Surface Blog

Ten years too long to wait for Eastern White Pine wide plank floors? Nope

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

Ten years ago June Peoples of Washington state got a sample of our Eastern White Pine stained with Antique Pumpkin.  This year, she finally got a chance to order the floor for her living room and did all the installation work herself.  After completing the project, she was kind enough to send us a couple of photos and a nice note.  The boards were done in 11-inch widths. She writes:

I wanted to wait until I finished room completely before sending you the final pictures.  Most importantly I wanted to send you my sincere thanks for all your help and advice throughout the process.  This is one of those projects where you get out of it what you put into it: hand selecting and placing each board, two coats of hand rubbed stain on my hands and knees, pilot drilling and placing the iron nails one at a time, four coats of tung oil. Not to mention, removing carpet, repainting the room and painting and replacing the baseboards…the result is better that I expected. Even prettier than the gorgeous sample I kept for ten years.  Absolutely love it.  The only down side is I have to deal with the envy and jealousy of my neighbors who settled for the floor-in-a-box from Home Depot.

Next year my bedroom…

Posted on Feb 26, 2010 AT 09:23 AM in (0) Comments

Monday Morning Mailbag: New home in California a “must-see” with installation of Hickory wide floors

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

Here’s a glimpse at a vacation home in Portola, California, where customer Kathleen Schonder had ordered a Hickory floor in 5- to 10-inch widths.  The home was build by Jeff Litz of Litz Construction.  Kathleen originally heard about Carlisle floors through Country Living magazine. Carlisle prefinished the floor in Gingerbread.  The floor is installed over concrete and radiant heat.  (Read more about installing over radiant heat here.)  Kathleen worked with our own Laura Leier, our design and sales consultant, to get the look she wanted.

Kathleen wrote us this note: “Awesome. Couldn’t be happier. A must-see!”

Posted on Feb 22, 2010 AT 03:56 AM in Home Building & Contracting • (0) Comments

Milled Barnwood shines in Delaware home

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

A customer sent in these photos of her new floor in Middletown, Delaware. The floor is done in 9- and 10-inch widths using Milled Barnwood.  It is finished with Tung Oil.

Posted on Feb 19, 2010 AT 01:25 AM in (2) Comments

Small, independent sawmills assures Carlisle gets the best wide plank floor boards

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

You might wonder how we select and process the trees that will become the boards that will become the floors we sell here at Carlisle.

In today’s “grow big or die” driven economy, it has become harder and harder for small, independent sawmills to survive. We use small, independent sawmills because we know they can assure us of getting the best boards cut from the best parts of the tree. The smaller sawmills can meet our special needs and our demands for excellence. Over the years, we have built a network of small, independent sawmills and built relationships with the sawyers who work at them. We consider them part of the Carlisle family. These sawyers carefully check each plank they cut for us, up and down and over and under, before they send it along for us to use.

Our boards are also the longest and widest you can find on the market. We also happen to believe they are the prettiest.  Here’s a story about just one of the small sawmills we use.

Posted on Feb 18, 2010 AT 05:40 AM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

It’s all about the character when customers choose reclaimed wood floors

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

It’s not uncommon for a few customers of ours to choose an Antique or Reclaimed wood floor based on our samples and then be distressed when the actual floor boards arrive. Often those reclaimed boards are full of what we call “character marks”—the nail holes, dings, knots and other marks that are clear indications that this wood has been used before for different purposes.  So, a panicked phone call is not unusual and, after a discussion with one of our sales and design consultants, the customer usually is convinced to sit tight and wait to see what the floor looks like in place, stained and finished.

Well, we had another of those experiences lately with a home in White Lake, New York.  The floor that the customers, Raj and Chris Mundkur, had ordered was Milled Antique Barnwood, in 5- to 12-inch widths. The Mundkurs had come to us through a recommendation from their builder.  However, the builder was a bit apprehensive with the boards actually arrived—too much character! But now everyone involved in the project is quite happy, as you might guess from the looks of these photos, below.  The Mundkurs wrote us:

“The floors are in, finished and look spectacular!  …Thanks for your patience and guidance in selecting the floor and stain.  We love them and it was well worth the effort.  Raj.”

Posted on Feb 17, 2010 AT 04:29 AM in Green Building • (0) Comments