Surface Blog

Welcome to Surface, a blog by Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. Join us in discussion about hardwood flooring wood grains & styles, home decor, green building products, trends and more.

A Sierra cabin gets an Antique Milled Barnwood floor

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Jason Wolfe, an account manager in our L. A. office, sent along these photos of a Carlisle Antique Milled Barnwood floor. The floor, in a Sierra cabin in Markleeville, California, was installed and finished by the customer, Mr. Ed McCormick. Thank you to Ed for sending along these photos!

Posted on February 27, 2009 at 03:19 PM in DIY - Do It Yourself • (0) Comments
Carlisle reclaimed floors are part of the total “green” scene of LEED Platinum home in L.A.

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Dan O'Neil, our Flooring Design & Sales Consultant in the West Hollywood Design Center, sent us news of Carlisle's participation in the first conventionally constructed home in Los Angeles that is Platinum LEED Certified.
The house, a custom 1920s Spanish style home, was designed to meet the highest level of LEED certification while still showcasing the fact that "green" building can be architecturally interesting in addition to technologically innovative.
The floors Carlisle installed were all reclaimed Antique Oak with random widths from 3" to 9 " and the planks had been recovered from an old barn.
Richard Byrd, the developer of the house and CEO of Byrd Development, Inc. in Los Angeles, used Carlisle floors for all the wood floors in the house. Carlisle's Dan says he had met Byrd at last year's Super Bowl game and later Byrd's assistant tracked down Carlisle asa company that could supply the reclaimed wood floors they wanted for the house project. See more photos of the entire house, including more Carlisle floors, here.
Construction of the house was featured on the Planet Green channel's show "Alter Eco," and our very own Dan O'Neil says he got to be on the set every now and then as well. (Sorry, he doesn't show up in this video.)
A fundraising tour and party was held in December at the home to benefit the nonprofit environmental organization Global Green.
Here's Byrd giving a video tour of the house. He's moving pretty fast but you can catch a glimpse of those Carlisle floors all along the way.
This is the first time Byrd had used Carlisle floors in one of his projects. Byrd said, "It was one of the sustainable products that didn't compromise quality, design or performance. I have found a lot of green products do not have the resiliency that traditional products have. Carlisle is not one of them."

Posted on February 25, 2009 at 02:14 PM in Green Building and Eco Friendly Products • (0) Comments
Replace a Carlisle floor plank? Follow this advice from our experts

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Janel, in our Washington Showroom, had a customer who wanted to know how to replace one of the planks in his pre-finished Carlisle floor. The board that needed replacing was in the middle of the floor (visible) and this particular floor had the Carlisle hand-scraped edges. Erik Boos, from our Chicago showroom, and Rick Menard, from the Stoddard, NH showroom, weighed in with their advice on this project. Probably you won't ever need to use this technique, but things can happen. Here's advice from our Erik and Rick on replacing a plank in an existing Carlisle floor:
1) Start by making two cuts in the board that needs to be replaced. Each cut will be approximately ¼ inch from the side and will run the length of the plank. This frees up the middle of the plank for easy removal because it frees the flooring nails on the tongue side and will also remove the grooved side from being locked in place.
2) Another diagonal cut running the length of the board from one side to the other will also help in removal. This makes it possible to easily pull the board from the tongue and groove side without damaging the edges of the surrounding planks.
3) Next, any glue on the sub-floor underneath the removed plank should be scraped out as much as possible.
4) Taking a new plank of the same width, rip the tongue off, cutting from the bottom and just through the top of the tongue, not touching the top edge of the plank. Cut to the correct length, back-cutting the ends a little bit without touching the tops.
5) For the new plank, cut a length of ribbon or piece of Tyvek ®, and staple it to the back of the plank and bring it around to the top. This will give you a handle to use when you drop the new plank in place as a test.
6) If the fit is good, add plenty of glue to the back of the new plank, tap it into place and weigh it down for a few hours.
As Eric says, "Replacing planks is never fun or easy, but when done right, no one should ever be able to pick out the replaced board(s)."

Posted on February 24, 2009 at 01:09 PM in (0) Comments
Don Carlisle offers some floor nailing tips

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Erik Paulson, a client, wrote to our Lauren Power about his pre-finished Eastern White Pine with Indian Summer stain, 8" to 12". The floor was installed in his house that was under construction.
Thanks for all your help. We love the floor, although I haven't yet put the antique nails in, partially because I don't want to ruin anything.-- Erik Paulson
Don Carlisle dropped in with this note to give Erik some confidence in putting in the nails:
Pre-drill the holes with a small pilot drill 1/8" to avoid splitting. Make sure the nail is parallel to the grain. In doing this, you'll get some little areas around some of the nail heads where there is bare wood from the nail going in. Trust me, I tried not to and you just can't help but get some. I took a little tiny sponge brush--you could even use a paintbrush--like the little ones you use for artistry. Just dabble a little stain in around the nail head and let it sit while you do the whole row. Then go back with a little rag and wipe off any excess that gets on the surface of the floor. You would also only want to put nails in every other joist. I'd only use three on the face every other, and two on the ends and every other. --Don Carlisle

Posted on February 20, 2009 at 01:11 PM in Customer Stories • DIY - Do It Yourself • (0) Comments
Even the dogs were happy when the floor arrived

Posted by Christine Halvorson

We got a nice note from Todd Gourley, owner of Powder River Construction in Breckenridge, Colorado, who had been working with Edie Putnam, director of our customer specialist group. Todd was thanking Edie for the dog treats and a Carlisle hat that Edie had sent to him along with the delivery of his floor. Todd also noticed some higher-ups in our company had called him personally. Todd writes:
You must have been listening when I mentioned I had two doggies and no kiddies.
All is well with your product...17" E.W.P. (Eastern White Pine) is huge and beautiful. It will be easy and fast to install.
Your attention to customers' satisfaction and to quality sets the standard!
Thanks again and thanks to H.Q.--Todd

Posted on February 18, 2009 at 11:34 AM in Customer Stories • (0) Comments