Carvana Headquarters in Tempe, AZ decked out with Hardwood Flooring for a Swedish Cozy Cabin feel

Arizona Hardwood Floor Supply is proud to have been part of the finishing touches in the Carvana Headquarters in Tempe.

Carvana, best known for its car vending machines, cut out dealerships to sell vehicles at a lower cost and provide a better car buying experience.

Craftsmanship & Attention to Detail

A general contractor, Wespac Construction, in charge of the Carvana project, was looking for a subcontractor to complete the finishing touches on the first and second-floor break rooms, conference rooms, lounging areas and basketball court for their employees.


The project started like any other, including the invitation to bid, and disclosure of the full plans and specifications.

The design intent for the offices was designed to be more of Swedish design with the outcome to be more like a cozy cabin feel.


Jimmy Waters, the Commercial General Manager at Arizona Hardwood Floor supply, analyzed the specs and raised questions on the specified materials for the ceiling initially, walls, and in particular, the flooring.

The specified materials specified for the walls, ceiling, and floors were unfinished Northern white pine ¾” x 5”. Although the white pine is well suited for the walls and ceilings, Jimmy questioned its use for the floors.

Northern white pine is a species of wood that is very soft, making it not well suited for flooring applications. With a Janka hardness of around 560lbf, which is relatively weak, Jimmy also felt that it would be too overwhelming for the offices to have the same wood species in the entire space.


Upon further examination of the specifications, the project includes a full-scale basketball court for the employees. When Jimmy met with Wespac to conduct a site walkthrough, he noticed that the court was slab on grade. Full sports flooring applications need to have the concrete recessed about 2 1/8” of an inch to allow for a smooth transition between the sport wood flooring and other adjacent floor finishes, which the slab lacked.

Jimmy’s suggested specifications for both the offices and basketball court were presented to Wespac and to the Owner for which was accepted.

• To emit the log cabin feel Woodhaven Lumber – ¾” x 5” #1, a common pine with a heavy bevel on the side was suggested. 
  
  Located in Mio, Michigan, Woodhaven Log and Lumber was established in 1987. From tiny cabins, the interior and exterior hardwood products are chosen with passion for their conscious decision to focus on quality shows in each and every one of their products.
   
• For the Casual flooring areas, Junckers 9/16” x 5” ash plank glued directly to the concrete in the main areas was next on the list. 
   
• For the basketball court, Junckers 9/16” x 5” Ash Plank was chosen with a pad installed beneath it for shock absorption, ball bounce response, and to provide a comfortable floor to play basketball on or exercise.
  
  Jimmy chose this to keep the flow of the flooring the same throughout the project and, more importantly, not have any color differences in the flooring.
  
  Located in Denmark, Junckers flooring is based on the solid traditions of Danish Craftsmanship. Established in 1930 by Flemming Juncker, 100% of the forested lumber is utilized, including the sawdust.
  
  Europe’s leading manufacturer of solid wood flooring for residential, commercial, and sports flooring, Junckers, is represented in more than 30 countries.

And the Winning Subcontractor is…

Most construction projects include a bidding process; however, in this particular case, Wespac chose to use select subcontractors.


Arizona Hardwood Floor Supply was awarded the project in part due to our craftsmanship, attention to detail, and knowledge of what the project would require as well as the long-standing relationship that we have had with Wespac for over 20 years.

Installing the Project in Phases

To make the project more manageable and to help increase production between all the trades we had to separate the project into two separate phases.
 
The first phase of the project began on the 2nd floor, completing all the ceiling, walls and flooring. Then we moved down to the first floor once all the other trades were completed to install the Walls, ceiling, flooring and basketball court. By doing this the entire construction team was able to complete their work without everyone being on top of one and other.

To help minimize multiple trades on-site we prepped and finished the Northern white pine materials at our facility and then delivered it to the project. Although a little time-consuming, we not only increased production, we also were able to keep a cleaner job site and allow the other trades to have more room to complete their portion of the project without getting in each other’s way.


In the warehouse, we sanded, cleaned, applying two coats Bona Kemi Natural sealer and two coats of Bona One Extra Matte finish. By doing this process we were able to keep the most natural color of the wood.

Once the prep work was complete, we arrived on site to prep the rough framing before installation. The prep work included ensuring the wall substrate was tight and smooth at all the joints, and we also checked to make sure that all the corners were square.
 
Once we completed the prep work, we installed the pine planks to the ceiling and walls. After the installation was completed, we did quick sanding over all the planks and applied the final coat. 
 
We then installed the Junckers wood flooring to the floor. 
 
Next, we installed the miniature basketball court!


To learn more about the Carvana project or Junckers hardwood flooring or Woodhaven Lumber, contact Arizona Hardwood Supply, Inc. today at (623) 742-9663 (WOOD) or stop by one of our 3 Valley locations for more information.