Surface Blog

Hermitage Inn, Vermont uses Carlisle’s Heart Pine, Eastern White Pine in historic renovation

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

Everything went smoothly, Glen says, because everyone had realistic expectations. “Every project is different and every person is different. There’s always something that will be misunderstood or not communicated well. But our builder did a great job and the client was very pleased,” Glen said. “Now they’ve got guests thinking the floor is original, from the 1800s, and we’ve got some of them going home to New Jersey and deciding they need a Carlisle floor in their lake home.”

The inn project probably took 10 months from start to finish, but it continues. An addition to the inn will also be done with about 2,500 square feet of Carlisle ’s pine flooring.

Read more about our Pine floor options here.

Read More…

Posted on Nov 04, 2009 AT 04:59 AM in Green Building • (0) Comments

J. Crew turns to Carlisle’s reclaimed wood to make its retail stores stand out

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

agreed and Peter got the Carlisle mill crew on the task of meticulously grading the boards. “I’m thinking some 35 pairs of eyes probably inspected and re-inspected the board choices for the first J. Crew floor,” Peter said.

In the end, no one could tell the difference between the two woods, thanks to the grading and to the WOCA white oil. “The guys in the mill just love this type of work. They love the challenge of it,” Peter said.

Carlisle completed the Madison Avenue floor for J.Crew—done up in 4-inch wide planks and installed in a Herringbone pattern—in August of 2008.

Shortly thereafter, the project manager for the Madison Avenue store contacted Peter again. This time they were thinking of J. Crew’s Malibou, California location and wanted a pre-finished floor to save time. Peter agreed that Carlisle would apply the stain at its custom shop and ship the floor ready to install.

“But it turned out to be tough to get the hand-rubbed look they wanted using a pre-finished stain,” Peter explained. Again, they mixed two woods to keep costs down—Premium Old Growth White Oak and Antique White Oak, for a total of 6,000 square feet.

“We just worked through all the problems,” Peter says, “and that’s what makes this a good relationship.”

Which takes us back to New York City. Carlisle was enlisted for two more J.Crew stores—one at 1200 Madison Avenue and one at 44 Broadway. For 1200 Madision Avenue, they chose a mixture of Antique Oak and White Oak, and for 44 Broadway, a hand-graded Milled Barnwood was used. Another store planned for the Stroughton/Hampton area will also use Milled Barnwood.

Peter says the J. Crew stores are a challenge he relishes. “You have to work fast. You have a short time period to get in there and get it installed right,” he said. “When retail is closing for remodeling, they’re not making any money, so there isn’t any down time.”

Read More…

Posted on Nov 03, 2009 AT 04:46 AM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

MONDAY MORNING MAILBAG: Perfectionism noticed in Carlisle floor installation

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

We made happy customers out of Jackie and Paul Duso down in Carrolton, Georgia, where we recently installed our prefinished Birch and Cherry with a custom-coat that was meant to look like Tung oil.

Thiese customers found us when doing a search on the web and they were helped by our Matt Farhm, who also arranged to have his firm, Farhm Fine Floors, install the new floor in this remodeling project. Farhm Fine Floors travels all over the country to do floor installations and has apparently installed over 50,000 square feet!

Here’s what customer Paul had to say about his experience:

“Matt—You are right, we do love our floors. It is surprising to me that we get the most ooooohhhhs and aaaaaahhhhhs from our birch floor in the bedroom. I really can’t decide which I like the best, both are outstanding. I couldn’t believe how easily they were able to fit the wood to the walls and in the bedroom around the glass block wall. It looks fantastic. (Installer) Chris was here most of the time with Micah coming on the last day and I must say he was a joy to work with and be around. Carlilse is lucky to have you guys. You are all such perfectionists.”

Read more about our prefinished floor options.

Posted on Nov 01, 2009 AT 10:41 PM in Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

Green By Design event October 10 attracted a crowd

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

More than 100 people attended the Green by Design Open House hosted by Carlisle partner ABODE Builders of New England on October 10 in Plymouth, New Hampshire.

Attendees had the chance to see and hear ideas for building their dream home or remodeling their current home in an environmentally friendly way against a backdrop of the infamous New England foliage, live music and food.

Vendors like Crown Point Cabinetry (another Carlisle partner), Landscape Design Architects, Interiors East Design and Green ICF Building solutions had the chance to address the attendees about their products inside a model home that featured Carlisle’s 4- to 8-inch pre-finished Antique Oak.

Visitors got to see Carlisle’s 4-to-8-inch Antique Hickory floor, which was installed in the Abode Design Center.

Posted on Oct 30, 2009 AT 03:45 AM in Green Building • (2) Comments

Carlisle’s Quarter Sawn White Oak:  It’s A Grain Thing.

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

White Oak is a very unique wood because its grain lends itself to a variety of different looks, depending on how it is sawn.

Normally, a log is plain sawn, i.e. it is first cut into a rough square by taking off four sections of the outer bark and sapwood, and then sawn with a series of parallel cuts — as if a loaf of bread were cut lengthwise to yield long slices. Grain-wise, this typically gives a floor a little bit of everything: straight lines as well as a variety of swirls and “cathedral patterns” — several swirls inside one another. This is the way most floors are cut.

Quarter sawn cuts generally only apply to Oak and a few other hardwoods. They are made by first cutting the log into four pie-shaped wedges and then making a series of cuts which are more or less perpendicular to the tree rings, which produces straighter grain. Without getting too technical, let’s just say that quarter sawn White Oak produces more “rays” or “flecks,” which is the hallmark look of Mission furniture/cabinetry. In addition to being visually interesting, this grain pattern produces extremely stable boards.

Various stains can then be used to further enhance the grain or make it more subtle.

This Long Island, New York residence features a beautiful mixture of quarter sawn, rift sawn and plain sawn White Oak. Note the contrast between the various grain patterns.

Posted on Oct 29, 2009 AT 04:53 AM in Hardwood Flooring • (2) Comments