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.

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 February 26, 2010 at 07:53 PM in DIY • (0) Comments
Five good reasons to use Tung oil on your reclaimed, hard wood floor

Posted by Christine Halvorson

We most often recommend Tung oil as the final step in creating your beautiful floor. Tung oil, which is pressed from the nut of the Tung tree, often makes the most perfect finish to a Carlisle wide plank floor for these reasons:

1. Tung oil is easy to apply and maintain.
2. It is a great alternative to harsh polyurethane or varnish – and gives the floors an authentic “hand-rubbed” look, rather than a “plastic” shine.
3. It penetrates the wood and permanently becomes a part of the floor. This gives the color a richness and depth that isn’t possible with other finishes that sit on the surface of the wood.
4. The floor will never have to be sanded or refinished if Tung oil is used. The oil can be re-applied I high traffic areas—such as a doorway or in front of the sink or refrigerator—when need be.
5. The Carlisle brand of Tung oil is a specially formulated mixture for floors that contains polymers and resins. This gives it the ability to harden, and therefore protect your floor from spills and traffic.

Tung oil has been around a long time. It was used by the Chinese over 500 years ago to waterproof the keels of seagoing ships. Due to its elasticity and penetrating capabilities, Tung oil forms an almost permanent barrier against moisture. Tung oil is still often called “Chinawood Oil,” but it comes from Tung tree farms in the southern United States and Argentina now, too.

This unique oil is used as the protective base that Carlisle recommends for a beautiful finish on every one of our floors. We have experimented with many different finishes. However, we have never found a better finish for sealing and wear protection that, at the same time, creates an antique appearance to your floor.

Original wide plank floors were finished with a mix of Tung and linseed oil, beeswax, and wood ash. This created a hand-rubbed, low luster finish that enhanced the natural characteristics of the wood. In order to recreate this look in today’s floors, and ensure the beauty and long life of your floor, Carlisle recommends only our high resin Tung oil.

Got questions about Carlisle floors? You can request a brochure here, but rest assured, we’re always happy to talk on the phone. Call us at 1-800-595-9663 and we’ll give you a virtual tour our favorite floors.

Posted on January 19, 2010 at 11:11 AM in DIY • Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments
Monday Morning Mailbag: Eastern White Pine project for home remodeler may lead to another

Posted by Christine Halvorson

David Gordon of Barrington, New Hampshire (not too far from our Carlisle headquarters) recently installed our Eastern White Pine in the rooms of his first floor during the remodeling project of his older home.Gordon first learned about Carlisle while reading Fine Home Building magazine. The photo above shows the 12 × 12 reading room and the one below, a hallway leading to more rooms. Gordon wrote to our Sales & Design Consultant Lynn Rafuse, with whom he worked:

Thank – You again for your help and the help from the rest of the staff. The combination of the quality of the flooring and expert advice made this project a success.

Now that the first floor is complete, I will focus my attention on the second floor. First I intend to replace the rug in the hallway, I have already replaced the stair carpet with oak treads. I intend to buy the flooring from Carlisle again. I just have to decide what type of wood to use. Eventually I will replace all the carpet in all the bedrooms with wide plank flooring.

I will start this project at the end of the winter.

Will be in touch, Thanks again.

David Gordon

Posted on January 18, 2010 at 02:26 PM in DIY • (0) Comments
Monday Morning Mailbag: Delivery of prefinished White Oak floor delights this customer

Posted by Christine Halvorson

We got this nice note the other day to our Sales & Design associate Laura, from a customer who had just had her brand new pre-finished floor delivered to her home to be installed.

The customer, Marlies Venier, had found Carlisle online and ordered 1,600 square feet of the pre-finished White Oak, in 7-inch widths. The boards were finished with a saw kerf effect. (See more about our handmade surfaces here.)

Venier, it seems, had had water damage in her home and needed to replace the floors. She placed her order after working with Laura to get some samples. Here’s what she wrote to us the day her floor arrived at her home in mid-December.

Hi Laura,

Just finished unloading the floor, we love it, it is beautiful, the nicest floor we have ever seen. Thank you for being so great through the whole process, so excited to have a Carlisle floor! Have a great New Year…All the best in 2010.
Cheers,
Marlies Venier

We always love to get notes like this, especially when the customer comes to us through an unhappy circumstance like flood-ruined floors!

Pre-finished wide plank floors are still relatively new to Carlisle. We find that those who choose it love the convenience of being able to install it immediately upon arrival and not have to go through the staining process. You can read more about our pre-finished floors here.

Posted on January 11, 2010 at 01:03 PM in Customer Stories • DIY • (0) Comments
Nice character, rich brown tones draw customers to Hickory wide plank floors

Posted by Christine Halvorson

Wendy and Ken Gendron of Ashburnham, Massachusetts (not so far from Carlisle headquarters in New Hampshire) discovered us in “This Old House” magazine and got in touch about two years ago. They recently sent us these nice photos of their completed floor.

After visiting our shop back then, the couple had decided on a “50/50” blend of Country and Select Hickory, in 6- to 12-inch widths. This means their boards would have some real character traits, but wouldn’t appear too rustic. What they loved about the samples was the rich brown tones that come from the heartwood of these trees. That heartwood in Hickory is not easy to come by, as our Don Carlisle will tell you. Only a few trees in a Hickory stand would be likely to yield heartwood that strong, plus have the length and width that we need—the odds might be 1 or 2 out of 100!

The Gendrons installed and finished the floor themselves. In the second photo above, you can see how it looked before the Urethane was applied. Anyone with basic do-it-yourself skills can install a Carlisle floor. We always send along complete instructions before the order arrives. After that, we’re available seven days a week for questions. See our complete guide to installing our floors here.

See other examples of Hickory and read more about this fascinating wood.

Posted on January 7, 2010 at 03:40 PM in Customer Stories • DIY • (0) Comments