Surface Blog

Wide Pine Floors in Idyllwild, CA

• Posted by
• Megan Sprague

A client of ours in California shares these photos and letter with his sales person, Dan O’Neill, of our West Hollywood Design Center:

Dan,
We’re just about done with the remodel. Here’s some photos of the floors about a week after install. Sorry!, didn’t dust floor before these were taken.
Noneless, they still look great.
Charles.

Posted on Sep 24, 2008 AT 04:33 AM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

Radiant Heat Installation: Questions Answered

• Posted by
• Megan Sprague

In response to a few questions on the NWFA Listserve:

Your question regarding radiant heat is a great one.  This type of heating continues to grow all over the country.  Currently close to 30% of our solid hardwood floors are installed over radiant heat and in some markets the numbers are even higher than that.  I would have all the confidence in the world putting our Antique Oak over radiant heat as we do it every day; however, you do have to be careful as the Antique Wood Market is very fragmented and the quality can range drastically.

Radiant heat—in and of itself—is not bad for wood floor.  All floors, including antique wood, should be kiln dried and during this process they are subjected to much higher heat than any current radiant heat systems, especially given the radiant heat systems of today.  You have the advantage of running your tubes closer to the floor which means it should be able to run at a lower temperature and still achieve the heat your require.

However, there are still many variable that will affect the temperature of your system: how close together are the tubes? How high are the ceilings? How many windows are there? Etc.  Often people cut costs and reduce the tubing/wall insulation which forces the system to run at  higher temperatures, which may cause a variety of problems if the temperature is too high.

All in all, I see the problems with wood floors and radiant heat falling into the following categories:

1. Far and away the most common problem is that the radiant substrate is not acclimated (allowed to come up to the temperature you plan to live at) prior to installing the floor with the Radiant Heat system turned on after the install.  When the heat comes on it will push any excess moisture out of the substrate and into the finished floor.  This will cause the floor to temporarily expand and potentially buckle.  However, if the radiant system is turned on in advance of installing the floor it will eliminate the moisture before the wood is installed.  Regardless of having radiant heat or not…the moisture content of your subfloor should be within 2% of the moisture content of your finished floor before starting the installation.  This can be achieved by turning on the radiant heat.

2.  The second most common problem is Improperly dried wood flooring.  This is especially common with antique wood as people think kiln drying is not necessary given its age. However, we have 200 year old wood that still has a moisture content of up to 18%.  The trick is how to get all of the pieces at an even moisture content.  Simply kiln drying it won’t work as it will dry some of the boards to the proper moisture level of 8%, but the higher moisture content material won’t be dry enough.  To fix this problem, we actually introduce moisture into all of our antique wood to bring it up to the highest common denominator and then dry it down, to guarantee consistency.  Without using this technique, you may put boards into your floor with a 15% moisture content that, when they dry out, will cause large gaps to appear.

3.  The third most common problem is using a poorly engineered radiant systems.  People cut initial installation costs and spread the tubes out.  The systems then have to run water through the tubes at a much higher temperature (120+°F) where, in a system that is properly engineered and installed, would run at 90°F.

Simply put, heat is not the “enemy” of wood, water is.  If heat is causing excessive drying then gaps will appear, but if subfloor and finished floor achieve “live in conditions”  prior to installing the floor the heat will not move any moisture and therefore will not affect your floor.

Acclimate your subfloor. Acclimate your system. Use a well designed radiant system and —most importantly—use a high quality wood floor that is properly dried and you can have the same successful results we have in over 1200 radiant heat install per year.

Posted on Sep 23, 2008 AT 10:43 PM in Hardwood Flooring • (1) Comments

Carlisle meets with the Jersey Shore AIA Chapter, in Spring Lake, NJ.

• Posted by
• Megan Sprague

Here is some feedback from a dinner Dana and I attended for
the Jersey Shore AIA monthly meeting.

Dana and I had the opportunity to present our floors at a monthly
meeting for The Jersey Shore AIA Chapter, in Spring Lake, NJ, with 40
architects and builders attending.

We started the evening with a meet and greet hour, having the chance to
answer many questions and just chat with their members. We answered
uestions about floors close to the ocean, over radiant heat, over
concrete, and acclimation time needed, as well as what makes us
different from the mass produced flooring out there. We were very
surprised at how many of these folks have not heard about us, and they
were very happy to have a better understanding of what makes us
different and that we will work directly with everyone to make the
project go smoother. And that we have the knowledge and quality to
assure the clients floors will be done properly.

We also talked about putting together some lunch & learn meetings with a
few of the individual offices. I highly recommend any other chapters to
give us a call if they would like us to do a presentation, including AIA
accredited visits. It is always a pleasure to meet folks face to face.

Rick

Posted on Sep 18, 2008 AT 11:20 PM in (1) Comments

Designers Network Luncheon in Bethesda, Maryland

• Posted by
• Megan Sprague

Hannah Greeley of our Georgetown, DC design center gives this account of her attendance at the event!

Hey guys,
Thought you would like some feedback from the designer luncheon I attended yesterday!  It was a lot of fun and I met many designers.  I think this is a great networking opportunity and thank you for sending me!  
Thanks,
Hannah

Check out this link to view photos of the event: http://tinius-photo.com/DN-Lunch-0918/index.html

Posted on Sep 18, 2008 AT 11:09 PM in (2) Comments

Farhm Home Improvements: A Carlisle Wide Plank Floors’ Preferred Installer

• Posted by
• Megan Sprague

At Carlisle, we are proud to work with some of the finest wood floor installers. We tend to pair ourselves well with, who we feel, are “the chosen few” of wood floor installers. They have taken the time to learn about wood, our passion for wood, trees and the forests, and carry that same passion through to the designing of a wide plank wood floor.

One of our best installers, Matt Farhm, sends us his new website, where he proudly displays a few “before and after” photos of some projects he’s done. A native of New Hampshire, Matt recently relocated to the Atlanta, Georgia area where he continues his passion for wood and installing/designing beautiful floors for his clients.

Check out his website http://www.farhmhome.com/

Posted on Sep 16, 2008 AT 11:52 PM in Home Building & Contracting • (0) Comments