Posts Tagged ‘hardwood refinishing’
Why I still love this career
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Some days in the world of a “floor guy” are exhausting and frustrating. Some days you are working in houses so dirty that they could be condemned and other days you end up getting stain all over your new shirt. The freedom that has accompanied starting this business years ago always makes it worth it. The hours are flexible and the appreciation of a job well done when you hear it from a customer makes the occasional long day all worth it.
The whole company (Destry, Andrew, and I) have been working for a couple of months on a large project for a church in our neighborhood. The chancel portion of the church received all brand new floors and also we installed two large radius african mahogany nosings around the flooring.
One of the characteristics of working with wood is that you never know what will happen next. The two radius nosings were built from a series of rough stock boards. The boards were planed and then cut into strips and glued together to form a curved piece. Afterwards, we still have to router, plane, and sand the product a lot in order to create the final product. In the case of this project the final sanding revealed that there were voids in some of the strips . They appeared as dark spots and were out of character relative to the grain of the wood. Simply using filler just wouldn’t work. We even used the recommendation of someone else of using dust and glue without any success.
The real thing that keeps us going in this field is when a project demands resourcefulness and creativity to solve a problem. In the end I suggested that we open the gap in the nosing and we custom created grain matched wood slivers. We glued them in and sanded them and the problem disappeared.
That’s the point of this blog. Every day we have to think with two sides of our brain in order to run an efficient high quality hardwood floor company. Whether we are working in a historic house in Portland with fir flooring or a church, we always have to think of solutions that make problems go away and look elegant. I never found that in my last career. I’m glad to be a “floor guy”.
african mahogany radius nosing
Tags: hardwood floor professional, hardwood refinishing, portland oregon hardwood contractor
Posted in Hardwood floor Portland | 1 Comment »
Finish technology, the great unknown
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
I was at my distributor today and overheard something amazing. A company owner who has been in business many years was asking for some product. Here’s how it goes,
Owner, “I want the lightest colored finish you can use on maple.”
Dist rep, “You need BonaSeal for the lightest look.”
Owner, “Can I put Glitsa Infinity on top?”
Dist rep, “Sure”
Owner, “I just want whatever is cheapest for this job.”
If these are the questions of a “veteran” and the operating principles, then it’s no wonder homeowners are lost when comparing estimates. Would this make you confident to know it was your floor?
Homeowners, here is the way to solve things. Look the contractor in the eye and say the following question, “If this were your house and you could use any product to make your floors most durable, then what finish would you use and why?”
I would love e-mails about any stories.
Tags: floor finish durability, Hardwood floor durability, hardwood refinishing, portland oregon hardwood contractor, waterborne finish
Posted in Hardwood floor Portland, Uncategorized, floor refinishing portland oregon | No Comments »
Craigslist, it’s not just for used goods anymore
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Craigslist is a well used internet site and is definitely a great way to get rid of used furniture and old scrap metal. The odd thing to me is that people will actually go there and choose a contractor to work in their house and do a project. Craigslist doesn’t do a really great job of policing the users and their integrity. Besides being a haven for scammers, and shady contractors, it now is a resource for murderers as you can read here. With all that said why would anyone trust a Craigslist contractor to complete a quality project? It’s a big risk. Don’t believe me, then let’s just look:
This ad says “All floors installed fast and fair!”. Craigslist finally required all contractors to list a license number recently. When you look into this guy’s ad you will see he is unlicensed. Why does that matter? Let’s say that you decide it’s time to save $200 bucks and hire this guy. Day one he starts and walks into your house and starts sanding the floors. Day three comes along and he has just finished sanding and staining your floors. You have to leave the house because you can’t be there and walk on the floor. He decides to leave his sanding dust and used stain rags in a trashbag in your two car garage. You left for the night and your house is secured and Mercedes is parked away safely in the second bay. While in your hotel room you get a phone call at 2am and your neighbor is explaining how your roof and house are up in flames. Think I’m joking, then just read this. A few days go by and after it’s all said and done you realized that you will have to foot the bill to rebuild your house. Why? you find out that this guy is unlicensed and has no insurance to rebuild your house. You find out your policy doesn’t cover unlicensed contractors working in your home. In the end the $200 savings costs you $250,000 or more because of a lapse in judgment.
Consumers please consider the following thought:
Don’t ask what something costs before considering what it is worth from all angles.
Tags: hardwood floor contractor, hardwood floor professional, hardwood refinishing, portland oregon hardwood contractor
Posted in Hardwood floor refinish, Uncategorized, hardwood floor | No Comments »
Lowest price=Lowest Common Denominator
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
I had a thesis advisor who did a lot to help me avoid one of the common pitfalls that happens to people. He always referred to it as the “lowest common denominator” as a suggestion that people would rather be a minimalist in their ways than really try to achieve the most that they could in every endeavor.
The problem that consumers don’t realize is that all contractors pay roughly the same cost for materials, unless they are stealing material, which I doubt. Therefore, to have a lower cost the contractor must have a lower labor cost.
To have a lower labor cost either jobs must happen faster or employees must be paid less. HERE are the pitfalls of such a model.
1) Faster jobs-If you want attention to detail on your project, then forget it if the job is a production job that has to be done quickly.
2) Low paid employees- Underpaid employees really don’t want to do the best job, end of story.
Here is my challenge:
If you know the name of a licensed hardwood floor company in Portland, Oregon that is “cheap” and always a low bidder, and has legal employees covered by workers compensation then please give me their name. I want to know their model and secret if their work looks good. I will donate a free premium Glitsa tack mop and cleaning kit once I see the job and you can convince me that their work is really a quality product if I know what finish they used on the floor.
Tags: hardwood floor contractor, hardwood floor professional, hardwood refinishing, Portland hardwood floor, portland oregon hardwood contractor
Posted in Hardwood floor Portland, floor refinishing portland oregon, portland hardwood professional | 1 Comment »
Apples to apples floor finish
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
I do a number of estimates for my floor business and I am always perplexed by the lack of information other floor companies are providing for the homeowner. Let me bring about a few real world points for people in order to dispel the myths surrounding the “bidding” process.
1) Two coats versus three coats versus coverage rate
Honestly this is a six versus one half dozen comparison. Your average floor finish has a recommended coverage rate for application. Some finishes have an optimal application range of 300 square feet per gallon where others are at 500. This has a big impact on the “mil thickness” (durability) of the finish. Three thin coats will actually be less durable than a quality two finish coat job. Cheap contractors stretch finish thin when applying it. Three coats sounds like a better thing, but is only a repeat visit and more work for the contractor if the coverage is less than adequate.
2) Resins and solids content
This is a real hidden point of discussion for some floor companies, particularly low priced companies and large outfits. Waterborne finishes have a protective resin suspended in water that is the “thing” that provides durability. The chemical composition of this resin has a tremendous impact on durability. Cheap floor finishes have weak resins and are “watery” with coverage rates near 600-700 square feet per gallon. They are lower in solids (the resins that provides durability).
3) Two component versus one component waterbased finish
One component floor finishes have minimal scuff and scratch resistance. They rely simply on oxygen to link the finish resins. Two component finishes rely upon a chemical crosslinker to “matricize” the finish resins and form a really tough scuff resistant floor. In talking with several finish chemists during NWFA schools, I have found that two component finishes fare almost twice as well in taber abrasion tests that test durability. For a perspective single component finishes can be about $25-50 per gallon, where a quality two component waterborne ranges from $80-110 per gallon.
CHEAP ONE COMPONENT FLOOR FINISH
DURABLE TWO COMPONENT FLOOR FINISH
My Point!!!!
Ask your contractor about these points. Why? Because if they don’t have an answer they are NOT a professional. They are a “guy with a sander” who can multiply a square foot price and use a tape measure. Please make a fair comparison when evaluating floor refinishing estimates. Otherwise you will be taken for a ride by a snake oil salesman and have a worn out floor in two years.
Tags: floor finish durability, Hardwood floor durability, hardwood refinishing, low-VOC hardwood floor finish, waterborne finish, wood floor sanding
Posted in Hardwood floor refinish, floor refinishing portland oregon, hardwood floor finish, hardwood floor refinishing prices, waterbased finish, wear layer thickness | No Comments »
Real world waterbased finish
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
I get asked so often about finish durability. Honestly, my answer is always to explain the features of various finishes and suggest only the types of products I would use on my own home.
Two years ago in April 2010 I applied three finish coats of Glitsa HP two component waterbased finish to my floor (Matte sheen). Today while I was cleaning my floors using our suggested method and was really impressed with how they still look great. My children are two boys ages 4.5 and 2.5 (they’re wild and crazy) and they are my best testers along with my dog who is young and crazy. The photo below is pretty much the best proof I can give you for the real world performance of a finish. No hyped marketing behind this one, just real world for someone else to see if they are wondering about durability.
This isn’t that I am sold on only one particular finish, just that I have this product in my house on a daily basis and can personally vouch for how well it performs in durability.
Tags: floor finish durability, Hardwood floor durability, hardwood refinishing, low-VOC hardwood floor finish, Portland hardwood floor, waterborne finish
Posted in Hardwood floor durability, Hardwood floor refinish, floor refinishing portland oregon, hardwood floor finish, waterbased finish | No Comments »
Customers are the best judge
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
We often get asked about dustless sanding by many customers. We are known for using this technology and use it on jobs as much as possible. The system really does work amazingly and I can “pitch” that all day. It is much better when the observation comes from someone other than me because third party objective review is the strongest voice. We have reviews on the web at sites like Yelp. What’s even better is when you have a client send a small note in an invoice without us asking for a review. Here is a scan of the small Post-It note that we got from our client Shawn in a payment recently. It makes our day to know we are doing our job and people really feel value to our service!
Tags: dustless refinishing, hardwood refinishing
Posted in Dustless Hardwood Refinishing, Hardwood floor Portland, Hardwood floor refinish, floor refinishing portland oregon, portland floor | No Comments »
Local radio exposure for our knowledge
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
We recently wrote a response to a listener of local handyman show by Handyman Bob. We were honored when he shared it with his audience. It’s good to see great people still championing the cause of quality contracting.
Tags: floor finish durability, Handyman Bob, hardwood refinishing
Posted in Dustless Hardwood Refinishing, Hardwood floor refinish, hardwood floor, hardwood floor finish | 2 Comments »
Staying on top of technology
Friday, January 29th, 2010
I am pleased to announce that we will be adding a new piece of equipment to our lineup this week. It is the new Clarke SE7 Pro edger.
Given that most dust generated during sanding comes from the edger, we are pleased to switch to this new machine. The dust collection is state of the art and greatly superior to most edgers. Dust collection systems generally are unable to capture the dust from gear driven edgers like the Clarke Super 7. The new SE7 Pro edger is belt driven and extremely clean.
For more, click here
Tags: hardwood refinishing, New hardwood edger, wood floor sanding
Posted in Dustless Hardwood Refinishing, Hardwood floor Portland, Hardwood floor refinish, hardwood floor finish | No Comments »
Restoring a botched sanding job
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
The other day we received a phone call from a distraught homeowner. She had unfortunately hired a “fly-by-night” contractor for a job. Originally when he was hired he was there to install tile, but assured the homeowners he could also refinish the wood floors. Because of the unethical nature of this person, I am willing to release that his company was called “A Touch of Class”, or at least that was the name under which he was operating. After checking his license I determined that was an inactive license with several judgments and orders to pay damage fees.
During this first portion we sanded the floor at a slight angle to remove the drum marks from the original sanding process. Here are the results after the first round of sanding.
Afterwards, we filled the floor to remove gaps and the process is shown here.
To illustrate the dust collection process we have a video clip of the process as seen here.
Final finish sanding is done using a Lagler Trio.
After all sanding was completed, we dampened the floor to prepare for staining. The floor was stained as a mixture of Coffee Brown and Golden Brown. Afterwards, two finish coats of a traditional Glitsa Swedish finish system.
Tags: dustless refinishing, hardwood refinishing, Swedish finish, wood floor sanding
Posted in Dustless Hardwood Refinishing, Hardwood floor Portland, Hardwood floor refinish, floor refinishing portland oregon, hardwood floor finish | 3 Comments »