Hardwood Flooring Blog - Up To Date Articles, Pictures

Hardwood Flooring School - NWFA St. Louis 2010

2010-09-19T18:28:00.002-04:00

For those that have an interest in learning the hardwood flooring business, or others that need a general knowledge of how hardwood floors are handled from installation to finishing the NWFA (National Wood Flooring Association) wood flooring basics school is the place to be. Held once per year at their headquarters in Chesterfield, Missouri cost for members runs $475 for a packed full four day course. Non members can also submit to the education.

I had always wanted to attend one of these schools, but this time around it was more for my son Ryan who has an interest. Incidentally the NWFA runs classes covering many other aspects of the business throughout the year in other locations. Here is a sampling of their 2010 schedule. Others I found at the four day event outside of the actual contractors that attended included inspectors, manufacturer and distributors sales reps, along with independent dealers just wanting more knowledge of how things work.

In a nutshell, the four day course covers safety, properties of wood floors, preparation and basic knowledge of how hardwood floors perform under the right conditions, installation of nail and glue down floors (unfinished and prefinished) and finally sanding, staining, and finishing. The time spent is broken into about two hours of daily classroom education and the rest actual hands on experience working with wood floors in their expansive training center. Each day begins at 8AM and finishes around 5 PM, with an exceptional lunch included.

The first photo shows event hosts and educators Daniel Boone and Frank Kroupa (left) explaining proper layout that includes centering, and proper staggering of a typical installation. I cannot stress how important this step is in the planning stage. Daniel and Frank go on to show how trammel points are used to center rooms, and connecting areas should the installation involve larger layouts.

Having about 15 years experience in the business myself I definately learned quite a bit. It should be noted however, installing hardwood floors and their procedures will vary from one region to another. Essentially what may work in New York for example, may be quite different than that of Las Vegas.

Everybody is included! This means you get your time behind a sanding machine or try your coordination with that old fashioned manual nailer or go for the penumatic. I was almost at the point of saying...

"Hey let's break out those modern tools, nobody uses these antiques anymore." Shown is Susan Christie of Toronto trying her hand at the double hit cleat nailer. This particular layout was interesting in that we learned how to intersect two floors running in opposite directions without transitions.

Hey, this is what I'm talking about! Introducing the sleek looking pneumatic (air driven) Primatech cleat nailer...on wheels!

Poor Don Conner the NWFA director. He failed to get a good laugh during the early morning joke of the day.

"Geesh, what's with everybody?"

Classroom...

The bleachers and Dan'l Boone nearing the end of the week...

Video Added September 25, 2010

Hardwood Floor Installation School

BR111 Selling Direct On The Internet

2010-06-03T17:44:00.001-04:00

BR111 has altered their website look to fashion what appears to be direct sales to the consumer. While this is a big change of marketing that took place principally through dealers, time will tell if it succeeds or fails. There are not any real numbers to show how much hardwood flooring is being sold over the internet compared to what is sold through local dealers. A few years ago we did notice a 2 % number being kicked around.

We're curious how others are looking at this move. Considering the company is now selling direct to the consumer how do dealers feel that have spent money promoting their products through their showrooms and displays? I wonder how many displays are being thrown into the street? Comments welcomed.

BR111 home page look June 3, 2010.

End Block Flooring

2010-01-27T07:08:00.000-04:00

Here's something in the unique category! Doubtful if many of us have ever seen this kind of hardwood floor pattern work. Leave it to anyone's imagination, end block flooring can offer a multitude of designs.

One company that specializes in such is Kaswell Flooring Systems. Currently offering a multitude of different hardwood patterns with hardwood species in the likes of teak(shown above) to bamboo and some reclaimed hardwood. Products offered vary in four different thicknesses and glued to any proper subfloor. Following installation, sanding equipment is brought in much like traditional hardwood floors.

The appearance offers a busy look, but think about using them for border work or entry ways. If they're installed with solid 3/4" floors, other preparations will have to be considered to reach the same vertical height.

Unlike older methods where lumber was cut on site and dried accordingly, the Kaswell product line arrives kiln dried with some patterns sanded to a 40 grit appearance. Definitely more time saving than the older methods.

Cork Underlayment For Hardwood Floors

2009-12-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

We're often asked; can cork underlayment work to reduce noise from the upstairs floors before we install new solid hardwood? Or... can I use the standard roll stuff that comes in 1/4" thickness?

The answer lies in a few questions asked first. In the case of the example above we're dealing with a standard 3/4" plywood subfloor where the new hardwood will be nailed or stapled. If you're seeking to eliminate squeaks that are now heard under the carpeting cork is not the answer. But once some repairs are made to the squeaky areas cork will definatly muffle or quiet and sometimes eliminate foot traffic sounds. It is not exact as other factors come into play.

Image Credit

For instance. If the subfloor is uneven, boards will have a tendency to rub against one another, or up and down. Cork underlayment will suppress the noise but it will be heard when walking on that upstairs flooring area. For the underlayment to work effectively one needs a flat subfloor substrate to work with.

Okay. But You're Adding 1/4 of an Inch Under The New Hardwood. Will the Fasteners Hold?

This one is up for debate. Considering a standard flooring staple or nail used for plywood over floor joists systems is two inches in length and penetrates 3/4" plywood by approximately 3/8 of an inch, you're not really losing anything. On the other hand, if you're nailing through the plywood into the joist system (which I rarely see being done) you do lose some of the grabbing power of the joist system.

All are welcome for debate!

Hardwood Floor Nailer Shoe

2009-11-29T07:46:00.007-04:00

Here's a new tool addition that makes installing solid hardwood flooring easier. Shown on the right is a standard Bostitch MIIIFS flooring stapler before someone came up with something called a nailer shoe.

What's a nailer shoe and why is it advantageous to have? The gizmo attaches to the bottom plate of many nailers including the following manufacturers:

Powernail
Senco
Bostich
Porta Nail

What Does It Do?

If you look closely at the photo on the right we have the stapler in action. It is necessary to have the bottom plate slide along the top of the board while nailing and positioning yourself for the continuation. Often what happens is the nailer will not seat correctly when the plunger is tapped which forces the nail or staple above the tongue and into the subfloor at a 45 degree angle. The result? A fastener that has been "nailed" improperly. It may have found a home well above the tongue area or on the face of the board. The latter will have to be removed; not an easy job considering how a pnuematic hardwood floor nailer drives nails.

The Benefits

The addition keeps the flooring nailer better aligned during the course of nailing a hardwood floor. The tool will no longer wobble as it now has a seat into which it lays. It becomes more balanced. An added benefit is the shoe provides better surface protection of the new hardwood. This is particularly important when installing factory finished flooring. In other words, the likelihood of premature scratching from the actual nailer is reduced.

Related Link: http://www.originalnailershoe.com/images/sweezy.pdf

Interesting Ways To Find Websites

2009-10-29T07:34:00.004-04:00

I had a long list of funny search queries I put together five years back, but as luck would have it; gone in one of my numerous computer crashes. Use Firefox...Yes I do..now.

What's a Search Query?

It's the words you type into a search box. In order to find out what people are searching for you need a stats program. Google analytics (tough word to spell) is a freebie that's used for this blog, but I've been hooked on www.sitestats.com since 2003 for the main site. Not all stats programs are created equal but having one for six years is great for comparing and improving your website traffic.

Here's a funny search query. I wonder what was on this persons mind?

"installing hardwood floors yourself sucks"

Initially I thought I would not see the visitor spending much time looking around, but sitestats shows where the person went and to what page after landing on the website. Maybe it was a he trying to please the wife? "Look honey, this guy says it does suck, let's hire a pro"

They were a previous visitor from October 16 while spending 38 minutes the first time, 18 minutes another time and today 23 minutes. Folks will tell you keywords are important to be seen in search engines, but "sucks" does not exist on the site anywhere. Maybe it's that semantic search stuff Google has been working on that got the person to the site. Actually I have a better idea how it ranked or how the term ranked well. Hey, I'm not tellin:)

Some folks don't spend much time trying to get a search query right. You have to wonder what are they are actually looking for.

"can i sanding cork?"

Huh? Yes. I know what you mean

"diy floor sanding australia"

Well, sure you can do it down under.

"hand scraped wood floor with pegs china"

I guess they have pegs in China. Yea..I know what they were looking for.

"examples of door trim while tiling a floor"

What am I, John Bridge? It's a tile forum

"pecan ahrdwood flooring"

Hey I do it too. Many, many times...misspell words. I found it interesting someone from Google stated 20% of the searches people do on their site have never been used before. I thought that was astounding until I thought of my own habits. Most of it must be from misspellings?

That's just a sampling from this morning.

Engineered Floating Wood Floors - Kahrs Hardwood

2009-10-25T08:03:00.000-04:00

Here's an article I wrote almost two years ago for this blog but never got around to putting it up.

12/20/07

Upon starting this product review category I thought, okay tone it down, give people what they want; honest reviews of a product. Running a small online business(as of December 2007) that sells these products while offering a fair opinion is not an easy task. It didn't take me long to come up with a product that probably ranks the highest in this category.

I'll be straightforward, we do not sell much of the Kahrs product online these days because of the pricing. Other competitors are happy to make 30 cents on a product that costs about $ 3.70. It is likely to be the leader in it's field when it comes to lack of consumer claims. Or at least that was our experience when we did sell a lot of it. Others that fit this bill are Mirage(which we'll get to at a later date) and Lauzon. The latter of which we cannot provide a review because frankly we cannot get a sales rep to call on us.

Kahrs has several lines, most of which are the Woodloc installation system. Woodloc is their own proprietary name for their locking mechanism. The beauty of the Woodloc is it provides a wonderful square edge appearance once installed, opposed to many of the beveled products out there today.

Square edge is the appearance of what one board adjacent to another looks like when installed. It becomes a near seamless fit, similar to a traditional floor that is installed, sanded, and finished.

Kahrs offers three different appearances in their Woodloc line. All are approximately 8 inches in width, with some being slightly different as they are manufactured in different facilities in Europe. In pricing terms, the narrower the width the lower retail cost.

Three Strip- three strips across the face of the board apprx 2 5/8" wide(shown above)

Two Strip- two"strips"(planks) across the face of the board apprx 4" wide

One Strip- one "strip"(plank) makes up the whole board or 8" wide

October 25, 2009- Back in March I also put together a video on Kahrs and their other lines. I shelved it until September because I wasn't happy with how it came out. Not being able to find the original video draft file I could not change it. Upon looking at it I thought, "what the heck it's not that bad..." I was really nit picking, but it doesn't have the lighting I'm after with "action shots."

Since that time the two strip has been discontinued. It took too long to start a new video, so I just let it ride. Many of their products are now manufactured in the US instead of Europe. Surprisingly, Kahrs has also jumped on the made in Asia bandwagon as the new Spirit Collection is manufactured there.

Another video, from Kahrs directly, dealing with installation of their products.

Very informative for those seeking how to.

Cleaning Hardwood Floors - What The Infomercials Don't Tell You

2009-09-30T06:16:00.002-04:00

Be careful out there when it comes to cleaning your new or older hardwood floors. Some cleaners may sound great by advertisements or infomercials seen on TV. However chances are the makeup of what's in the cleaner may void any warranty you may have not only prefinished floors, but site finished as well.

For a badly neglected floor you may be telling yourself, anything may be better. However if results are not up to your expectations, you may need the rescue of a professional floor finisher. What you originally applied to the floor may be more troublesome to fix than without. Why?

Some cleaners not recommended by hardwood finish manufacturers may contain residues that dull or cloud a finish appearance. Depending on how much was used, and the condition of the floor, these residues can go deeper into the actual pores of the hardwood (if bare wood is exposed) creating a potential bonding problem with any new finish being applied. In some cases floors have to be sanded to bare wood, getting rid of the harmful residues so a correct finish and proper bond is achieved.

I've seen the same commercials in the likes or Orange Glo or Glow. From a professional and more realistic standpoint I have to wonder how some consumers think such a low cost product is worth using. Ask yourself; would you use a similar product on an antique piece of furniture? That antique could be worth thousands, the same as your hardwood floor.

I have seen some complaints, but I'm not the type that will blame the manufacturer. It's likely what was on the floor originally that could have compounded the problems. It's best to follow manufacturers specifications on prefinished floors and listen to the guy that just refinished your older hardwood floors. After all he's been in business to keep people happy. A wrong suggestion is likely to lead to a failed floor and plenty or irate customers.

Better products to clean hardwood floors.

Floating Strand Bamboo Floors

2009-09-06T17:10:00.000-04:00

Being out of the loop of sorts when it comes to newer products, I've always maintained if you want a durable bamboo floor go strand. Unlike your basic bamboo floors that tend to be oversold on the hardness factor, woven strand bamboo does offer the durability some may be looking for, but don't expect it to take care of itself. Everything needs care and attention.

Who Makes Floating Strand Bamboo Floors?

I thought Synergy from Teragren was was the only one currently offering a wider plank type strand floating floor until I found some interesting pics from J& L Bamboo. Shown above is click engineered bamboo from the company. They're also into some fancy looking distressed strand flooring as well. The next pic shows what almost looks to be a French Bleed type bamboo; first one I've seen.

So why are strand bamboo floors the ones to turn to if you're seeking bamboo? It's the manufacturing process that enables the increased durability. More can be found at the J&L Bamboo link above.

Strand bamboo products offer a different appearance opposed to common bamboo floors. Hence the look may not be for you if you like that bamboo appearance with the knuckles littered over the floor.

Recession? - Lumber Liquidators Rolls On

2009-08-24T06:43:00.000-04:00

I like to follow Lumber Liquidators both on the web and off. How can you not see them all over the place? Baseball games for example. Look behind home plate where Major League ball teams offer advertising. Look on the web; these guys spend a lot of money on advertising.

Growth?

They continue to open many new stores by my surprise. One would think with the economy and the shrinking demand for hardwood flooring they'd be a bit more conservative. Sales for existing stores are down a bit according to their reports but they continue to open new stores at a considerable rate.

Lumber Liquidators has a secret. Keep it simple and offer low prices. You won't find them in the high rent district, but off the beaten trail. Yet they attract many. Although they don't see the massive lines of recent years when a great advertisement hit the streets, people are still magnetized to what they offer.

Clamps For Floating Hardwood Floors?

2009-08-16T16:14:00.005-04:00

I noticed a discussion over at Finehomebuilding.com that's been going on for a few weeks now. The poster had been having problems with a glue together floating floor; namely with the floor making all sorts of noises after it was installed. Temporary creaking with glued floating floors is common as the floor needs to find it's "equilibrium point" after the installation

But the questions among many became is clamping a floating floor necessary? Let's go back to the original types manufactured by Kahrs, and Harris-Tarkett. These floors were always milled with such precision that once the glue is applied and the boards tapped into place there wasn't any seperation unless you had a heard of elephants running across it. Once engaged it was tight as a drum, because they were designed this way.

Today many manufacturers give the green light to floating floors that they never advised of before. The products did not change in their construction whatsoever. It became more of a matter of "let's keep up with the do it yourself trend before we're left in the dust." Floating hardwood floors had become the mainstay of an easier hardwood installation.

In any event (I don't have all the exact product line names) suddenly a few dozen brand lines manufactured by Armstrong( Bruce, Hartco, Robbins) were considered okay for a floating type installation. Many in the installation industry were left scratching their heads.

To The Story...Are Clamps Needed?

For thinner engineered floors or those that fit loosely before glue is applied clamping would be beneficial for two reasons.

Keeps the floor tight before the glue dries.
Keeps bowed pieces tight and eliminates or cuts down on gapping before glue dries.

Other reasons clamping may be necessary include the makeup of the material being used. Back in the beginning with Kahrs and Tarkett, their products were long and wide or on the order of eight feet long and 7 or 8 inches wide. Coined longstrip. Nowadays it ain't like that at all. Many of the Armstrong lines would need 5,6, or seven pieces to makeup the orginal longstrip hardwood.

In essence if you were working side by side with one installing the Longstrip and the other a common Armstrong hardwood, you'd be installing more boards. Chances of boards gapping are greater.

clamps for floating floors

When Do Hardwood Floors Get Refinished?

2009-08-03T07:44:00.000-04:00

It doesn't sound like a tough question but surprises me how often it's discussed. Refinishing hardwood floors depends largely on what each person conceives as needing to be refinished, refreshed, or brought back to a new or improved appearance. While some can live with the everyday wear and tear, others may demand the new flawless appearance.

A Few Questions Heard Over The Years.

Q- Can refinishing floors too many times have an effect on the durability or strength of the overall floor?

Not true unless you have an unusually thin hardwood floor that was considered a top nailed floor (photo example right and below). These types were common after World War II when hardwood flooring was in short supply. They had no tongue and groove and were nailed into the joist system showing a familiar pattern across the floor. Often these floors are quite noisy as well because the fasteners have lost their grip over the years. Depending on where you live some are still being installed today.

Q- Why Don't Some People Just Leave Them Alone?

Some prefer not to have any work done on their older hardwood floors to preserve the patina it has gained over the years. You will lose some of the patina from complete refinishing with some of the more photo sensitive species compared to others.

How Many Times Can The Floor Be Refinished?

This depends on the type of floor you have. Much older antique floors can handle multiple sanding jobs because there was no tongue and groove system used when the flooring was manufactured. Thicknesses were greater as well. By doing some research into the invention of tongue and groove hardwood floors it appears they became more predominant many years after the initial invention way back in 1822. However the patent wasn't registered until 1850. To play it safe let's assume tongue and groove manufacturing didn't become prevalent until the mainstream use of electricity or in the late 19th century.

Newer Engineered Floors

Engineered flooring first developed by Anderson Hardwood will have limitations in how often they can be refinished. Cheaper priced floors have the most limitation because of the method in which the floor was manufactured. In other words, there will be a thin veneer on the surface. Once sanded through the layers used to construct begin to show through.

Can The Old Stain Color Be Preserved?

Generally anytime an older floor needs finishing the color and finish is sanded completely off.

Hardwood Flooring Installation Tips & Tricks

2009-07-22T16:26:00.009-04:00

Looking through some pictures on an older laptop dating back to 2003 I discovered some interesting ones that a story can be built around. Above is a glue down installation that ran into several rooms. In the background you can see the completed areas. At this juncture the installation dealt with following two parallel wall lines.

The furthest wall was straight forward in so far as how to deal with the last row that would be smaller than the three inch wide plank being used. Considering this is a gluedown installation the object is trying to stay off most of the area after the glue is spread. This prevents unnecessary board movement and keeps things tighter with minimal gapping.

In dealing with glued installations it's always wise to keep the areas from the wall as small as possible. In other words; keep it small so you aren't walking all over it. The area completed had been left to cure overnight. Hence there would be no board movement when working on top of it to finish off the area.

By using a control line I know where the installation "should be" once I place more and more boards on the floor. By measuring back in full three inch boards increments from the line I now have the dimensions for the pieces that will fall against wall #2. The below photo shows "fill in pieces" that will be needed along wall #2. Rather than struggling and standing on boards in the laid adhesive for the measurement I've found it ahead of time and made the necessary cuts on a table saw.

I would not suggest trying an area as challenging as this for someone just learning or doing the job on a weekend. In effect you'd probably only want to work an area about nine inches or three boards off wall #2. I've been accustomed to handling these kind of installations and know my limits.

Shown below are two neat tricks in keeping glued floors tight before the adhesive dries. The first wedging trick shows scrap pieces against the baseboard. The second takes a bit more effort by using concrete nails and getting the floor tight by tapping the cut wedges with a hammer.

Baseboard On Or Off Hardwood Floors?

2009-07-13T10:22:00.001-04:00

Often the little things aren't discussed during a sales presentation when hardwood floors are purchased. For the most part if you're remodeling with new floors, many choose to replace the baseboard with something more in tune with the times; specifically taller base. A throwback to the days when more substantial trim was used in residential construction and not the el cheapo clam shell or colonial style baseboard that only rises three inches from the floor.

What to Expect When Removing The Baseboard?

Cheaper thin baseboard will likely break into pieces no matter how careful one can be, most notably ones that were finger joint manufactured. How to find out what type you have? By looking closely at the profile you're likely to make out the manufacturing method.

Leave The Baseboard Alone

Some are inclined to think..."why not leave it alone and let the wood installers just fit up to it?" Nearly all hardwood floors will need some kind of expansion space which in this case will require the need to install shoe molding or quarter round.

Our preference has always been shoe molding especially if the existing baseboard has a low profile. Example on the left shows 3/4" quarter round overwhelming the colonial style baseboard.

Other thoughts to consider; Don't be surprised if the perimeter of the floor is not flat once you install the base after the floor is completed. Perhaps you don't like the appearance of any trim on the baseboard.

Chances may be good once the base is being installed humps and valleys are seen under the base, or gapping. For larger gapping the only recourse is either to install base or shoe or have the one doing the work "scribe to fit the base" to the undulations in the subfloor.

What Type Of Hardwood Floor? Where?

2009-06-22T11:40:00.000-04:00

Often these discussions are heard, "should we put Walnut in the formal dining room and leave the rest of the job for a red oak or such?" Combining different species from one room to another never looked attractive in my opinion with the exception of handling some border work.

Some people are inclined to go with a harder species for instance when installing hardwood floors in kitchens. Their thoughts are I don't have to worry as much about the upkeep; it's always best to maintain them properly regardless. Although there are differences in hardwood floors as measured by the hardness factor, I find it to be overused as making the buying choice.

Other compelling thoughts from prospective floor owners are what hardwood best matches my cabinets and the like. Matching isn't the best idea, but finding something that contrasts is a better choice. Example in the photo above shows red oak cabinets with an exotic Brazilian Teak hardwood.

Here's the classic question on many minds..."what's the best hardwood for an active family of kids and running dogs?" All floors will see damage in one form or another regardless of how careful you may be. For those that obsess over the issue I've always suggested a hand scraped or distressed floor. Any incidental damage caused just adds to the character of the floor. Besides these kind of floors are extremely popular today and could help sell that home you've been trying to unload. Whether or not their popularity will continue is any ones guess but for a country type setting I don't see it changing.

Easy Hardwood Floor Installations

2009-06-10T11:16:00.000-04:00

How far can it go? Do it yourself hardwood floor installations are really becoming a no-brainer. At least the actual installation part of it. Take locking hardwood floors for example, the latest rage. It's almost as simple as laying the stuff on the floor and it practically connects itself...at least the better products like the ones Mirage makes.

What's next? We've come from the floating floors that are glued together to the so called click together floors and now locking...no glue, no nails...no clicking.

I remember about 15 years ago Robbins had a product that made the installation of the skinny 2- 1/4" strip flooring faster. Two boards were attached to one another similar to a longstrip type looking floor. The benefits were installing the floor twice as fast. Instead of nailing every 2- 1/4" wide board you were effectively nailing a 4- 1/2" wide board. Big time saver, but it didn't last. I don't know what happened to the concept.

Big difference from nailing those skinny strip floors. Though I've never had the privilege, 1- 1/2 " wide strip floors were popular at one time. Imagine hand nailing those floors!

There are some guys in North Carolina that have an interesting idea with solid unfinished flooring. Considering it does take quite a bit of time to start and end an installation when you get near walls they came up with an idea of three boards connected to one another, cutting the labor time drastically. Here's the website but there aren't any pretty pictures:(

So now that they have this product, how about one large flooring square that can be dropped into place? Maybe something like four foot by four foot squares? Possibly, but I could foresee some transportation or handling problems, not to mention trying to cut the stuff. This would really get the job done quickly and easily. Four by four? 16 square feet at a time.!

Why not, there's carpet that can be installed in a similar fashion. On the right are carpet tiles offered by Lowes. Could it be a matter of time we may see something similar with hardwood flooring?

Puzzle Floor is interesting, but how many are clamoring to the idea? If it wasn't a gluedown only type of installation I could see more popularity with the do it yourself market. More on Puzzle Floor.

Getting A Floor Color Sample Right

2009-06-06T10:46:00.000-04:00

Custom staining hardwood floors can be a tricky adventure, not only for the customer but the contractor handling the work. What may look good on a small hardwood sample could be different from the final result.

My venture up to Tennessee a few weeks ago to visit with Al Havner & Sons proved interesting in a custom stained Maple job. Folks, if you're really looking to get an idea what the floor color is going to look like and not just from a small sample, put it on the floor. In this particular job the customer wanted the floor color to be a shade lighter than the cabinets in the background.

You're probably wondering.."wow...there are some colors there that just don't look anywhere near the cabinets in the background...what gives?" I've never been on the finishing side of the business, so much of this is new to me as well.

The job itself is considered a site finished floor whereby the unfinished or raw hardwood is installed then sanded and finished. The testing itself was performed after the taped area was drum sanded then screened to the level the entire floor would be.

Pink? Those areas represent the color after an oil based stain was applied. The color called Sedona Red sure didn't come out right did it? It may work with Red Oak but not Maple. All the other areas had the same Brown Mahogany stain applied, but the applications were different. Some were a mixture of Al's secret sauce after the grain was "popped" or the area was "water wiped" while other areas did not get the sauce.

Other the next year or so I hope to learn more about the finishing side of the business. In the meantime, for those seeking information about natural hardwood floor colors will be surprised at the number available.

Need an expert in the Knoxville TN area? Give Al a call at 865-982-4724.

Install Hardwood Over Old Floors? Yes and No

2009-05-30T15:44:00.005-04:00

Here's a question often asked in home improvement forums across the web. Let's say you're faced with a older ceramic tile floor that had seen it's better days. Most contractors will quote a tear out price anywhere from $2.00 to $ 5.00 per square foot. I can see the gulping now! "Yikes, that's almost as much as we had budgeted for a new floor!"

Taking A Look At Installing Over Varied Floor Coverings

Hardwood Over Tiled Floors

Why not install the new hardwood floor over the tile? This way you'll save quite a bit in the long run. Not to mention the fact removing old tile is a very messy job. If it wasn't prepped properly you'll be finding dust for months to come. Thin set dust, the worst part of the project clings to everything including walls and ceilings.

One important tip to consider here before it's too late is what the new floor will look like with door entries (photo right). Best to be prepared ahead of time if the door won't close without being caught on the new floor.

For wood type doors solutions are more simple than metal if this applies to you. They can be trimmed at the bottom allowing for the new floor height. However a new threshold will have to be installed, bringing the height back in line with the door and new door sweep.

Hardwood Over Carpet?

Hey, if I can install hardwood over tile why not over carpeting? Sorry folks, it's gotta go. Carpeting and the carpet pad will not work with any hardwood floor including floating. Reasons being it has too much give for a floating floor, and fasteners will not hold effectively for naildown type floors.

New Hardwood Over Old

With naildown type floors as long as the existing floor underneath is fastened properly, installing a new over it will work. However certain precautions should be taken to insure a successful job. First with nail or stapled floors it's advisable to install the new the opposite direction of the old. Reasons being the new will expand and contract in the same manner as the old. In other words if you had gapping with the old you will also get it with the new.

By installing opposite the expansion and contraction properties will not be pulling the underlying floor with it. If you're dead set on the same direction the only options are either installing minimum 3/8" plywood over the old or removing the existing floor.

Any type of floating floor systems that are not attached to the existing floor do not require any changes. Simply install any direction. Though we don't have enough experience with installing new gluedown floors over old, extra preparations should be taken into account for a successful bonding of new wood to old. Steps such as removing any finish on the older floor by way of sanding the surface to create a rough appearance.

Hardwood Floors Over Vinyl Floors?

For roll or sheet vinyl any floating or nail/staple floor will work successfully, with a possible exception of engineered floors that use a shorter thinner gauged staple. Multiple layers of vinyl may inhibit a successful installation. Floating floors also fall into this category but any direct glue down floors should be addressed differently. For actual vinyl composition tiles the only suggested installation type would be a floating floor.

Clumsy Installation

2009-05-23T07:17:00.008-04:00

I had a chance to get together with a floor finishing friend this past week up in the Smoky Mountains. The job entailed staining a new solid hardwood floor in the Maple species but what always catches my eye are the way the floors are installed. Seems the original crew was fired from the job. The installation itself wasn't horrible mind you, but it's those little things that really get to me.

Communication With The Tile Guys

Transition areas are always important. In high end homes like this it's rare you see actual trim moldings placed in areas that connect to other floor coverings including tile. Instead the floor gets butted or fits snug to the tile. For some installers, I know what you're thinking...

"Maple? Tight fit? Definitely problems waiting to happen."

Regardless of what is right and wrong, I've seen floors like this do well for years without problems. On the other hand I've seen some with well maintained expansion areas that buckled. Go figure.

Okay to the story. I don't know many of the details in the job, keeping a distance as the owner was present along with the builder. Besides they must have been aware of what I saw.

Tiles Higher Than The Hardwood Floor

It would have made sense that someone would have stressed the importance of keeping the tile the same height as the finished hardwood floor. Pretty easy to do too. As the tile was installed prior to the hardwood all the tile guys had to do was check the height with a scrap of material being used. Instead this is how it came out.

If the tile guys had problems keeping the floor from being too high (concrete backer board underneath) the hardwood guys could have stepped in and shimmed the area so a smooth uninterrupted flow was the final result.

And another area that connects to ceramic tile. This is very common with tile installations and not as severe as the one above. Okay the tile guys did a half decent job and I think the hardwood guys could have made this work providing they installed the butt ends straight to this area and filling with a flexible material.

Next. My first thought was maybe they wanted the sleek contemporary look and said no to common bull nosing. What do you think? What could we put there?

Scratches In Hardwood Floors

2009-05-13T07:02:00.005-04:00

I see and hear it often. I have scratches in my new hardwood floors. What can I do? How can I prevent it from happening again? Is there something I can add to the new floor to make it more scratch resistant?

We take pride in new floors like we take care of a new car. You know where I'm coming from. You find new parking spaces never thought of before. They may be off the beaten track and further from the grocery store but your thoughts are they won't get scratched up. A few weeks go by. Guess what? You're now parking the car where you did before.

What Can I Do To Prevent Scratches?

The single most preventive option is keeping grit off the new floor. By adding walk off mats at any door entry and area rugs indoors, a large portion of floor scratching potential will be eliminated. Hey just make sure those kids leave the shoes on the rug at the front door and don't allow them to drag them over in front of the TV to put 'em on the next day.

Any soil that could have been damp when they removed them is now hardened and will loosen from the bottom soles once they run to the front door for school. You didn't think of it and now grit, although in minuscule amounts is laying on the floor ready to be dragged. Yikes. Scratches!

How About Those Critters? Did They Do It?

Cats are very unlikely to cause floor scratching by paw traffic alone, but some strange ones have been known to use floors as a scratching pole, though quite rare. Dogs? Yep, keep those nails trimmed and make sure you have a good sized area rug near the doors if Fred loves to run for the doorbell.

Here's a cool idea. Protective nail coatings for pets so they don't scratch you or the floors. Imagine having your best friend running around the house in what looks like designer nails for pets!

See nail caps for dogs and caps for cats.

Can I Add A Top Coat To My New Floors?

Better floor finishes do not protect against scratches although new prefinished floors have variations of aluminum oxide that are more durable to everyday use. Besides, adding any topcoat will void the finish warranty that came with your new hardwood floor.

Red Oak Hardwood Floors Look Different. Why?

2009-05-09T11:53:00.011-04:00

I received an email the other day from a gal in Long Beach. She wondered why her new red oak floor looked so different than her daughters' up the road in Pasadena. Naturally it took a few exchanges of mail to get to the bottom of it, but I had a pretty good idea what the answer was ahead of time.

Her daughters home was built in the 20's where older growth hardwood flooring was plentiful. Older growth which is very hard to obtain (reclaimed) these days offers a tighter grain appearance than toady's hardwood flooring. There are also differences in hardwood flooring grades. In other words, Red Oak and other hardwoods have appearances that will not look the same. Much of it has to do with color and character contained within; a result of how the flooring was milled, separated, and sorted before the sale.

Another factor in the equation became that she had chosen an engineered hardwood floor. This made matters even more challenging for her to understand. Why? Let's look at what her daughter has in her home; the old growth Red Oak hardwood shown above we found on the website of Antique Vintage Woods Of America. Looking closely at that image compared to the one further below on the page the difference is quite noticeable.

The Long Beach woman had chosen the Bruce Northshore Strip engineered hardwood whose appearance is night and day.
It's obvious the color or character is different, but we're just comparing the grain pattern. The second photo shows a more radial look to it due to the newer growth hardwood and the method in which engineered floors are manufactured.

The question was also asked how long her new floor should last but she didn't expect to be around more than another 20 years. With a product like the Northshore Strip, taken care of well should perform well during that time span, but there's no comparison to a solid hardwood floor like her daughters'.

Hardwood Stair Treads and Risers - Finished

2009-04-19T16:55:00.008-04:00

There aren't many sources for this kind of product both on the web and locally. The only real source I knew of was Finium, a Canadian manufacturer. Only problem was the exorbitant prices they were asking. Of course a few middlemen were involved which really took a bite from finding an affordable alternative to handling stair treads and risers the old fashioned way; installing and finishing on site.

So what about the hassle of doing it on site? Sure unfinished material makes it appear more affordable, but several steps along the way create an inconvenience. Airborne dust has always been a problem. You may not actually notice it on inspection from a distance, but you will rarely get that smooth almost furniture like feel, or a similar finish applied to prefinished hardwood floors.
The amount of time and labor involved in finishing treads and risers on site can also take a bite out of the cost savings you have buy installing unfinished material. Let's not forget the odors created by the type of finish you may prefer. Some may linger for weeks depending on how sensitive you are.

A few weeks ago I visited stair-treads.com in White, Georgia. Had I known about these guys a few years ago I would have offered their products for sale when hardwoodinstaller.com sold hardwood flooring. Nine times out of ten hands down, finished treads and risers beat that strip or plank look many retailers steer you towards because they don't know of the other options.

Installing hardwood on stairs by the single plank method takes time as well, not to mention some serious tedius work if you want it looking like a professional handled it. And the costs can be up there too. Take for instance one single piece of prefinished stair molding (also known as bull nosing) can run on average $50.00. Add about 4-5 square feet of material for each standard 36" step and riser with a square foot price of $ 7.50 and your costs are $80.00. Thrown in labor and that cost can rise to $160 and more per step easily.

Getting Video Right

2009-03-29T17:22:00.007-04:00

I've become quite annoyed at the quality of the videos I've been putting together. Three months ago when I started doing this I thought..."Hey that looks good enough, stick with it." Over that time I was never satisfied with the lighting and then... the sound.

I've been using two different types of sound. One for the actual video footage that comes through the on board mic attached to to camera and the other is narration through a microphone hooked with a USB connection. It was obvious that was not going to work! Too much humm and what some call basement sound...not clear enough.

It's off to bhphoto.com who offers fantastic and reliable service but don't use UPS as the shipping method, or at least where I am. Those clowns don't care where they drop stuff even when it's raining. I always had to be on the lookout driving all over looking for packages dumped at neighbors homes scattered across the valley.

The shotgun mic proved to be a huge difference! Along with the XLR adapter, though I haven't spent much time with the settings yet. Check the difference in the video below. I've also dumped the cheap logitech mic for a professional one that is due from bh this week along with a much needed teleprompter setup.

Small teleprompter. Ideal for my needs.

As far as the lighting is concerned, I thought it was a crappy setup or something was missing. Maybe I needed those softlight boxes instead of umbrellas. At least that's what some experts claim. Maybe so, but I'm sure it depends on what you're most comfortable with. Then I did some digging, looking back though all the online videos I've saved and found I missed one key ingredient. What a difference!

Oh well at least the sound is noticeably different. Also fiddling with a new program that will replace those obnoxious web page background screen shots that look too blurry. Some backgrounds will become more interactive for lack of a better term. A lot of neat stuff to play with.

Web Listing Service Solicitation Through Regular Mail

2009-03-24T18:05:00.005-04:00

I received this letter today and actually thought I owed money! I get this kind of stuff all the time in regular email, but these guys go as far as sending me real mail. I wonder how many unsuspecting people really fall for this? Easy money if you don't have a conscience the way I look at it.

So how did they find out about the site shown? The only source I can think of is godaddy, but I could be wrong because it's public record. I also paid ten years in advance for the domain. Perhaps they think I'm more serious than someone who paid for a one year listing.

The site is something I was thinking of putting together last fall, but I hit a dead end because what do I know about landscaping? I still think it's a great domain because it has the important keywords in it, and alot of people search for "landscaping ideas" online.

What a trip. Domain name submission with up to 8 keywords/phrases to 20 established search engines, blah, blah, blah. Eight? Yea, that's almost like 200 another email solicitation mentioned the other day. There are only three real search engines and I only pay attention to two; Google and Yahoo. They account for 85% of the search traffic any of my sites/blogs get.

Let's examine the domain name submission part.

It's not necessary. The simplist way to get the search engines to see any site is by way of links...then they take it from there. For instance, mylandscapingideas.com. If I wanted it shown I would go to the garden web and post a link in the message threads they have there. Mind you it cannot look like a sales push. Or another idea is to have your local chamber of commerce list your website. Another suggestion is getting listed in dmoz.org...at no cost. The latter is a real biggie, but it can take awhile to get listed.

And about those keywords. This is where you put them into the actual website. Frankly I don't know what this service can do with the keyword part unless they submit to the search engines with a spammy title of the site such as:

"Landscaping ideas, home, lawns, gardens, patios, pathways, backyard pools, house"

I've seen those websites. In fact I spotted a real spammy one last week by random surfing and the site had a two paragraph title! Google has a section of their site designed specifically for those with websites. It's very useful information if you're looking to get on the web or improve your visibility. Freebie too!

http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Virginia Vintage Prices Drop - Temporary? Probably

2009-03-17T18:49:00.005-04:00

I still get occasional sales fliers from distributors I worked with over the years, but this latest one surprises me. All five inch Virginia Vintage engineered oak, maple, or hickory are now priced at $ 5.99. This is dealer pricing mind you and has nothing to do with retail. Big change from the standard $ 7.99 per square foot. Business is not good in flooring land.

But if you’re looking at the Virginia Vintage and the price looks pretty steep in your local showroom ask them for a deal. Prices from distributors are often passed along from the manufacturer who in this case is Anderson hardwood floors. So if you’re in Pasadena CA or Long Island NY the pricing promotion should be there as well. This is a March 2009 price and I’m unsure how long it will last.

Wow, that’s a heck of a price! They must be losing market share from the zillions of knock off, look-alike products the Chinese are producing for other not so well known sellers here in the US. Back in the go-go days when folks couldn’t wait to drop ten or twenty thousand dollars on a hand scraped floor, I had some terrific pricing through the now defunct Hoboken Floors.

I think I was paying something like $ 6.14 for the Maples. That was one great thing about Hoboken and I know I’ve badmouthed them before. But they could really chisel down the price for those that did volume. I suppose I got what I paid for. Great pricing in exchange for their services.

Bruce Lock and Fold Video

2009-03-13T10:51:00.005-04:00

Not sure how this will show. I've been playing around with the wide screen mode on YouTube.

Looks okay from here. Anyway this is a project I've been working with on and off over the last six weeks. It's the angle I couldn't come up with because of limited video footage. Then I thought... it's right in front of me. How many folks see the Bruce product in the big home improvement centers? Thousands upon thousands. Getting actual video has been a problem because I don't install hardwood floors anymore. However that will probably change because I can't get video and flooring guys just don't understand the benefits.

I did post an advertisement of sorts on the actual site, but no takers. Oh...I did have a guy in Jacksonville but he never called back.

Heck, I'll work for free just to get what I need as long as whomever has the job handles all the humping to the jobsite...and the harder stuff I'm not interested in doing. Like scraping concrete floors, lugging tools around, and all that other boring stuff.

Hey, I guess this is an advertisement for anyone looking for an installer...that works for free! Imagine that. A freebie! I do need a few new tools (specifically a Bostich flooring stapler)...and buy me lunch...I'll be a real happy camper.

Installing Hardwood Against Fireplaces

2009-03-10T07:00:00.007-04:00

It's been awhile since I did any articles on actual installation. Browsing through my pictures files, I found these shots of how to deal with installing against fireplaces or hearths. Many thanks to Stephen Pererra of Top Floor Installation Company in Tucson, Arizona whom I spent a few days with in late January.

He prefers to handle jobs by undercutting the hearth with the use of an electric jamb saw equipped with a special diamond tipped cutting blade (below). This allows for the flooring to slide under and eliminates the need for any trim in the area, creating a smooth professional appearance.

The top photo was taken years ago and has been cropped several times, taking the real meaning out of how the procedure is done. This can create a dust storm, but I've heard of better methods to keep the dust at a minimum. Perhaps some installers can chime in on how they handle it.

Anyway, some final shots of what the procedure looks like afterwards.

If you have a fireplace hearth that sits flush with a hardwood floor this procedure will not work. Check other methods when installing hardwood floors around fireplace hearths. And if you should happen to be in the Tucson area, give Stephen a call. You can find his contact information at the link above.

Surfaces Convention 2009

2009-03-07T16:28:00.010-04:00

Interesting to see who is spending money and who isn't when it comes to displays at the annual Surfaces convention at the Sands Convention center in February of this year. While I don't pay much attention to carpet and ceramic tile, hardwood and laminate is what I look for.

Anderson, who has recently been bought out by Shaw Industries definitely takes the slot for most impressive display (shown above). Another that had a good sized spread was Quick Step laminate and DBM hardwood flooring. Sure I've been out of the actual hands on business for awhile but where does DBM fit in? I don't think it ever did except for Home Depot.

Johnson hardwood floors had a spacious layout as did Wood Flooring International but they were on the lower level; used more for for demonstrations, tools, and sundry manufacturers.

Absent was Mirage but...no comment... never mind. I give them a ton of YouTube views on their locking type floor with my main site. Probably going to reach 20,000 in one years time. That will be replaced very soon if I can see a locking floor installation or do one myself.

Bruce never comes to this show so there's no comparing. Here's a couple of smart companies saving their dough with very small out of the way areas. Actually Kahrs was never much for a massive presence as they've been more on the conservative side. Maybe that's one reason they've been around for 100 years plus.

And look who I ran into. My old sales rep that handles Naturally Aged Flooring in Florida. Hi Jim!

Hardwood Floor Medallions - Great Quality & Prices

2009-03-06T19:42:00.003-04:00

I think I discussed this topic at one time or another. What I did not mention was a source for finding great quality and pricing available to anyone. No more retail gouging here! The video sums it up.

Enjoy

]

Hardwood Medallions & Borders

Bamboo Flooring Video

2009-02-27T18:34:00.004-04:00

That YouTube isn't an easy critter to figure out. Here I spoke about improving video quality the other day and somehow got a very good quality upload with the hardwood flooring guide video. Today I finished another dealing with a quick overview of some bamboo flooring products available today.

Guess what? The quality looks awful on YouTube...at least for now. As mentioned Wednesday it takes time for YouTube to recognise higher quality uploads...or something like that. It's been five hours and no HQ button or view in high quality link below the video directly from the YouTube page.

YouTube Version - Bamboo Flooring Video

And viewed below with the code that improves qualty within the embed code. Maybe they're just too busy today. No changes were made with the way it was rendered or uploaded. Identical to the hardwood flooring video. Looks pretty good from my house before I click the blogger publish button.

Better YouTube Video Quality

2009-02-25T11:46:00.006-04:00

I've begun to take video seriously. I think I did a story on this not long ago, but with my activity on the web I cannot remember. I have another blog so I've been quite busy with that.

Here's a little tip for those that can't stand the low quality on some YouTube videos. Mind you it's not all videos. You can't actually change the quality on YouTube itself but if you use the videos for a personal or business site it helps.

Much also depends on the editing program used and the format it's rendered in. Having spent alot of time the last six weeks while travelling and posting videos on my personal blog, I've learned some tricks, but trying to remember them is another task. Yea, save it in a file. Ha, you should see my files.

I should seriously try to get better organized. In the better editing programs there are certain settings that can enhance the video quality, but a big tip if you want to embed videos on your own business site is adding a small attachment within the code.

YouTube can be funky, or it takes time for the new setting to actually work. I've fiddled with some of these code changes and expected it to work right away, but it takes time. Once you have the html code on your site and preview the new addition you may get a message saying this video is no longer available, but it plays on YouTube at the same time.

Okay it's been about 30 minutes since I uploaded the most recent video to YouTube, so I'll try the enhancement that gives it better quality and see if it works.

Well, something has changed. Now it appears I have high quality without changing the code.

Size of the video not right for your own site? Adjustments can be made to fit better within your site. Let's say we want to reduce the size by 25%. Not sure if this will work so it's a test.

Link - Hardwood Flooring Video

More Internet Flooring E-Tailers On The Horizon?

2009-02-15T20:05:00.006-04:00

That's the feeling I got at a seminar in Las Vegas a few weeks ago at the annual Surfaces convention. I suppose many think it's extra money they could be bringing in. Nothing could hurt considering the state of the flooring industry.

The seminar which ran 90 minutes was more on the topic of having a successful site on the web and not your standard brochure type. You may know what I'm referring to. Three pages with a few pictures and contact information. There are tons of them out there in all realms of retail sales. What do they do? Practically nothing, because they aren't visible to the people that may actually buy your services or products.

How do they become visible? In a nutshell and without paying for the traffic it takes a lot of content. Content means articles about your business or flooring in general. Original is preferred because search engines don't like to present the same old copied articles...and there are many of those out there.

The retail flooring industry is still light years behind on the web. Let's look at the attendance of this seminar. I counted 33 in the room. How many actually attended the convention? Thousands. Of those 33, seven raised their hands after being asked if they had plans for selling product on the web.

Wow, seven more etailers? Maybe one out of those seven will actually do something but building a presence on the web takes a lot of time, effort, and money! Or if you're lucky enough to have someone in house that actually knows what they are doing. No, not your niece that's taking a web design class in college either.

There are several different types of web people. Programmers, visual artsy folks, and guys like me(few and far between) that know how to get web traffic without paying for it. Unfortunately many throw thousands of dollars at the artsy folks because they build really cool looking websites. Only problem is, who will be seeing it? Friends, relatives, and maybe a few customers because the site is shown on business cards, literature or TV and radio.

Business Slow? Get On The Next Fast Train

2008-12-28T11:45:00.003-04:00

Toying with video creation over the last few weeks it's become apparent, if you're not looking at video from a business standpoint you should start now. All the numbers point to a considerable change into the often talked about web 2.0.

I was startled when I heard these comments with links to the stories below.

"YouTube is now the world's second largest search engine."

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/search-ads-come-to-youtube/

or how about this one...

"Online video views are now surpassing searches performed on the top 5 search engines... "

http://www.reelseo.com/video-passes-search/

The Yellow Pages are also getting into the action, although there are few stories to be found on the recent speed and presence. By doing some of my own research they have been very busy only in what seems to be in the last week on YouTube. Or perhaps it's the flooring businesses I've noticed.

What's this mean to guys looking for more work in this ailing flooring business?

Simple. Jump on a fast moving train before it leaves the station. I consider video and especially the marketing angle and how to be found on YouTube is akin to what the internet was in 1997 before Google.

Here's a better video I put together for some hardwood friends in Fort Myers, Florida. There's no doubt they'll get some business from it. It won't happen overnight but it will happen. By starting at such an early timeline it's possible their online video ad will get thousands of views each year. But there's more to getting those views than just slapping something together and expecting results.

I've noticed some good Yellow page videos, but similar to guys that think they know how to build websites. They don't know how to get that key element...traffic.

Ifloor.com Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

2008-12-05T06:36:00.006-04:00

As sad as it is, the struggling economy has affected one online internet flooring dealer. The Seattle Times reported this morning the world's largest online flooring dealer is seeking bankruptcy protection. Seemingly saddled with debt created by opening many brick and mortar stores over the last few years, I wonder what the future will be for the first online flooring retailer?

Knowing the CEO personally I only wish him the best in wherever his path may lead. I consider him a fair man who offered a great service. I did find it somewhat difficult to compete with a giant when I had a smallish online company selling similar well known products.

Nevertheless we had different business models. Bottom line was the bottom line. I would not accept a gross profit margin in the single digits..."let them have it was my thought." I could have done more business if I tried to compete but would have to hire more people. More people, similar net profit. More headaches as well. Not my dream.

Referencing another article found on the bankruptcy story:

This is an unfair piece of copy.

"Instead of getting a brand new wood floor for Christmas, a Brooklyn Park couple got stiffed by iFloor." Now... how can they be stiffed? It's not over with, it's not final. They have credit card protection. Sure their holidays may be spoiled without a new floor....but.

Reference: http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S692014.shtml?cat=10728

Times are indeed difficult for many. I'm sure Steve Simonson will do whatever he can in trying to help those that may have orders pending through the company. My reason for this short blog article is to look at it from another perspective and not what looks like bashing from another online dealer.

"The current economy had set sales back in the brick and mortar locations and the website was producing many second quality flooring products sold at very low prices."

Who doesn't offer second quality products at very low prices? Lumber Liquidators, the king of discount flooring does the same. The big box stores have similar products. Some mom and pop dealers offer them, although they do not advertise as much. These products were ideal for the house flipping game of days gone by. Times change, time to move on.

Reference: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-158096

Edited:
Click the link below for full story and video
Edit addition: Disgruntled customer gets problem solved quickly. Video included

Flooring Messages Boards On The Web

2008-12-04T07:11:00.003-04:00

Looking for advice from professionals? Over the years flooring message boards have come and gone. Could have been the owners were just too busy with their actual business and did not have the time, or the constant spam problem some older message board formats could not overcome.

Listed are some that have been around for awhile:

Older Ones:

Garden Web - Yea, believe it or not they talk about flooring too. All kinds. Some of the participants have been there for years. Traffic has slowed over the past several years; likely a result of strict monitoring. In other words, some very qualified contributors were removed because of a webmaster that wielded an excessive ban function. Quality advice.

Doityourself.com - Hardwood, laminate, and bamboo flooring. Advice given isn't the greatest, but could prove helpful.

FCI Message Board - Mostly carpet guys. If you can get past the egos and bashing some useful information can be found. Poorly monitored, outdated forum structure.

John Bridge - Strictly tile. Best tile message board out there! Extremely active and excellent advice.

Floormasters - Best and only board that deals specifically in hardwood floor refinishing. Participants do not like DIY questions. Be careful here. May be best to view only. Scattered ego problems here and there.

Ones That Languish

Dave Spreen - This was one of the earliest message boards and had a great following. Turned off in 2003. You can still view a size able archive.

Newer Ones

DIY Chatroom - Looks like it went online in 2005. Not reviewed.

The Floor Pro - Gaining popularity fast. Installers discuss all aspects of flooring. High quality.

Hardwood Flooring Talk - Started in 2005 by yours truly. It could use some improvement but the advice given by most installers is very good.

Flooring Installer -This one has been around since 2000 or so but shows a new look. Could be the one to watch as it offers a blog function, individual photo galleries, upload videos. Very Web 2.0. Message areas are fraught with more ego problems and drivel.

Winter Related Hardwood Problems

2008-11-30T07:51:00.004-04:00

Hardwood floors have a stress level much like anything else in nature. If you happen to live in a home that sounds out it's displeasure during winter days and nights by crackling or making sounds that pop, your floor is telling you something.

What's It Trying To Say? Why?

It's telling you, "I'm getting stressed out man, fix me!" You're bewildered. You moved into the home in the spring and it never happened before. Strange indeed. Colder weather forces us to heat our homes. Heating dries out the indoor air and moisture is lost. Your hardwood floor is actually alive of sorts. It still has pores that gain or lose moisture in minimal amounts. Moisture is being removed from the hardwood flooring, but it did not happen overnight.

Individual floorboards are generally installed tight against one another. With drier air they begin to move apart ever so slightly, and finally a breaking point is reached. It cries out. Sounds will be more prevalent with narrower strip floors opposed to wider planks because of the number of seams.

How Can It Be Rescued?

Over the years I've heard questionable ideas such as boiling water on the stove, or having a large sized fish tank. Boiling a pot of water will do nothing as long as the dry heat continues to crank. Besides it takes a prolonged period of time for the floor to reach an equilibrium level to satisy. Most often a humidifier is added to the furnace system or other heating system you may have. This will provide a constant level of humidifaction to the home environment.

Another related winter feature is gaps or cracks in hardwood floors.

Cabin Grade Wood Floors

2008-11-21T08:14:00.007-04:00

With the economy in the doldrums and money tight you may be looking for new hardwood flooring but don't want to pay those higher retail prices. Attractive options exist with cabin grade floors. They may not look as nice as a premium floor, but do provide functionality. Maybe you're seeking a character type appearance without paying through the nose on today's high priced character grade flooring?

What Is Cabin Grade?

For the most part cabin grade refers more to appearance and is sold prefinished and unfinished. To keep costs down unfinished may be ruled out for those seeking price because once the floor is installed it has to be sanded and finished. Costs can increase by two to five dollars a square foot depending on where you live. Shown below is an unfinished product sold by Lumber Liquidators for as low as $ 1.00 per square foot.

Most prefinished hardwood manufacturers offer a cabin grade floor. It's their way of utilizing all the lumber they mill, because not all the hardwood that comes from the tree is uniform in appearance. If you've ever seen the cross section of a log there are branches that extend from the tree creating knots. Certain portions of the log also provide off color. With prefinished cabin grade you will generally not see the large number of knots in the example above.

Shown above is the Bruce Timberland Cabin Grade prefinished engineered product offered online at $ 1.99 each square foot by Hoskinghardwood.com. Cabin grade products will vary from one manufacturer to the next. Other characterstics and/or what to look out for are included in this article on cabin grade hardwood floors.

Hardwood Floor Videos

2008-11-16T17:14:00.003-04:00

Looking around the web these days there are more than a few videos out there, Some good, others average, and many not worth mentioning.

Ifloor Westhollow Brand - Deals with solid hardwood over wood subfloors. Good presentation.

Ted The Carpenter- Fast motion start to finish with a manual flooring nailer.

Glue Down Floor On Concrete (no sound) - At least we see some floor preparation with a short clip (0:35) on a self levelling compound application. Funny looking installation trowel. I'd probably have cramped hands. Installation is done with tongue facing out; unusual really. Overall installation technique is questionable, but hey we all do things different. Almost looks like an unfinished beveled floor. Probably the reason no strap clamps or taping was used.

IFloor 5/16" Solid Gluedown- Includes removing glued down carpet but I wonder why they took it up in "one big piece?" I guess with two guys it's much easier. Very little floor prep procedure shown. OK Steve who put this one together? V-notched trowel for filling in cracks? Dry fit the first five or six rows? Like I said, guys have different methods for installing floors.

Good taping technique (5:40) shown to keep newly installed areas tight before glue sets. Lack of control lines used. Oh that drives me batty!

Gludown floors are an option, but after looking at the last two videos I think any DIY'er would have troubles. Should be more emphasis on glue cleanup, otherwise it will haunt anybody once it's cured.

An easier solution with video- Floating Lock and Fold Hardwood Floors

Philly - Cole Hamels Complete Game Shutout

2008-05-19T06:52:00.012-04:00

Off subject, but what they hey, it's a blog. My first visit to Citizens Bank ballpark in South Philly witnessed the Cole Hamels 5-0 shutout of the Braves last week. An old childhood friend gathered some great tickets behind the Braves dugout. The ball park itself offers so many things to do opposed to the old cookie cutter stadiums of the past, including Greg Luzinski's restaurant in center field. One I highly recommend for bbq eats.

Phillies take note. Here's the guy you want running the show(below). Undoubtedly he knows all:)

Hamels

Shot from right field foul pole.

The man. Chase Utley. I think it was a foul ball.

The question remains. Will Howard live up to expectations or be driven from Philly when the boo-birds get on his back. The clock is ticking Ryan. Hey there's the fanatic! Definitely sports best mascot.

Road Trip May 08

2008-05-15T23:26:00.008-04:00

May 13

Washington DC Repairing Heart Pine Floor.

Whitepath Golf Club - Leave The Driver At Home

2008-05-02T15:09:00.025-04:00

Here's a neat cheat sheet for some of you guys that may be headed into the Georgia mountains for some golf this weekend. Whitepath Golf located just north of Ellijay demands accuracy. If you're playing a hefty naussau with the boss or fellow buds take my advice; hit a five iron off most tees. In fact, I've played this course about eight times now and found there are only three holes a driver really comes into play. Even so it's not needed on them either.

6139 from the blue tees
5694 white tees
4835 red tees

Hole #1 Par 5 - 493 white tees

Quick drop downhill, shot into green uphill

Great starter hole. 493 from the white tees, it's almost straight down off the tee. Plenty of room on both sides of the fairway to wind it up with a driver unless you're a John Daly type where water will come into play on the right. If you're like me and hit a driver about 250 yards you'll have a long iron into an elevated green uphill. I prefer a five iron to get within short pitching distance, because there is trouble on both sides of the fairway.

Hole#2 Par Three - 141 White Tees

A little uphill

Can be deceiving. Plays shorter than it looks. I can get a nine iron there. Hit it long and take a few extra strokes...downhill into the deep woods.

Hole#3 Par Four - 322 White Tees

Straight down and up

Leave the driver in the bag, otherwise you'll be in the junk on the right and left side of the fairway. When summer rolls around and the green overgrowth increases, finding balls is no easy task. This tee shot is straight down hill. My handy five iron off the tee can get me to within a full sandwedge of another elevated green.

No bunkers on this hole but a very tight elongated green from front to back. Caution; don't hit it long on the second shot as those downhill putts can land you back in the fairway.

Hole#4 Par Four - 326 White Tees

Downhill dogleg left

Probably one of my favorite holes. It's a short dogleg left as the green cannot be seen from the tee. Once again, this hole is downhill...all the way this time. The first few times I played the course I was wasting my time with a driver. Why not hit a 5 iron I thought? Less trouble to get in and you'll still have a short iron to the green. A well hit 5 iron and I'm hitting a weak wedge into the green...if I hit it right. I've seen so many guys try to cut the dogleg only to see lost balls.

Incidentally the greens have been recently aerated, so you would expect some bumpy putting for a few weeks.

Hole#5 Par Four - 251 White Tees

Short dogleg right

Noted as the easiest hole on the course, it's all uphill and the green cannot be seen from the tee. Yessir I lost a few balls the first few times playing this hole. Bring on the five iron for an easy sand wedge second shot into an evelated green that cannot be seen.

Hole#6 Par Five - 460 White Tees

Dogleg left

More trouble if you can't control that driver! Yepper, I figured that out quickly. Hit it too far and right and you're in the junk again. Take it too far left and more lost balls. This hole is mostly downhill so why not that trusty 5 iron again? A nice clean hit and I'll be within 210 yards of the green. I'll take a par on this hole any day! Nice vista eh? This is facing east about 10 AM.

Hole#7 Par Four - 356 White Tees

Major dogleg right, downhill from tee to elevated green

You guessed it. Five iron again gets me into a second shot with a seven or eight iron, but I've been having problems with that lil bunker just to the left of the cart path. Lot's of real estate left of the sand for a 160 yard shot into the green but for some reason I'm attracted to that bank right of the path too. I've had to chip out of there more than once. This hole is considered the second hardest on the course. My scores prove it too!

Hole#8 Par Three - 152 White Tees

Major trouble if it goes long over the green. This hole generally plays a weak nine iron for me with the pin in the back. Hills on the right have played a few errant shots that can dribble back on to the green.

Hole#9 Par Four - 335 White Tees

Fairly straight, slight dogleg right

Downhill off the tee and plenty of room to let the driver rip, but don't hit it left! Frankly I sometimes get tired of hitting that five iron so I pull out the big daddy on this tee. If all goes well I'm generally a sand wedge from a very funky green. One that does not hold balls well if the pin is placed right. Tee is located right of the picture shot. Green cannot be seen from the tee.

The front side is the easiest. A few things to remember. Leave the bragging in the car about how far you can slam the ball. Most average golfers unfamiliar with this course will lose a dozen balls per round.

My nine? Two pars, one bird...43 front side score. I need help around the green.

Back Nine

Hole#10 Par Five - 492 White Tees

Steep downhill, then uphill last 150 yards

Here's another hole where the green cannot be seen from the tee. It spells nothing but trouble if you hit a driver, unless you can hit it perfect over the bank(cutting the dog leg) on the left. I did just that the other day and thought I lost the ball...found it at the bottom of the hill only 150 yards from the green. I prefer the five iron again from the tee as a five wood can get me within chipping distance of the green on a second shot if you can weave through the maize of bunkers up front on the second shot.

A flat green! Rare for his golf course.

Hole#11 Par Three - 147 White Tees

Downhill

Another picturesque hole, but for some reason I find it hard to par this hole. If the flag is up front with tees close a sand wedge gets me there, otherwise it's a PW. Forgiving rolls on missed shots off the hill on the left. Don't skull it or you'll find the creek in the back of the green.

Incidentally the greens are in good shape albeit the aerating but the tees could use some improvement. Deer and ducks love this golf course. I ran across three doe going from this green to the 12th tee the other day through the deep woods.

Hole#12 Par Four - 318 White Tees

Straight over small pond. This hole is the first to be seen when driving into the golf course.

Short fun hole and the driver can be used if you can get it past 250 yards. All this providing the tees are up front (260-270 yards), otherwise the small pond in front comes into play from a regular tee postion. Best to stick with the iron once again if the tees are back.

I've been chipping for eagles the last two times out here, but as noted my game around the green needs help. Result? Two pars. If you're looking at the driver, aim over the small bush as there is plenty of room left of the bunker to chip from. When the white tees are back the green cannot be seen.

Hole#13 Par Four - 260 White Tees

Slight uphill dogleg right.

Yes, it is short, but the green cannot be seen from the tee. Very difficult green to handle putting downhill, depending on where the pin is located. Iron from the tee and an easy sand wedge to an elevated green.

Hole#14 Par Five - 462 White Tees

Double dogleg, left and right.

I dread this hole but if planned correctly can be a simple birdie hole. Tee is highly elevated to a fairway and green with same level. I've tried almost everything here from the tee and found the five wood works best. Sure you can try the driver because there is a lot of landing area on the other side of the large trees that line the tee area on the left, but if the shot goes right over the cart path expect a drop or lost ball.

A nicely situated drive will still not get you in line for a shot at the green that is hidden (no pictures). I prefer laying up with a seven or 8 iron for a small sand wedge shot into a picturesque green.

Hole#15 Par Four - 370 White Tees

Dogleg left over water.

The #1 handicap hole because of the itimidating pond and narrow green area. Five iron works niceley from the tee that gets me within an eight iron shot from a good angle into the green. Fairway to green is flat.

White tees shown right of the cart path. Aim ten yards right of the small bush in the fairway and you should be in great shape for the approach shot.

Hole#16 Par Three - 186 White Tees

Trouble and more trouble. A good four iron can get me pin high on this difficult par three, yet the handuicap is 13. I wonder what the secret is? Prior to this spring the green could barely be seen from the white tees. Much has been cleared away for a better view.

Hole#17 Par Four - 305 White Tees

Downhill, slight dogleg right

It's very tempting to bring out the driver on this hole. Afterall who doesn't dream of putting for an eagle on a par 4? If you're a push hitter or slicer forget it, pull the five iron out. Ocassionally I'll go for it but it's always so soft down in front the ball barely rolls. A nicely positioned drive can get you a 20 yard chip shot into a flat green.

Hole#18 Par Four - 305 White Tees

Another tee shot with the five iron. Actually a three would probably work better to get within a nine or wedge into a slightly elevated green with water in front. My confidence in longer irons hasn't come around after a 20 year lay off from this silly game.

Final score: 87

Off Topic - Spring In The Mountains

2008-04-28T06:57:00.009-04:00

Having lived in Florida since 1980 this spring will mark the first time I've seen nature come back to life. Location; foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Gilmer County, Georgia(approx 65 miles north of Atlanta).

Big trees! No more boring pines or palm trees to look at anymore! Yea, if you're new to Florida we all do the same. Visit the beach as much as possible..if you can get through the traffic congestion. I moved to Bonita Springs, FL in 1980 and to provide an idea of the growth since, I always use traffic lights as a guide. In 1980 Bonita had two traffic lights. Today the count is over 25.

Driving to Cumming, Ga. the other day I commented it only takes 60 minutes because there are only two traffic lights and the distance is almost 50 miles. Try that in SW Florida and you'll be lucky to get there in 90 minutes.

Orange Azaleas- At last count there were four colors discovered; orange, red, pink, and yellow.

My gentle running stream on the property.

Not so gentle after rain....

Unknown tree/bush...yet to bloom

Wildlife...

Hardwood Flooring Jobs

2008-04-11T16:02:00.006-04:00

Business slow? Wish you could pick up more jobs along the way?

Hardwoodinstaller.com, which is primarily a resource guide is bringing back a program that was very successful when the site was very young.

Job Of The Week

Back in 2002 when I started the site, I was probably in the same position as you may be now. I grew tired of working for dealers that essentially pinned my wages. I knew I was worth more than $ 1.75 per square foot for a glue down installation, but would they pay any better? Some recognized the value, others would take advantage of the situation.

Some attitudes became like "we're the only game in town." Or as an installer you know what it's like trying to do the job properly yet it may take longer to do it right. You spend X amount of hours doing floor preparation, turn your invoice in to the dealer and they hack it to pieces.

"What? Five hours floor prep. We only pay a maximum of two." It's no wonder these same guys have a lot turnover and complain about problems or where the good installers are. Look around pal, they went down the street and found someone that knows what it takes to do the right job without slashing labor that is necessary.

Anyway, that's where I was in 2002. Over the next two years I diversified by getting more independent jobs. Where? Through the Internet. Now I don't expect my success to be as good as yours because I took the website and ran with it. Having a desire to write since high school was a great benefit.

The Job Of The Week chronicled jobs I picked up from the site all over south and central Florida. I would take my camera along, taking pictures from start to finish explaining basic and sometimes more involved procedures on each job. Unfortunately all of those jobs are no longer on the site but one remains in a different form. Link below.

Repairing a Floating Floor

Hardwoodinstaller.com is a highly visible targeted website reaching 35,000 visitors each week. Look around, people do their research for everything on the Internet these days and this includes hardwood flooring. Having your company showcased in the Job Of The Week section of the site could bring in a half a dozen jobs each year you would otherwise not get. In larger metro areas you could expect more.

For more information check out Hardwood Flooring Job Of The Week.

National Wood Flooring Association NWFA - Convention

2008-04-03T07:06:00.003-04:00

March 25-28, 2008 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

What's new, what's not?

Engineered hardwood flooring is the rage. Actually it has been for some time, but I couldn't help hearing how many noticed the same thing. "It wasn't like this five or ten years ago." Having attended two of these conventions since 2003, this being my third, I couldn't help notice how poor the attendance was. What else would one expect. Business is down, down, and down.

I chatted with a friend by phone after the convention who normally made the trip every year. His company specializes in high end parquerty floors, medallions and exquisite borders. "Even in the Hamptons (Long Island) customers are putting off expensive floor designs in lieu of lower priced materials."

More information on the 2008 NWFA Convention.

Floor on the final day at 12 noon.

Wheeew..Been Awhile

2008-03-23T13:39:00.002-04:00

Been busy with the older site. Back in October a real estate acquainatnce whom I exchanged a few emals with suggested why not start a blog? After almost two months I thought..hey what am I doing putting this stuff on a blog when I'll get more people on the main website.

For those that may frequent this blog, it will see some ocassional new stuff from time to time, such as the National Wood Flooring Association convention this week in Ft.Laurdale FL. Have camera will travel.

So, the old site has finally been updated after four years of neglect. Pretty embarrasing when I spotted a few pages that said "Updated April 2004" etc. The site has once again become a resource guide with a large amount of new information. No more sales online:) Time for newer cool things.

New site look--------> Hardwood Flooring Resource Guide

And Bonita Floors is no longer either. What a mistake that was...hehe. Great timing there guy! I'm taking an early semi retirement to my little place of heaven in the Appalachian mountains this July. No more snowbirds, just half backs:)

Hey, we have FREE stuff!

Free displays! Except most will be gone tomorrow as a fella from Pro Floors in Bonita will be taking them off my hands. Place has to be vacant March 31-- end of lease. See pics below for displays that may be left--FREE! Nope, not the medallions, they're mine.

http://www.bonitafloors.com/showroom.htm

Hardwood Flooring - Where? What To Choose?

2007-12-24T14:24:00.001-04:00

Considering how many brands of hardwood flooring are on the market today, one has to be overwhelmed. I feel the same way when I hear "you have to sell this...it's selling like hot cakes down the street." Emails from exporters wanting to sell me cargo ship loads of flooring from overseas. It's become a frenzy.

As a conservative guesstimate, there are probably ten times the choices of only ten years ago, with wide plank, bamboo, and hand scraped flooring being the popular choices of today. Darker colors are also in vogue for some reason. I suppose all markets go from one extreme to another as white stained floors were quite popular in the early to mid 90's.

The photo included is only a portion of our showroom in Florida. Yes, you can find the usual Bruce products Home Depot and Lowes offers. Over the years I've participated in many flooring related message boards on the web, and always tried to influence people looking for new hardwood flooring to look elsewhere. The big boxes have limited selection in many of their stores. Sams Club? I didn't know they sold flooring either.

If you can't think of a store off the top of your head that sells hardwood, try the National Wood Flooring Association member locator. Simple to use but harder to weed out the many types of members they have. By searching with city, state, or zip code they do have members categorized. Look for dealer/contractor and avoid ones with a carpet store name. The specialty guys with hardwood in their company name generally have wider selections.

Link: National Wood Flooring Association

What Goes Best With Rose Colored Cabinets?

I hear these questions often; what matches with this and that. The way I look at it, you're the one that will be living with it, so choose what looks best to you. If you have absolutely no designer genes in your body, you could always call in a decorator. I would however, ask for opinions from relatives or friends on their choices as decorators can be more experimental than anything.

But Maple Is Harder Than Oak...

This emphasis on how hard a hardwood floor should be is getting out of hand in my opinion. Too often, consumers are led to believe a hard floor is better. False! It depends on how it's taken care of. I've seen and heard it more than a few thousand times or so it seems. On another site, I put together what I feel is another way of looking at, do I really need a hard hardwood floor?

The Garrison Collection Comparison - Naturally Aged Flooring - Virginia Vintage

2007-12-19T17:57:00.001-04:00

This page has moved to imported hand scraped Chinese hardwood flooring. Comparison of lower priced imported hardwoods and those made in the USA.

DIY Tools - Nailing Solid Hardwood Floors

2007-12-18T17:05:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. See installing solid hardwood floors on wood subfloors.

DIY. Bench Table Saws

2007-12-16T05:51:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. See table saws and hardwood floors.

DIY Tools. Jig Saw

2007-12-14T05:45:00.000-04:00

The jig saw is used predominantly when cutting material that go under door casings after they are undercut with a jamb saw. Other uses include cutting hardwood flooring around electrical floor outlets on wood sub floors. More uses for this tool include making dual cuts on the same board with two different angles or scribed lines (more on that subject at a later date) that are not straight. The list goes on with larger layouts.

For those that may have small layouts, the jig saw can also be used for ripping down full length boards if you don't want to include the cost of a table saw on your tool list. This occurs near the end of the installation against the wall parallel from your staring point. For thin engineered hardwoods, lower priced jig saws can handle the work, but using harder exotic hardwoods, more power and quality is needed, unless you can settle for a jagged cut.

Baseboard or quarter round will cover the last board wall rip cut, so there's really no need for a precise straight line cut. However from my experience, you may run off your scribed line on the last board if you're not patient or don't have the power to make a good cut. Occasionally once you fit the last board(s) into place while using a scrap piece (photo above) of molding checking for coverage, a few gaps will appear. Trim does not cover. This is directly related to the cut made.

Successive picture examples of making cuts with a jig saw around door casings offered by Keith Soderholm, a Fort Myers FL Hardwood Installer. Flooring used is laminate installed over a terrazzo floor

DIY Tools. Chop/Miter Saw

2007-12-13T05:57:00.001-04:00

This page has moved to DIY Tools - Miter Chop Saw.

DIY. Knee Pads

2007-12-12T18:09:00.000-04:00

Think back on the last time you handled a home project you've never did before; maybe a deck off the kitchen? Remember finding those muscles you didn't know existed? They found you the day after with body aches and stiffness.

For those hearty do it yourselfers the most important tool in the bag may be knee pads. Flooring is a floor job. Next time you should happen to see a flooring guy you can easily spot whether or not he's used knee pads most of the time. Old timers usually have caloused knees after working year after year with no protection. One has to wonder why they complain of bad knees when knee pads were the answer.

Knee pads come in many varieties. For hardwood flooring and a factory prefinished floor the best to use are cloth type that will not scratch the finish. I've found them to be more comfortable as well. Keep in mind, they must be kept clean of grit during the work. Shake out often.

The Host Wearing Knee Pads

DIY. Common Sense

2007-12-11T05:43:00.000-04:00

Having the right tools for the job can make for a quicker installation, not to mention a better overall finished look. Over the next few months you'll find reviews of each and every one. From the basic tape measure all the way up to cool saws we use for cutting precise border work and the like.

Tool # 1 Suggestion - Common Sense.

I know many like to skip over recommendations and directions, but common sense ranks as being #1 in importance. Without common sense you're likely to have problems or may run into situations that can have an effect on your personal well being. Thinking back on the job accidents I had over the years(not many)two items come to mind that were a result of no common sense.

Too Tired: If you're too tired to do the work, think of less demanding parts of the job you can do until more pressing parts requiring more concentration. I too sometimes get impatient after picking up a new power tool for example. I want to fire her up right away. Have some painting to do? My recommendation; do that work until you feel refreshed or more alert.

Hungover: Yes, I'll admit I did drink quite a bit until I gave it up six years ago. Two accidents were a direct result of this and far too many close calls! Being hungover does not work!

Drinking & Work: This is something I never did, though I remember many in the flooring business that did and still do.

Hard to pin point, but the sub contracting business in general brings out or shapes the substance abusers. Being an independent that does not work a standard 9 to 5 job probably has something to do with it. Another reason could be the boss is never around. Installers/subcontractors work by their own schedule though people who contract them prefer they make some kind of consistent daily work appearances. Generally if they do great work, the problems are rarely addressed.

Being an alcoholic, I found the business right up my alley. I was not a full blown one mind you, and worked a regular 7-8 hour workday. I would often be the first on the job trying to get my mind together, finding something to do while working the booze(sweating) from my system. Besides it was easier to deal with others when they showed up later. Hard to describe, but I felt more at ease once I was into the work, rather than showing up when everyone else did. I was not into the early morning greeting chit chat because I was too hungover.

When 7 or eight hours were up I was on my way. During the later stages I had a 3-4 beers on ice in a cooler. 45 minute ride home? They were gone when I stepped into the house. I didn't have anyone to answer to.

Conclusion: Think twice if the three common sense topics above come into play, especially when power tools are involved.

Bamboo Floors? Maintenance Problem? Or Manufacturer.

2007-12-10T06:47:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. Bamboo Flooring Maintenance Problems?

Computer Aided Measuring For Flooring - Digital

2007-12-08T06:15:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I noticed a truck going down the highway that was labeled USA Flooring Removal. I had to get a hold of these folks. After all, what installer likes to rip flooring out? Installers want to handle the actual installation, not labor away unnecessarily doing grunt work that should be left up to unskilled workers or...machines!

Machines you say? Yes, machines that do the work for you. Being in a smaller market these kind of gizmos could not be found. Sure the ones used for VCT and carpet removal are around, but not the big daddies that can take out wood flooring. More on that in upcoming weeks.

I consider myself computer literate but never saw this setup before. Tony from USA Flooring Removal stopped in our offices Friday as we wanted to rip out some carpeting to install some wood floors. Picture quality isn't the greatest because it's taken from a video camera then made into a still picture.

Where have I been I thought. I'll admit I don't spend much time reading trade magazines, although I should. This computer aided measuring device really caught my attention. Not only can it measure rooms but can also be downloaded to a computer and helps in placing seam locations for carpet installers. Oodles of other neat thingies too.

See the video on You Tube

Need a drawn layout? It only takes a few seconds after all the measurements are collected. In our example we took a hallway and two offices. The layout appears in seconds. Need the square footage of the rooms or measurement of the perimeter areas for baseboard, vinyl cove molding, and the like? It's all there!

Choices are numerous; edit materials, add trim pieces at doorways. The list goes on. Sounds like a great tool for the flooring industry eh? But the question remains; how to teach old dogs new tricks? Generally speaking, people in the flooring business are not up to date. I suppose once the years pass and younger generations more familiar with computers, will take on the advantage of allowing technology to handle more work for them.

How does it work? Measurements are taken digitally with the use of lasers, then transferred to a PDA (pocket computer, palmtop etc) One would think there are other software programs available for the flooring industry that aid in measuring, design options and the like. I was only successful finding one on the web. Perhaps we'll look into that at another date.

Moving Furniture Over Hardwood Floors

2007-12-07T18:37:00.000-04:00

I hear it all the time... "my new hardwood floor has a big scratch in it from moving the couch across the room. I could just kill my husband!" Another huge avoidable complaint is kitchen appliances, specifically the refrigerator. "We moved the fridge back in and now there are two big scratches on the floor."

Often after the hardwood has been installed many of us treat hardwood floors like a new luxury car. You don't want that shiny priceless love of your life scratched and dinged up in the grocery store parking lot, so you park away from the crowds for a few weeks until the newness wanes. The best form of protection I've found while moving furniture if you cannot actually lift, is the use of carpet scraps that may have been removed before the installation.

In order for this to work effectively you must shake out any grit that may have collected over the years, then cut into manageable sections for placement under furniture legs. Place the fuzzy side down against the hardwood floor and you have the answer. Keep in mind, cheaper carpets may still damage the floor. A plush type that has enough cushion is best.

For kitchen appliances, 1/8 inch thick masonite board is the answer in my opinion. You can easily obtain 4 x 4 foot sheets available in the lumber aisle at any big home improvement store...down at the end, in the bins where precut plywood can be found. Sorry no pics of this procedure. Cut the sheet into 12 inch by 48" strips, place in front of the area a few inches inside of where the front legs of the fridge will finally rest. After being pushed in place, lift the front of the fridge and remove.

How about dollies to move appliances and furniture? Well, I don't call them dollys...more like hand trucks. They're effective in moving appliances when placed away from the work area or other rooms of the house when work is being done, but it's important to know what types work best. Much older hard rubber wheel types may actually damage your floors. Best to use balloon type tire hand trucks, making sure the bottom metal lift part is protected. Any burrs in the metal itself can scratch your new floor. Tires should be inspected for small rocks and the like.

Other Notes: Masonite board also works great for laying hand tools on during the work. You may also want to buy a one or two 4' x 8' sheets (cost about $ 6.50 each), playing it safe when trying to maneauver appliances if you have installed wood floors in the kitchen. Finally, any protective measures are meaningless if the floor isn't clean of debris. Watch out for those electricians and cabinet installers! Loose screws and wire clippings can often get hung up under all sorts of stuff.

Removing Ceramic Tile - Tear Out Ready For Hardwood Floors

2007-12-06T18:03:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. Removing Ceramic Tile Floors

Refinishing - Screening Aluminum Oxide Floor Finishes

2007-12-06T05:27:00.000-04:00

Submitted By Guest Author: Robert Knupp

We have been fielding calls with an increasing frequency about failures regarding buff/screen and re coating floors with aluminum oxide finishes. People in hardwood flooring industry like to use the same methods and techniques that have been tried and tested true. It gives a sense of safety and well being I guess. Suggest doing something even slightly differently and you can expect a reaction as if you were going to throw the earth off its axis and smash all of us into one of the moons of Uranus or something.

Only when the tried and true methods fail REPEATEDLY ( one or two failures always means a product happened to be defective) and have cost so much money the person can no longer afford their truck payment, will people accept the possibility that some ( life threatening ) changes must be made in the way something is done. We in the trade all know at least 3 people who have said I’ve been doing this for 328 years and it has ALWAYS worked. This new-fangled ******** is garbage, I’m never going to use that junk again.

So What’s The Real Problem?

By just buffing / screening, vacuuming, tack-ragging the floors, and coating; In many cases the finishes are not bonding to the aluminum oxide finish. The result is that the new finish peels off, either in patches or large sheets. As you might imagine, having this happen as a flooring contractor is not going to result in getting paid for all of your hard work. As a homeowner, you are going to be left in a bad spot at best.

Getting To The Point - Bona Kemi Prep and Recoat Adhesion System

The Bona Kemi prep and recoat adhesion system is used for recoating all types of polyurethane and Aluminum oxide finishes. The process is actually very similar to the methods that have been used for decades to recoat hardwood floors. The key to their system is the Bona Tech Prep spray. Bona Kemi outlines the steps that should be followed as:

1. Check for contamination of the existing finish. We fully realize you probably won’t be sending samples out to a lab for a full chemical analysis, or have a spectrometer laying around in your basement. The El Cheapo method is probably the most widely utilized way to make a determination if the merry maid has been using Murphy’s oil soap, vinegar and water, or any of the other 12 billion methods of crudding up your floors so they cannot be buffed and recoated.

Find some out of the way place and scrape some of the old finish to see if there is any noticeable build up of wax, oil, or other contaminants. You can scrape with the edge of a coin, or what not. If there is any indication of contamination, the floors will have to be fully sanded, and refinished. Another method of checking for contamination would be to use a terry cloth rag with some mineral spirits, and rub a small area vigorously. If there is a visible residue left on the rag. Sanding and refinishing will be required.

2. Clean the floors the best you can. Sweep, vacuum, or my favorite - pay someone else to do it while I watch with frosty beverage of choice in hand.

3. Apply The Bona Spray - Spray the BONA Juice over about a 36 square foot area, and buff with 2 layers of Bona prep pads under a standard 175 rpm floor buffer.

4. Promptly tack-rag- the floors with a rag, micro-fiber / terry-cloth mop head soaked, and wrung out with the BONA Juice.

5. Buff the floor AGAIN ( 2nd Time ) with before mentioned 175 rpm buffer just to make sure the floors will be truly clean and well abraded. AREAS THE BUFFER MACHINE WON’T REACH MUST BE DONE BY HAND !

6. Repeat Step 4

7. When the BONA JUICE is dry - apply Bona Sport, Bona Traffic, or Pacific Strong floor finish as directed.

Related Video Link: Recoating Hardwood Floors from Bona.com (9:31 minutes)

Photo: Black River Floors

Host Notes: Prefinished hardwood floors with Aluminum oxide finishes can be different from one brand to the next. Some manufacturers may place the actual al. oxide finish on the surface while others sandwich them between other types of finishes. The example above shows a typical prefinished product with ten layers of finish.

Hardwood Flooring Moisture Meters

2007-12-04T06:01:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. See hardwood flooring moisture testing meters.

Concrete Floor Leveling - Wood Floors

2007-12-03T05:50:00.000-04:00

Before I started the Hardwood Flooring TALK message board three years ago, specifically the category Yikes I Have Problems, we would sometimes get a half dozen calls each week. Calls from people wondering why their new hardwood floors were crackling, creaking, or making popping sounds. Some were actual flooring dealers here and there. Called ID is such a great thing.

Often they were looking for a quick fix. We did a Fine Home Building Magazine article for the April/May 2005 issue titled Glue Wood Flooring To A Concrete Slab. In the article I wanted to stress the importance of having the proper sub floor for gluing engineered hardwoods to concrete. The importance cannot be stressed enough, as it is the largest issue when it comes to problems associated with.

I have yet to see any Saturday Home Depot seminars in person on how to lay hardwood floors, but I doubt they go into any detail on what to look out for when installing floors, specifically the most important one; floor preparation. A few You Tube videos are out there including one from a major online retailer of flooring. Unfortunately it made this type of job look too easy and failed to show anything about floor prep. Folks it ain't that easy. If it was, we wouldn't have the need for professional installers.

The often used term level should not have anything to do with the installation of hardwood flooring. I recall looking through a message board on the web a few years back and one poor soul had spent weeks trying to get his floor level. He was using a builders level and spent thousands of dollars trying to get it straight. Efforts were meaningless because flat should have been taken into consideration. Sub floors in residential construction are rarely level. An exception may be an engineer building his own home.

How To Check If The Floor Is Flat?

A simple form would the use a string line (chalkline shown below) between one person and another. Shown in our example we've used the services of a bucket of Bostiks MVP sealer. For a flatness check, transfer the stringline while walking around the room, keeping the line taught and flat on the sub floor. Once low or high areas are found mark with a carpenters pencil.

Another method is using a straight edge such as the one shown below. This helper isn't something you'll find readily available but very handy for other jobs that require a straight edge. For determined folks you can obtain them at most well stocked flooring supply stores (check yellow pages) in your area. In this case swing the straight edge around the room on the floor marking high and low areas.
For repair of floors out of level (flat) methods include self leveling compounds for severe jobs, or screeding and trowelling fast drying materials as shown in the photo top of the page. Popular products used by flooring professionals include Mapei Ultraplan M120 Plus (PDF) and Ardex K15 Self Leveler.

High spots require different methods and often raise an enormous amount of dust unless a dust control system is used. Often hand held grinders can be used, but it doesn't rule out a beauty like the one shown below if serious work is required. Sorry, I don't know where they can be rented at the moment but you can probably contact the manufacturer, Levetec Expander.

How Flat Does It Have To Be? Manufacturer specifications will vary slightly but a good rule of thumb calls for correcting any high or low areas that exceed 3/16 of an inch within an 8 or ten foot span.

Coping Trim Moldings - Pictures, Photos

2007-12-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

Here's an art that you don't find too often. Coping trim moldings. Related story: Installing Quarter Round Returns.

Coping in this example is done for inside corners that are often not square. First step is cutting the correct miter (left in this case) on the chop saw. Then start your cut on the top of the quarter round while cutting at an angle greater than 45 degrees. It's sometimes easier to get the cut started with the use of a utility knife. Simply cut a starter point the saw blade can rest in, then begin.

Follow the miter cut with the coping saw ...
The Final Result...
Next Step - Installing The Coped Miter

Insert a square ended piece of trim to the base, then slide the coped cut over top, check for fit and nail it home.

The coping procedure can be accomplished with other types of trim such as crown, stair rail etc.

Related Off Site Article: Ten Rules Of Finish Carpentry

French Bleed Hardwood Floors - Pictures

2007-12-02T05:45:00.000-04:00

French Bleed? Yes, it does sound unusual. What is it? How are they made? What kind of products are available in French Bleed?

French bleed stands for the stained of edges of hardwood floors. For the most part they are jet black. Nearly all popular French bleed products are distressed in one form or another, but it does not rule out a smooth surfaced hardwood with bevels stained black. The product sample shown below is more of a smooth surface type but does have mild distressing in the form of contoured hand sculpting.

Product: Naturally Aged Birch Scarlet Rose

Any form of French bleeding can be accomplished with a custom order. The next sample swatch shows a chiseled edge with square pegs made of walnut. Stain color is bordeaux. Hardwood species is Red Oak.

Unfortunately we do not have any photos of a heavy character distressed Frend bleed but a stroke of the paint program and one can see the possibilities. Don't like black? Other darker colors can be custom made along with artzy ones decorators crave if you wish. Sample shown below is Maple. Color is the same as the Anderson Virginia Vinatge Burlap, but our name is Maple Hemlock.

Bring on the imagination. I suppose we would have to change the terminolgy. Maybe Taos Bleed? Not pink, but creamy, done with a character grade hickory.

Next time you visit with the decorator looking for unique flooring ideas have them visit this page. Their imagination may run wilder than mine. As mentioned on one of our other pages hand scraped flooring has many possibilities.

Pictures - Installing Quarter Round Returns

2007-12-01T05:41:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. See Installing quarter round.

Announcement: Hoboken Floors - WFI - Exotic Hardwood

2007-11-30T05:57:00.000-04:00

Found yourself short material for upcoming flooring jobs because of the Hoboken Floors and Wood Flooring International (WFI) bankruptcy? Unfinished exotic hardwoods listed below.

Amendoim
Brazilian Cherry
Brazilian Teak
Brazilian Walnut
Santos Mahogany
Patagonian Rosewood
Tiete Rosewood
Tigerwood

Ten days ago we were able to secure some large inventory while not having the time to put in on any website or news press release. Inventory is going fast and we do not expect it to be replenished until the early part of 2008. Furthermore, due to an unusual supply and demand situation we cannot post up to date pricing but do offer unfinished 3/4" end matched, square edge exotic hardwoods in the 3 and 5 inch plank range.

Please visit the link below for additional information.

Unfinished Hardwood Flooring - Exotic, Imported

As of September 1, 2007 Hoboken Floors operated 11 distribution centers (pro shops) on the east coast:

Pompton Plains, NJ
East Brunswick, NJ
Wayne, NJ
Albany, NY
Rochester, NY
Stoughton, MA
Westbrook, ME
Newark, DE
Atlanta, GA
Orlando, FL
Pompano Beach, FL

States of distribution inlcuded: FL,GA,MD,DE,NY.NJ,II,VT,NH,ME

Listed below are four design center locations that are also no longer operative:

Hoboken Floors Showroom - D & D Building 979 Third Avenue Suite 820 New York , NY 10022
New Jersey Design Center - 70 Demarest Drive Wayne, NJ 07470
East Brunswick Tile & Design Center - 7 Elkins Road East Brunswick, NJ 08816
Boston Design Center - One Design Center Place Suite 627 Boston, MA 02210

Others affected directly due to Hoboken Closings:

Wood Flooring International (WFI) - Bulington, NJ

SPI Floors, LLC - Locations

Elkridge, MD
Syracuse, NY
N. Lima OH
Hiber Heights, OH

States of distribution inlcuded: MD, Washington D.C., DE, PA, NJ, OH, NY, VA, WV, KY, IN

Histories:

Hoboken Floors - was founded in 1930 by Joseph Sakosits, the stepfather of Ira and Joel Lefkowitz both of whom bought the company in 1996. 2007 marked the first year Hoboken was not run by a family member. Hoboken had as many as 18 locations and 600 employees from Maine to Texas with sales topping out in 2006 at $600 million dollars. The company was named the number one distributor of hard-surface flooring by Floor Covering Weekly for 2005.

Superior Products Inc. - was founded in 1950 by William H. Waldman located in Baltimore, MD

Wood Flooring International - Founded in 1998

Sources- Floorbiz.com, flooringinsider.com

Sales Manager Postion Filled

2007-11-28T05:49:00.000-04:00

August of this year I placed a help wanted advertisement in the Naples Daily News for a local sales representative. We were in the process of moving our small operations that had worked for three years from West Beach Plaza in Bonita Springs. Our new operation called for a 2,100 square foot showroom with additional office space and warehouse two blocks away.

The tone of the employment market was certainly evident after placement of the ad for three consecutive Sundays. It was an attractive offer for the right candidate. Must have experience in unfinished hardwood flooring with the candidate chosen to receive a guaranteed weekly base. Darned good incentive considering how poor the local business climate is at the moment.

I heard from about 15 individuals with two having actual experience in unfinished hardwood flooring. Enter Robert Knupp. I had known Bob from days installing floors with the now defunct Prestige Hardwood Floors out of Fort Myers in the mid nineties. Quite honestly I was skeptical because I hadn't seen Bob since, and like all kids at 20 years old, they knew everything.

Now Bob is 33. His roots in the business go back to the fifties when his grandfather started Endurance Hardwood Floors in Miami. His father Charlie Knupp, started his own successful flooring business in Dania Beach three decades later, now specializing in custom stained floors. Hardwood flooring is in his blood going back three generations. Father and son, father and son, but they don't work together? What's up here? Like many family/business relationships they sometimes do not work.

I too had my son working with me in 2006 and parts 2007. His performance at work was exceptional, but other work habits lacked. It was time for him to sit on the sidelines and grow up a little. I actually hired my son back after a few months, but he failed to show up on time the first day. Then Bob walked into the office five days after his initial interview.

"You still need the job?" I asked. That was it. In the initial interview, Bob's greeting didn't impress me. "I'm your man for this job." In fact I thought it was the 20 year old Bob all over again. Weeks went by. We're still not in the new showroom due to delays beyond our control. Bob is filled in on our business on the internet to get him familiarized. Remember the job was for a local sales rep and not an internet rep.

Bob was the man for this and other jobs! I can't say enough. I have always been firm on bringing in people that have actual installation experience, and not some guy that worked at Home Depot for two years. It was a relief finding somebody with a strong installation and sales background. Bob preferred working the internet much to my relief. I had not thought of someone to fill the open sales manager position. It was right up Bob's alley.

Now I can relax while working on the core of the business. This is Bob's dream job, and whomever sold him short in the past (there are a few) made a very big mistake. I almost did the same! I only wish I could find three more just like him.

Incidentally we're still looking for someone to fill the local sales rep job. The other qualified candidate failed to provide a resume as requested. Hard to find someone when there's no paperwork. Possibly a good indication the individual wasn't the right person for the job.

Hardwood Medallions - Existing Floors

2007-11-27T05:42:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. See installing hardwood floor medallions.

MetroFlor Konecto™ - Looks Like Hardwood

2007-11-26T08:44:00.002-04:00

This page has moved. See vinyl floors that look like hardwood.

Hardwood Installers - What To Watch Out For - Part I

2007-11-25T08:21:00.000-04:00

Part I Of A Series

Along with other things to ask a potential hardwood installer could be; do you do commercial work? If the response is yes, be careful. Next time you’re at the shopping mall look at some of the flooring. I did a photo hunt this weekend at two new malls in my area of Southwest Florida. Folks if you want to check out new flooring ideas with large room settings new malls are the place to go.

The above photo is a vinyl plank installation in a jewelry store. It's a lookalike hardwood floor. The installation should have been performed very similar to hardwood. Had it been installed properly it could have looked sharp. But there are gapped areas with end joints lined up too closely. Commercial installers for the most part more experienced in carpet and tile installations. Have them at it with a hardwood, or laminate installation and you would not want it in your own home if you know what to look for. Incidentally it was mentioned this floor was a maintenance nightmare because of it's yellowish color.

Who looks at floors in shopping malls? Only installers or other guys in the flooring business.

The next photo shown is a laminate floor. I knew the product because I had installed it in the past. Mannington Icore, a plastic waterproof laminate that goes together by plastic splines. Once again gapped ends and the joints are too close to one another. At times you cannot place all the blame on the installer when it comes to commercial work. Often these jobs are rushed and work is done with others trying to get their jobs done. But there is no excuse for the improper staggering.Still another one below where the end joints are too close to one another but the overall quality of the installation was good except for this small area. This floor caught my eye because I haven’t seen this type of stained bamboo before. Cool looking really. For more specs on the product it is a vertical type bamboo.

I'm not here to pick apart every job I saw, nor am I interested in tile or stone floors for the moment. There were some very nice ones for sure! Like I said commercial guys typically handle those kinds of installations quite well. There were a few laminate floors that looked horrible, but I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of them. Two were laminate click type floors that were separating badly at the end joints. Could be a case of commercial guys not following the directions?

Here is some very nice border work in a shoe store. These guys must have been hardwood installers! I looked at it closely, impressed with the tight fitting of maple(light color) against the darker stained maple.

Finally a little something different! I'm going to look twice next time I need some flooring. Located in a beauty salon of the new Gulfcoast Town Center in Fort Myers, it's call crocodile; a vinyl product glued down. The gal in the salon said guys love it and want to put it in their garage most of the time! Doesn't sound appealing after that does it? Quite unique.

Floating Hand Scraped Floors

2007-11-23T18:17:00.000-04:00

Hand scraped hardwood floors are the rage in many parts of the states now. How are they installed? Can I put them on concrete? The questions go on.

Earlier this week I visited a job site in Pelican Bay, Naples where we were installing the Greenwood Hand Scraped Hickory Pecan engineered plank by the glue together method. In the earlier days of floating floors all were installed by the glue together method. Only in the last five years have the click together systems become popular, but very few exist in hand scraped fashion today.
The product shown is an engineered floor and not solid throughout. The sub floor is concrete making it ideal for an engineered floor that is floated over a cushioned underlayment and moisture barrier. Solid products can be used, however common methods doing so call for a 3/4" plywood sub floor to be added on the concrete. More information on plywood and hardwood on concrete method..
The job is being handled by Bayside Flooring a local family run business of brothers. Like other glued floating floors, adhesive is applied to the groove portion of each plank on the end and sides, then tapped into place as shown below. An installation review on this Greenwood product was high. Mostly longer lengths that enable a more appealing look instead of other prefinished hand scraped floors that are only 12-42 inches in length. The Greenwood product ranges 24 inches up to 72"
A note about glued versus click type hardwood floating floors. Some may claim the newer versions are easier to install, but my experience has proven some click type floors are not as easy as they are made out to be. Naturally it will depend on the product manufacturer quality and sometimes the actual thickness of the product. For example, the Bruce Coastal Woodlands (soon to be discontinued) 3/8" thick version is a breeze to install compared to the thicker 1/2" product.

Most click style floors do not click like snapping an ink cartridge into a printer. Often the tap together (sometimes bang) method is needed regardless. We discovered this with our brief story on the Quick Step Laminate. It may have had something to do with the actual product line because I recall Quick Step as being a very simple product to install in the past.

A much simpler method of installing floating floors is now hitting the market. Currently the most recognised name is the lock and fold by Bruce. Other manufacturers are offering their own versions, but I find it difficult to keep up with all the new introductions and product lines. It's a darned frenzy out there. Every rep has their own great selling, ground breaking product that's going to change the world or so they almost claim.

Added: December 15, 2007 - Final pictures of this installation

Hardwood Medallions - How Are They Made?

2007-11-23T05:45:00.000-04:00

Contrary to what some think, hardwood medallions we offer are made entirely piece by piece. None are stained, all individual pieces are cut either by CNC laser or CNC routing machines. My preference is for the latter, as lasers have a tendancy to show minuscule burning on the edges of some lighter hardwood species.

Programming

What does CNC stand for? CNC is the acronym for computer numerical control. In other words a design is programmed into a computer. With the click of a mouse, the whole system performs its automated cutting of patterns. I first saw the routing system through a cabinet maker friend in the early 90's and exclaimed..."I gotta get me one of these gadgets!"

They are indeed very cool!

I've only had the chance to see how medallions are made by laser but look for the opportunity to see how they are done by a router system. The photo above was provided by friends in the Ukraine showing a portion of the CNC routing process. Assemby can be seen in another photo towards the bottom of this page. Unfortunately the quality of next picture is poor but you get the idea. Such small pieces, yet incredibly precise.

Cutting Process

The next image shows how delicate pieces can be until they are assembled into the pattern. The outer band in this design are the pieces being cut out in the photo above. Made from natural Wenge, an African hardwood, you can barely make out the seams in the second photo below. The directional letters in this compass medallion is what caught my eye especially. Shown is one inserted and another set aside for the next medallion to be constructed.

Assembly

Details!

Finally once all the pieces are assembled the medallion is placed in a vacuum gizmo with a backer board applied with adhesive. I apologize for the lack of proper terminology, but I sometimes get impatient when it comes to creating a blog article. Besides calling someone at this hour is impossible. You may notice many of my articles are put together in the early morning hours by the time stamp shown below. Quiet, void of noise or distractions. Doesn't get any better. I may have the clock messed up. Add one hour on this one or 5:45 AM EST.

Custom Pine Medallion- Final Steps

More Assembly

Close-up View Showing Actual Thickness (US .05 cent piece used as reference)

The medallion shown above is 3/4" in total thickness used for installation into a 3/4" solid hardwood floor. Designs can be adapted for any thickness 3/8 inch and greater. However for thinner medallions, the top actual surface layers (dark color shown) are reduced dependant on the overall thickness of the medallion itself.

Border Sample

When I snapped the above picture I thought what's this stuff?(circled) It's actually the part of the design that is turning direction at 90º No pieces coming loose with that after it was cut on a chop saw.

Hardwood Floor Glue - Spread Adhesives

2007-11-22T07:36:00.001-04:00

An often asked question when gluing hardwood floors to a subfloor is what kind of glue should I use? Unfortunately not all big box stores carry the premium types most professional installers use. Possible reasons could include; higher cost, difficulty of use, and cleanup. Another drawback using bog box store advice is what kind of advice is offered.

I recall when big boxes were young, most employees were quite knowledgeable. The proliferation of these stores could be one reason why quality advice is getting harder to find. Those tool aisle guys usually know what they're talking about, but the flooring department is another story especially with hardwood floor techniques, tools, and other accessories.

Many flooring reps are bugging me about a new product manufactured by Sika(PDF) All the information sounds attractive but teaching an old dog new tricks is hard to do. Old dog= me. I tell 'em..."Bostiks is the kingpin...why should we consider anything else?" We have two buckets of Sika picked up at some distributor get together a month ago. I'll have to give it a test run. We need new floors in the office anyway.

A few problems with other premium hardwood glues (urethane based) can be application of the actual glue. The stuff is extremely thick making it difficult for the average DIY'er to use. I never considered this type of work DIY friendly, but some people will lead you to think it's easy. I'm sure those are the same guys that have never been on their hands and knees spreading the stuff out of the can!

Notice The Old Guy Sweating Already?

Bostiks urethane adhesive has been the choice for years, but find a bucket that's been sitting on the back shelf a few months and you're in for an arm breaking treat.

How About Water Based Adhesives Some Ask?

I really enjoyed working with DriTac 6200 a few years back when the old Bruce Tribond was a complete failure. DriTac not only has a water based adhesive but urethane as well. Keep in mind if you're considering; water based glues will not work with bamboo and solid hardwood floors. Don't even think about it! These types of adhesives are predominately used for engineered type installations only. For detailed specifications follow the manufacturer link below.

That DriTac stuff could keep banana boards down on the floor much better than other adhesives. The benefit is it does not cure completely while remaining tacky. Hence the name DriTac, but it does not remain dry. Having installed alot of Bruce builders grade engineered in the past, boards did not like to lay flat near wall lines. With DriTac there wasn't much concern to place weight on the areas overnight that is sometimes necessary with urethane glues. It worked like a charm. Come back the next day, roll it, walk all over it and the floor layed flat with superior grab.

Another beauty of DriTac is gluing longstrip type products. Ask any guy that has tried to glue longstrip and they're likely to grumble including myself. But if you're determined to do so (NOT A RECOMENDATION), DriTac would be my choice, providing you don't let the adhesive set up too long. Some disadvantages of DriTac waster based include peaking of end joints after the floor has been laid. This occurs when you don't allow enough flash time, but does fade after time.

Olde World Wood Floors - Hand Scraped

2007-11-21T05:55:00.001-04:00

Maybe you reside in the great white north, or found us from down under where parquetry is still king. Whatever the case, hand scraped flooring is a very hot commodity at the present time in the states. What brought it on? Will it remain in vogue?

Hard to say what created it's popularity. Could be the decorator bunch that is always looking for something new and different, or sometimes strange. Popularity towards refurbishing older homes with antique wide plank flooring or rustic farmhouses could have been contributing factors. Will it wane and follow the path of shag carpeting? Actually some forms of shag are back believe it or not. At one point in the future it will lose favor, just like anything else when styles change.

What will people do with it? Cover it up with carpet? I don't think so unless the carpet industry comes up with some product that prevents dust mites from finding a nice home in your carpet, or other forms of bad guys that cause allergies and health problems. Synthetics used to manufacture carpet aren't eco friendly either.

Good article on dust mites.
Excerpt: "Dust mites cant survive on vinyl or hardwood floors but are every where that dust accumulates."

Cute little bugger isn't he?

Oh, I forgot about the choices. A small sampling...

Hand Scraped

Hand Sculpted

Hand Crafted

Distressed

Heavy Distressed

Wire Brushed

I'm beginning to think of the Forest Gump movie where Bubba goes on and on about what you can do with shrimp.

Antique

Time Worn
French Bleed

You can also specify what type of distressing.

Beat With Chains

Walked over with metal golf cleats

Throw screws/nails on the floor

Get the hammer out

...the list goes on...and you can specify colors too. I came up with some of my own because manufacturers have a slew of funky names anyway.

Fish scale grey

Barbecued honey

Sanibel green

Three Mile white

Spanish moss grey

You get the idea.

A few selected distressed products...

Anderson Coastal Art Barnacle Board EngineeredAnderson Cimarron Hickory Dun Solid

New Hardwood Flooring Photo Gallery

2007-11-20T06:15:00.000-04:00

After months of toying with it, HardwoodflooringTALK.com is now online. Undoubtedly the most active message board related to hardwood flooring for both the consumer and professional, we've added some new features. Included is a photo gallery where consumers and professionals alike can upload hardwood flooring related images. Our board is heavily monitored keeping out the rift raft and spammers. Enjoy when you get a chance. The photo gallery is only a few days old but I suspect it will gain popularity as time goes on.

Images posted by professionals:

From Sean Hefferman, Orlando Florida- Cutting out an area for insertion of a stone medallion with the swing arm method and a router. Nice looking work Sean! Sean can be found on the web by going to hhfloors.com

The final result...

Other features of HardwoodflooringTALK include finding a professional to handle your installation or refinishing job with the National Wood Flooring Association(NWFA). Or for those that may have problems with a recent botched installation or finishing job you can go to another site hosted by the NWFA in case you need to hire a flooring inspector to look at your problems.

Another feature of our new message board look provides professionals a chance to get the word out about themselves with hardwood flooring related articles. However there are a few requirements for submitting articles.

Cork Flooring. Warm, Comfortable & Environmentally Good

2007-11-18T18:13:00.000-04:00

Okay, you may be wondering, what does cork flooring have to do with a hardwood flooring blog? Cork itself comes from an actual hardwood tree grown around the Mediterranean region; called a cork tree. Wow that was simple! Before I go any further I found this real interesting tidbit while googling for cork tree.

The photo below is a little scary leading one to think; how can the tree survive when it's raped bare of it's bark. For more information on cork in general here is a great site.

I snapped a few pictures of some samples I had laying around giving an idea of the numerous colors and designs available with cork flooring today.

If you follow our link above there's more about cork and it's uses. Below is a sample of the largest source for cork today; cork stoppers for wine bottles and such. Once the stoppers are cut form the bark, the majority of the leftover material is ground up and used for... you guessed it, cork flooring! Another tidbit. If Tree Hugger gives the thumbs up for cork flooring you know it's a great alternative..

Copied Websites & Misleading Information

2007-11-18T06:11:00.000-04:00

I study the internet quite a bit checking to see who ranks for what and where. For all intent and purposes Google is the kingpin with Yahoo trailing and MSN..well MSN is there but provides lackluster results in my opinion.

What often irks me is the many websites out there that copy other websites. You know the ones. Click this one and it gives little or no information, but makes you click to another site. If you're lucky you may not have to click to still another site.

So why are all these websites out there? It's a method to earn money when people click on those ads. It's the folks who wrote the website that earn the money from the clicks. Unfortunately many didn't actually write the content on the website, but copied it from other useful websites. At times, the more the original writers material is copied, his actual website does not get seen in the search engines. Really! Doesn't sound fair does it?

Want to check for copied stuff? Open up Google, copy and paste a sentence from a poular website and see what the results are. Here's one flooring related. I won't write the actual phrase because it doesn't do any good for people finding the information on this site. What good does it do for those looking for good information? Nata, nuttin, absolutely nothing. I use Google search for that kind of stuff and ones that may have copied me. Here's an example:

I know the actual author isn't listed in those four results. While I realize nobody will search using that long string, but it gives one an idea how much is copied on the internet. Go to the four sites shown and chances are good the rest of the material may have been copied in one form or another.

Granted the information I write is not scientifically perfect because I have yet to receive my rocket scientist degree. However, I do present items from a different angle, leaving it up to the reader to decide for themselves, offering actual experiences and tidbits of information that may be useful for them.

Here's a clip from another website I found:

"If you order your discount wood flooring online, you do need to allow 8 to 10 weeks for delivery and there may be shipping costs involved."

8-10 weeks? Not many are willing to wait that long. That sentence in itself could turn away hundreds of potential online customers over the course of a year. If I found the website, many more will, but I forget the details on how I found it. It could have one of those paid for ads on the right hand side of the page.

Paid for ads? They're the yellow background ads near the top of the page in Google and ones listed on the right side of the page. Most are legitimate businesses paying to be clicked on, while other useless websites only offer a few sentences of related information. Often many get frustrated and sometimes forced to click on more ads within their cheesy excuse of a website.

What happened here? The cheesy website guy that paid for the original ad you clicked on gets charged each time somebody clicks on his ad. Depending on the value of the word or phrase you used in Google to find the paid site they get charged for each click. Now they try to get their money back or make a small profit when you click an ad within their site. Those ads earn them money as mentioned above and the site that was clicked on gets charged as an advertising fee.

Sound confusing? I hope I explained it right?

Don't think clicking a competitors site will hurt them. Search engines can track unusual patterns that could result in some trouble on the offending end.

Teak Bathtub & Pedestal Sink

2007-11-16T19:27:00.000-04:00

Travelling a bit this past week and came across some interesting stuff. Anybody for a custom made teak bathtub? It won't be used for any bathroom but is a good conversation piece.

A matching pedestal sink for those in the need...

And where did it come from? Where else does much of this stuff come from these days? China baby! Fine workmanship too. Only five or six years ago I ignored Chinese flooring like the plague, but these people are making some good looking stuff these days. The only drawback is finding the right source considering how environmentally conscious many are becoming today.

Black stained prefinished hardwood flooring...Not my style but it is becoming quite popular. Different strokes for different folks, but darker colored hardwoods tend to show dust far more than lighter colored hardwoods.
I'll leave ya guessing what these things are...don't cheat wth the right click button. No I won't make it that easy.

Buckled Hardwood Floors - Side Not Lengths

2007-11-12T06:41:00.000-04:00

I thought I would present this small piece for some hardwood flooring inspectors I know and get their input. There's often disagreement on this subject. Finding these four year old pictures from a home on Boca Grande, Florida made me think.

"Can I butt the flooring?"
"How much expansion is actually needed?"

Situation: Home was a year old, built on stilts very near the back bay waters. Actually abnormal high tides would bring the water level under the home but only a few inches would sit. Subfloor was approximately 24 inches off the ground level. Installation is a solid five inch red oak wide plank fastened with cleat nails and glued.

This one is easy...hardwood flooring expands acrosss the face of the plank.

Opinions vary, hardwood floors do and do not expand lengthwise. I've always butted or net fitted lengthwise installations like the one shown below. Yes, there's cupping on the long sides of the boards but no movement whatsoever in the length wise part. Upon close inspection I do recall the picture frame was tight against the hearth.

Other pictures...

What I could not understand was why only part of the home was affected. The layout was apprx 1,500 square feet with all of the back portion unaffected. Sorry no pics. Conditions under the home in all areas were identical; sandy and murky, with no moisture protection.

For comments you have to be registered. I have to go, but look forward to any discussion.

Laminate Flooring Trends 2007

2007-11-11T17:34:00.000-04:00

I hope I don't run out of ideas to discuss while trying to stay on topic. Yea, I do need a real life, but for the time being this is fine and dandy as Andy Griffith would often tell Aunt Bee. I started installing laminate floors back in '96. Then it was just Pergo. A few short years passed and many thought laminate floors were just a fad. Ten years and more while going strong!

In earlier days laminate floors were downright boring! Same old look. Sure if you wanted a butcher block looking floor, laminates were the way to go. After a few years I began to lose interest in doing installations for two chief reasons; they were extremely sensitive to moisture, and a pain to install using glue. Often the edges would swell because of the glue after installation regardless of what was done. More than likely a case of too much glue but the manufacturers insisted on a liberal amount, that in effect would seal the edges.

Photos below are laminate floors! I hadn't looked at these floors for years and the changes are really noticeable! Not only has the construction improved, but they are less resistant to moisture while offering hardwood like appearances.

This actually looks like a hardwood floor with pillowed bevels. It's so deceiving but there are not any bevels at all. The boards are however, contoured and highlight the scraped look. Brand line name is the Quick Step Country Collection.

Quick Step laminate floors are by far the best in the industry in my opinion with Wilsonart Laminate coming in a close second. Chances are if you talk to any laminate installer that has handled numerous brands, these two names will be at the top of the list. Today all laminate floors are glue less with many trying to copy Quick Step's patented locking process.

Installation of this floor was not the easiest according to our installer, but it sure looked cool when completed. Add the Quick Step underlayment and it feels almost feels like a solid hardwood floor providing the sub floor is flat. I notice it but many of our showroom visitors don't. Four out of five are also surprised they are walking on a laminate floor and not hardwood.

"This is a laminate floor?"

Another snapshot I have(below) shows a Wilsonart Laminate with a micro bevel edge look, called Burnished Maple in the Red Label Hand Scraped Line. Laminate floors today offer random length strip 3 inches wide all the way up to seven inch wide, one face planks that really do look like hardwood floors. There are several types of bevels, exotic looking floors in more unusual species such as Wenge, Elm, Brazilian Chestnut, and Doussie to name a few. Bamboo laminate? Yup, it's available too.

Want the aged look...no problem. Wire brushed? That too. Designs are becoming a close runner to hardwood while quality is going up the scale for the leaders in the industry . Sure I see it all the time, 99 cent laminate floors everywhere. They do have their limitations so don't expect them to perform as well as a quality laminate floor. Retail prices are generally in the five to six dollar per square foot range for the ones shown above.

Would I put laminate floors in my home? Sorry, I'm a hardwood flooring bigot, but I'm sure costs would impress many that want to save a few dollars a square foot if they are seeking a hardwood lookalike.

No Problem. This Job Is Ready!

2007-11-11T05:25:00.000-04:00

For those unfamiliar with what this job is ready stands for, in this case it assumes you can go in and install the hardwood floors. No problem they exclaim, it's ready! Or at least that was the word I got from the guy I was doing the work for. This is another classic example of a builder who didn't know what was going on but just wanted the danged floor done.

First thing expected out of me was navigating past the painters on the staircase. I couldn't go through another door that was closer or easier for me. If memory serves me, the staircase guys were still setting the balusters. Typical rush job, every trade climbing over one another. I'm so glad I don't do installation for a living anymore. This was near Christmas 2002 and the house needed to complete by January 1.

What's Next? Oh... here (next photo below) is what I saw first looking into the small library I was supposed to install 220 square feet. No doubt this job is ready...joke. I wondered if they make a special threshold to navigate around this? Incidentally the tile guys were still there, so maybe they could help me on this. Tile guys? They should have been done months ago!

Well we sure have some problems. First I'm supposed to drag all my tools up that spiral staircase along with the hardwood flooring. Forget the acclimation thing, nobody cared. Almost forgot; this job was still being powered by a pole on the street. Notice power cords here and there?

Finally. The Best Part!

The tile setters were using this room to mix grout! Oh sure it's definitely ready now! I did spend an hour filling a crevice near the rear door you can see faintly in the back ground. Yessir an hour! Had to find water, run a powercord carefully so I didn't tick off somebody else. I'm not the one who splashed water and all sorts of other stuff all over the sub floor. By the way this was a rush because they had to install a cabinet on top of the floor.

Here's another job ready picture from a different job. And they wondered why I walked off the job. Pleeazzz. There were a slew of these channels throughout the whole project. I was expecting to do installation of hardwood floors (that was my specialty), not major concrete work!

I wish I could find a picture of another job ready that had a gaping 12" x 12" hole in the concrete where the actual soil was exposed. Thinking back on it, they had the acclimation thing down... kinda. The wood was on the job site, big hole in the concrete, but the place was a steam box in mid August - Florida - no air conditioning.

In conclusion. For those folks that may wonder why your project takes so long with delay after delay, don't look at the tradesman that do the work for the blame. Sure the builder may say "he was supposed to be here two weeks ago." He may have, but if he faced similar issues like I did numerous times he probably walked too. Often in cases like this he will go to another job where money can be earned to pay the bills and feed his family.

Hardwood Medallions On Concrete

2007-11-10T06:49:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year we moved our local operations to a more spacious location. In doing so a custom made hardwood medallion was chosen at the entry. You can read more about custom hardwood floor medallions in general along with approximate costs if you desire such.

Installing on concrete requires planning. In the set of photos to follow we had used our installation template to mark the area on the concrete where the medallion was going. Considering this is a glue down hardwood floor you don't want to cover the entire area before the design area is cut out from the floor. Doing so will create a nightmarish problem trying to remove the boards. If you click the photo to enlarge you will see our line penciled on the concrete before we spread the adhesive.

Depending on the medallion manufacturer all have will different thickness templates. Ours was 3/8" of one inch. The next step once the floor was installed and the adhesive had a chance to cure(24 hours minimum), is tacking the template to the floor with brad nails in the desired area. Templates must be secured firmly, otherwise once we get the router cranked up it could shift and ruin the whole project.

Lesson number one. Don't do as we did in the photo below. Actually I was doing the photos and did not like what was going on so I continued the rest of the router work. The photo example shows the collar(guides the cutter blade along the template) barely touching the template. Medallion installations are quite easy, but if you fail to double check before you start plunging into the floor you could have a lot of repair work ahead of you.
More photos of the actual medallion cut out area.

Special NOTE: Designs should not be cut out in one single pass. In our case we made three passes around the template taking off a little under 3/16" of an inch at a time to play it safe. Incidentally, the hardwood floor is a select white oak unfinished 5/8" thick engineered plank manufactured by Owens Plank Flooring.

More Special NOTES: Your subfloor has to be flat for this project to work. Thicker medallions do not bend well. It is also critical your new medallion not be stored in areas exposed to high humidity or reverse, prior to installing. Thinner medallions also have a tendency to warp if you do not install within a certain period of time. How long? This is unknown depending on your circumstances.

Once you do receive your medallion everybody wants to see it and you're likely to display it proudly. Once you have marveled over the workmanship, we recommend placing it back in the original packaging until it is time to install. It's also best to lay it flat when storing.

Next step is cleaning the area where the medallion is to be installed. If you've followed our advice on spreading the glue on the outside line of the pencil scribe, you may still get some glue squeeze over that line. In this case I adjusted the cutter blade depth on the router to where it was barely missing the concrete. It look off any remaining glue like a charm. For other contaminates or glue use a 4" flooring scraper, but be careful with those blades! Finish by vacuuming.

Time to glue her up and drop that beauty into place!

It's also important to note all perimeter areas should be flush with the floor itself. This is very important with prefinished floors but not as critical with floors that will be finished. After dropping in the medallion, walk on it to seat the adhesive. Don't worry it will not move. The precision of the template makes for a seamless appearance. Neighbors, relatives, and your best buddy will be impressed with your expert workmanship! For added protection before the adhesive has a chance to cure place weights in the area.

Final product after finishing the floor...

Floor Sanding Machines. Gymnasiums

2007-11-09T06:51:00.000-04:00

Here are some interesting pictures I discovered. Actually one is quite recent when I travelled to Dania Beach this past summer to pick up some new sanding equipment. Doesn't look like many safety precautions were taken in those days. Any ideas when this was manufactured? I didn't really investigate it. For you sanding professionals, imagine lugging that thing around.
Next is a small picture of a riding machine. This was sent to me by another guy who participated in the old referral program. His name escapes me, but he did work in the Dallas area. The job was located at Fort Irwin, California. I recall him indicating he would be interested in jobs in the area because he had family out there. It turned out to be working vacation over the Christmas holiday and he had a chance to see family he hadn't seen in awhile.

He also did gym floor refinishing and custom art work for floors and walls; murals. Good thing I named some of these pictures otherwise I would have no idea where the work was done. The next photo is a gym done for Many High School in Many, Louisiana.
Not sure where the next few came from....

I'll see if I can dig up this man's name along with his website when I find it.

What's In The Recyle Bin?

2007-11-08T07:04:00.000-04:00

I'm not a very good organizer when it comes to personal and business computers but I'm trying to improve. I have four PC's I work from. One at work, home, and two laptops. With pictures scattered everywhere I wondered what was in the recycle bin on the desktop PC at home. I got down to F and found a few pictures I thought I had lost. Yes, they should be on a disk. Actually they probably are but I'll be darned if I can find them. Maybe I should pull out that older desktop in a closet I fried four years ago. I'm sure there may be some interesting pics on that hard drive if it's salvagable.

Back in 2004 Ken Peirson and I collaborated on a story for Fine Homebuilding Magazine that dealt with glue down hardwood floors. The jobsite location was in the Vineyards community of Naples, Florida. Ken was another guy who participated in my installer/finisher referral program a few years back through HardwoodInstaller.com. It was a simple program. I supplied the leads and asked for a small token for the referral. Unfortunately the program did not work well because only one third of the referrals actually sent me anything.

One interesting picture I discovered was the one below showing how to prevent scratches and dings before the installation is finished. Realistically the best form of protection during the work is a piece of scrap carpet with the fuzzy side down, while making sure to shake the grit from it first.

Ken Peirson, Pine Beach New Jersy

Here's a picture I forgot all about. I had mentioned to Ken I would add a few pages to the site on how to properly tuck carpet to hardwood. Who knows what other pictures I may find once I get into all the recyle bins...hehe. Not being the carpet installer myself this is a great find I think. Ken is you're looking in, I will find the time. Don't they call that a hook knife?

It's time for the showers. I've decided to take a half day off today to entertain my sister who is visiting from Arizona. A round of golf is planned. My handicap? I don't have one, but I could be a 12 if I played more. More like 18 for now, but I haven't played much in the last 25 years. Last November was the first time I picked up a club since '95. Sister Kim sported a 6 handicap in high school and actually broke some barriers in Pennsylvania in the early 70's by playing on the mens golf team in high shcool.

Here's a nice Bonita Beach, Florida sunset pic...

Surfin' The Web For Flooring Guys

2007-11-07T15:39:00.000-04:00

The flooring business for some reason seems stuck in the 20th century when it comes to the internet in my opinion. Most people are excited when they get a website together. Usually a relative or someone else that knows more about cell phones than flooring puts it together. Fancy looking graphics and other cool techno stuff of the day are plastered all over the site. Typically the excitement wanes after a few months when they see no email coming in. Why? It was put together by somebody that knows zilch about flooring.

There are a few guys out there that do both website and actual installing or finishing of floors. After all that's the way I got started five years ago. Anyway to the story. I came across an interesting site along with others I thought I'd share with some pictures included:

Locy's Hardwood Floors, based in up state New York has some pretty cool looking projects I thought were worth sharing including a herringbone project shown below.

The Wood Floor Doctor is another individual site founded by Joe Turney who unfortunately passed away in 2003, but his family maintains the site in his memory.

Wood Floorist another site done by an individual, but lately has become somewhat of a billboard of miscellaneous advertisements. Too bad because it was a quality site at one time. The home page does show this interesting inlay seen below and how it was installed...somewhere on the website. I gave up after awhile trying to find it. I know I've seen it before.

Wood Floors Online was put together by Joe Boone of Jacksonville, Florida. The site was one of the first of its time in the early days of the internet. A quality site also until it also became littered with advertising. But I suppose the bills have to be paid for somehow. Joe also has a slew of other sites on the internet but I feel they're too cloney(clones) for me.

That's about it for now. Maybe I'll add to this page as time permits.

"I've Been Installing Floors For 40 years"

2007-11-07T06:32:00.000-04:00

...and nobody is going to start telling me how to do it."

It was late October 2006 and we had a product problem called in from a customer in Maryland. He had purchased 1,800 square feet of BR111 Amendoim 5 1/2" solid plank, a large quantity by any measure. Ordinarily I would not have to travel that far. However our source, the now defunct Hoboken Floors turned their back on this problem completely. In order to satisfy the customer we sent an additional 1,800 square feet on top of the original at our cost. Quite frankly I am very happy to see Hoboken Floors go down the toilet because there was very little customer service. If there was, it was a constant argument when problems popped up. I always referred to it as customer disservice with this company being the best in its field.

Sure there are manufacturing problems, everyone goes through it. Upon my arrival it was obvious there was a problem with some boards having an out of tolerance milling problem on the ends. But the installer, who claimed to have forty years experience in the business installed part the floor anyway because the builder wanted the kitchen area done first so they could install the kitchen cabinets. Sorry for the picture quality, but anyone would get the idea as I did. This is the first thing I saw when walking into the home.

The job was stopped for two reasons. The kitchen area was done and now there was a problem. Who in their right mind installs a floor like this? It had been stopped 10 days before I arrived. It was also obvious nobody cared about protecting the floor. Fortunately there was very little traffic in the kitchen and the cabinet installers did a good job of not scratching or dinging the floor.

Adding more problems to a possible solution, the floor was stapled and glued because it was a wide plank and the home was on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay. Wider planks have a tendency to show cupping more than smaller widths in this type of environment. Upon arrival I asked that we get together with the installer. Two days a later meeting with the so called experienced installer was a total joke that did not last for more than two minutes

Material that had already been laid were bunched in areas with smaller pieces, end joints were inches from one another. His reply was "they were straigter." Then I pointed out other pieces that were obviously defective yet installed anyway and out it came..."I've been installing floors for 40 years and nobody is going to start teaching me how to do it. And if you keep it up I'm walking off this job" TRUE story folks!

That's all I needed. I was not going any further. What was the outcome? I called in the help of Rick Scott who was a great source when I had an installer/referral referral program with Hardwood Installer.com. Two of his guys and myself spent two days going through every single piece of uninstalled hardwood checking measurements on every board. Finally we had what we felt was satisfactory material and removed the defective from the job site.

Folks read the directions. On every single box of hardwood delivered to this job, BR111 and all major manufacturers has an insert providing installation specs that include what is not acceptable and how to go about handling it. From BR111:

DO NOT install defective flooring. You will be the final judge of acceptable quality. Flooring that has been installed is deemed to be acceptable. BR-111™ shall not be responsible for costs associated with installing, finishing, and/or replacing of flooring installed with obvious defects.

In conclusion, the manufacturer, BR111 went above and beyond helping in taking care of this problem. It solidified my opinion of a very sound and professionally run company. In addition, they checked all material in inventory on the same product and pulled it from distribution so others would not go though the problems I did. I'm only saddened my best contact with BR111 has since retired and moved back to Australia.

More pictures...

Going Green - Eco Friendly Wood Floors

2007-11-06T08:40:00.001-04:00

With all the talk about the green movement one could wonder; how green or ecology minded will my decision make to buy a flooring product that is a good choice for protecting our environment? I came up with this article idea on the way to work and did not quite know how to go about presenting it ...but here goes. Keep in mind I do not have all the exact details and actual facts, but it is something to consider.

Sure you may be making a good choice buying some bamboo or cork flooring. After all both products are renewable to some extent. Bamboo grows extremely fast and can be replenished quickly by planting more. Depending on who you talk to the consensus for bamboo from seedling to harvesting is 5-7 years. Cork itself comes from the bark of the Mediterranean cork oak tree and is harvested every 10 years or so. It doesn't harm the trees and does grow back.

What many people do not understand with the green movement is we can be ecological conscious but one major aspect is rarely considered. It takes fuel to transport your green goods. Most of the green type hardwood and cork flooring products are transported by large cargo ships from distant areas. They use an enormous amount of fuel and low grade highly pollutant stuff at that.

What's a person to do? Find some dilethian (Star Trek power source) crystals would be my guess, but I don't think they're available in this century. Upon thinking a bit deeper into the subject I suppose the cleanest type of renewable hardwood flooring would be trees in your backyard, but you'll have to cut them down the old fashioned way because firing up that chain saw will not help the cause.

Then you'll have to get it milled. If you're lucky to live near a hydro electric power plant this would be an option, providing the mill uses their power. But how are you going to get it home? Hook up the team of oxen? Could be the investment of the future..hehe.

How about those folks that are green to the gills but decide it's time to take that cruise around the world? No helping there! Sure they may have built the greenest home on the planet, but...

EDIT: this is getting off track. I will try more later.

An additional article on green flooring.

Cutting Door Casings With A Jamb Saw

2007-11-05T19:21:00.001-04:00

This page has moved. See under cutting door casings with a jamb saw.

Need A Flooring Website Guy?

2007-11-04T17:23:00.000-04:00

It was June of 2002 when I first looked into getting a site on the world wide web. I had so much free time because I made a commitment to quit drinking. Yes, I hit bottom about three months earlier. I only wish I made the decision when I was much younger and the internet was around. Who knows where I would be today! One thing is sure I would not be in this business. I enjoy it tremedously but flooring wasn't in the cards whatsoever thirty years ago.

Okay, I Do Need A Flooring Website Dude!

More babble, but it does relate to this story. July 2002 I contacted John Simonson, who undoubtedly was the premier flooring website guru of the time. Still is to this day. I knew John from the earlier days of internet message boards as we exchanged numerous emails and posts on his message board of that day.

"Hey John, can you build a website for me"

"Sorry, I don't have the time," was basically his reply. That started me as John suggested finding some software to build one.

"Software, what's that?"

Cutting to the chase I went out and purchased Microsoft Front Page, popped it into the CD drive and told it to do its magic. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy. In any event, I don't think John knows to this day how much his turning me down made an effect on my life. I had a desire at one time in my life to be a journalist. Over the years I dabbled with a journal that dealt mostly with financial stuff. Didn't do much good anyway because of the partying. I even submitted a story to Barrons and received a polite hand written "thanks for your submission, but it's not for us at the moment" from Alan Abelson, but that's as far as it went.

Yes, I Need A Flooring Site Dude!! Enough of You...Plueeezzzz

Okay, no more of me. I promise. John has been doing flooring sites since way back in the old days. A snapshot of his crown jewel is shown below. At least that's what I believe his favorite may be. I do not know for sure how he feels. We haven't communicated much over the last five years because I was doing my thing and he was busy with his own.

Among his booty of websites, John also has a site specifically for those interested in getting a site on the web, but I cannot find the danged thing at the moment. However you can check his flooring website portfolio. Maybe John can chime in with the website link? sellfloors.com? Yea, that's it. Visit the link below.

Custom Flooring Web Site Design

boy this Blog software stuff is touchy....

Custom Stained Prefinished Hardwood Floors

2007-11-02T17:17:00.001-04:00

Prefinished custom stained hardwood floors? Yessir it's a mouthful and extremely difficult to find somebody to handle the task, unless you know who to talk to. Enduracolor of Dania Beach, Florida has been handling such since 1985.

I had a chance to meet the brain of Enduracolor in September of this year... because why not? I've personally handled a few of their installations over the years and we just hired founder Charlie Knupp's son to handle sales at Bonita Floors. Hardwood flooring and the Knupp family goes back three generations as Charlie's father started Endurance Floor Company in Miami decades ago.

Have a floor that was discontinued a few years ago that has suffered some water damage? Can't find a solution besides complete replacement? Call Charlie. He'll handle your problems. Enduracolor specializes chiefly in custom coloring of larger orders but does handle such orders for a price. When prefinished manufacturers discontinue lines(and it happens often) nobody stockpiles it. The manufacturers want it gone. Trying to find 80 or 100 square feet is next to impossible to find. The only reasonable way to find it is by searching every flooring dealer warehouse in America or so it seems. Somebody may have a box here while another may have two boxes in another state, but often they're a different run and colors may not match.

Charlie is also proud of the fact he warehouses more unfinished trim than anyone else in the world, or so he says. But after my visit I've never seen anything like it. Rows and rows of stair nosing t-molding, baseboard, crown molding, quarter round and the like.

I did mention I handled some of his work over the years but unfortunately I cannot find the pictures. One was a sea grass green type color in Pecan for a customer on Fort Myers Beach and the other a standard red oak stained some kind of funky aqua blue. The latter wasn't up my alley, but the customer loved it.

Below is a small handful of colors Charlie has produced over the years.

"Key Largo"

"Silver Grey"

My visit with Charlie was an entertaining one. And if you're listening Pop; there are alot of airplanes still in the hanger, and we're likely to have a bonfire soon. For more information on custom stained prefinshed flooring you can contact Bob Knupp in Bonita Springs, Florida at Bonita Floors or "Pop" Knupp in Dania at the website link above.

Hardwood Floor Transitions Moldings - Pictures

2007-11-01T05:31:00.001-04:00

I've always preferred any customer ask a potential installer for jobs they may have completed or perhaps one they are currently working on. While many prefer their privacy, some are more than happy to let someone in their home to see their hardwood floors, especially if the job was done right!

Samples Of Hardwood Floor Transitions

Shown above are some ideas you may want to look for in an installer. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world and this relates to the mailman, politician, doctor, and even the hardwood installer. Those finishing touches are always what sets apart the better craftsman. The above photos show two diagonal installations, one at a marble threshold in a master bath and the other with a picture framed hearth.

Other final touches separating a good installation from an average one include header boards at carpeted areas and an undercut hearth. Undercut? Yes, there is a special gizmo that can actually cut rock, brick, and stone so the flooring slides under, providing a clean professional appearance.

Other Examples Of Fine Workmanship...and a Hack!

The next stone hearth picture was actually a do it youselfer from Dallas, Texas who was kind enough to send along some pictures of his work. Finally we should include a classic example of some yahoo that had no idea what he was doing. Notice the gapping on the left side of the door jam?

More...

Related pages on the web:

Hardwood Floor Moldings, Pictures Types & Uses

Bad Installation Can't Get Worse

2007-10-31T10:29:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I treked up to the Daniels Road area of Fort Myers, Florida hoping to get installation pictures of some custom handcraped hardwood flooring we sold to a builder in the area. Prior to the sale they claimed they had installers lined up for the job, but what kind of installers I wondered? Or better yet did the installers know what they were doing?

Pictures tell a thousand words!

This is a classic example of somebody trying to save a few bucks in what will be a highly visible country club setting once completed. Sorry folks I will not get into details of the builder name or exact location because it makes me sick just thinking about it. Real skilled idiots the way I look at it. The moment I walked in the door without looking at the newly installed area red flags were waving.

Not only did they fail to use the proper amount of adhesive that is required to gluedown hardwood floors, but the method in which the floor was started was wrong. Needless to say I did not want to stay around long. Afterall the people that bought the flooring said they had installers lined up for the job.

And It Gets Worse!

I would gander a guess even the most uneducated consumer can figure out what's wrong in the picture below. Give up? These skilled idiots were too lazy to handle this job in any way remotely proper. Hardwood flooring should be installed with each plank being staggered from one another and not lined up where the end joints meet up with each other!

Reclaimed Hardwood Floors

2007-10-31T05:17:00.000-04:00

Upon becoming familiar with the growing green movement in the construction industry, several months ago I visited Goodwin Heart Pine located in Micanopy, Florida. Goodwin established in the seventies by Carol Goodwin and her husband deal specifically in reclaimed lumber. Reclaimed lumber or in our case, hardwood flooring, comes from several sources, most of which today is older buildings that are razed to bring in the new. Goodwin also dabbles in river recovered hardwood, but supplies are getting harder to find.

I had never spoken to Carol before so I gave her a ring on a Thursday and asked if I could pay a visit. No problem she said. Arriving at about 8:30 AM with another appointment in Tampa that afternoon, I could have talked with her for days. Extremely knowledgeable and one of the most entertaining of ladies in the flooring business.

Earlier this summer Goodwin obtained all the heart pine recovered from the Lorrilard Tobacco building in Jersey City New Jersey(circa 1870) that was being torn down. The picture included doesn't begin to show what kind of material they have on hand. But finding 12" x 12" beams of reclaimed heart pine today is not an easy task by any means. Beams and wide plank flooring up to fifteen inches can be obtained.

Incidentally the picture above is only a part Goodwin's impressive showroom that offers many design ideas with hardwood flooring including an unusual end block patten.

End block patterns are installed unfinished then sanded and finished on site. In this case it highlighted an outdoor entry area. End blocks are end pieces of hardwood that are ordinarily cut into 3/4" thickness then glued to the sub floor with a urethane based adhesive.

Those interested in any reclaimed hardwood flooring product can contact Ken at BonitaFloors.com

Hardwood Medallions. Parade Of Homes Winner!

2007-10-30T09:07:00.000-04:00

This past summer I received a call from a gentleman in North Carolina who was looking through the hardwood floor medallions we offer and specifically our golfer medallion. Although we have one available for viewing in our showroom I had yet to see one installed and asked if he could send some pictures when it was completed.

Yesterday I received an envelope of still shots and CD of the installation and final result. He was ecstatic! A Winston-Salem Parade of Homes Winner to boot! How much our medallion had an effect on his winning is unknown, but it certainly glares at you walking in the front door.

For years the only medallions we could obtain were manufactured in the states. After the Soviet Union collapse in the early 90's opportunity opened up for manufacturers that did work strictly for the Soviet elite and other eastern block countries of the time. Many of our medallions including the golfer and our showroom medallion (shown in closeup detail below) are made in the Ukraine. Quality and pricing surpasses any American competition.

See the installation of this hardwood medallion on concrete.

NEW! See how hardwood medallions are made

Learn More About The Site

2007-10-29T18:10:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the hardwood flooring blog. Our blog offers useful information for anyone interested in hardwood floors. The web is full of information on how to. However one thing is certain; how much of the information you see is actually valid? I'm not here to capture the guru crown on hardwood flooring. We'll leave that up to Bob Vila and his buds.

There are a number of guys out there that remain low key, not being familiar with the internet or what it can do for them. Guys that lead simple lives and go unnoticed, yet put a lot of effort into educating consumers out there that want to know about hardwood floors. Where are they? Internet message boards. For three years I have been the host of the most widely followed internet message board that deals with hardwood flooring for both professionals and do it yourselfers. Feel free to browse Hardwood Floor Message Board

The above message board is undergoing some changes and will sport a new look and name hopefully within the next few weeks. Included will be user submitted photo galleries(DIY and professionals are invited) links on where to find an installer or if you have current problems you can find a certified hardwood flooring inspector.

A little about your host: Ken Fisher

Resident of Bonita Springs Florida since 1980 with experience in hardwood flooring dating back to 1990. I am also the founder and owner of two other sites on the web.

Hardwood Flooring Guide

Hardwood Installer.com began in 2002 as a consumer resource guide only. I basically took my knowledge gained over the years working alongside other guys in the field to the web. Some were very good at what they did while others...well... just slipped by. It was a good time to see both sides of the fence. At the time this type of resource did not exist. For some kind of perspective, the site Hardwoodinstaller.com in 2006 alone was viewed in over 180 countries around the globe.

happy trails:)