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WOOD WITHOUT THE TREES: ACREAT 22 BEACH STREET

Project Overview

Cross the Golden Gate, head north into Marin County, and you arrive in San Rafael, a city that opens directly onto the water. 22 Beach Street is a bayside build, the kind of site where a façade has to stand up to weather, salt air, and constant exposure. Builder Dan Godlewski and the team at G Family Construction wrapped the project in ACRE, custom milled to a 1×6 nickel-gap shiplap and finished clear so the natural read comes through. The result has been turning heads on the block.

Challenge

Bay Area buyers are choosier than most. The market values authentic materials, environmental credibility, and the kind of finished look that holds its own next to redwood and cedar. Synthetic substitutes that read as plastic don’t fly here.

Marin County added a new variable. In a major shift on wildfire safety, the county moved to ban wood siding on some new construction in high-fire WUI zones. For architects, builders, and homeowners who love the warmth of wood, that creates a real challenge, and an opening. The right material can deliver the same look with better fire performance, and meet code at the same time.

Solution: ACRE By Modern Mill

ACRE was specified for the exterior siding. Tree-free, stainable, sustainable, and fully WUIcompliant, ACRE is made from upcycled rice hulls, an agricultural byproduct that would otherwise be burned or sent to landfills. It mills, cuts, and finishes like premium wood while resisting the moisture, weather, and rot that traditional cedar and redwood put on a maintenance schedule from day one.

The siding was custom milled to a 1×6 shiplap with a nickel gap for a clean, contemporary reveal, and run in 12-, 16-, and 20-foot boards to minimize joints across long elevations. A clear finish was specified to let the natural texture and color of the material carry the façade.

Dan was direct on why ACRE stood out from the other materials the team considered: “Mostly due to the look, the feel. Everybody was really surprised with the material that we used. It looks great just like real wood but is actually made from rice husks, so it’s environmentally friendly and lasts over time.”

The crew also responded to how ACRE handled on site. “It’s a great product to work with and looks fantastic,” Dan said. The biggest payoff, in his words: “the final look of the product once installed.”

It looks just like real wood, has the same texture and feel, without looking fake or plastic like a lot of other products.”
— Dan Godlewski, G Family Construction

22 Beach Street joins a growing list of ACRE installs across Marin, with projects also underway in Tiburon and Mill Valley. It lands ACRE on the West Coast at the front edge of a market that rewards materials that look like wood, last like composite, hit fire code, and bring a real sustainability story to the build. Dan’s plan for the next project? More ACRE. “I would absolutely choose ACRE again for future builds.”