(RIGHT) SOLID STOCK WELDTEX IS MADE FROM HARDWOODS AND LOOKS BEST WITH A CLEAR-COAT FINISH. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: WALNUT, WHITE BIRCH AND MAHOGANY.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STARLIGHT VILLAGE THE THINLINE SIDING UNDER THE KITCHEN ISLAND MIMICS THE SIDE WALL FOR A CRISP MIDCENTURY LOOK.

(BELOW, RIGHT) TO ADD DIMENSION TO THE ROOM, USE THINLINE SIDING FOR AN ENTIRE WALL. THE LIGHT GRAY USED HERE KEEPS THE LOOK NEUTRAL, WHILE THE GROOVES ADD VISUAL INTEREST.

(TOP, RIGHT) THE VIBRANT GREEN PAINT COMBINED WITH THE GROOVES ON THIS THINLINE SIDING CREATES DEPTH AND TEXTURE UNDER THE KITCHEN ISLAND.

WIDELINE SIDING IS MOSTLY USED FOR EXTERIORS.

PLANK-TEX SIDING IS USED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY FOR EXTERIORS.

THINLINE SIDING IS MOSTLY USED FOR INTERIOR WALLS AND ACCENTS.