Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

Surface Blog

• DIY: Walnut wide plank floor installation in Colorado

  Posted by Megan Sprague

  Sarah Bergren of our Denver office shares this information and personal letter from her clients Stan and Tracy!

   

  Sarah -
  We installed the floors this weekend. They look great. Everyone was impressed with the quality product. Installation went smoothly. I had to leave before we started to apply the oil, but Tracy has been able to get a couple of coats down. It looks like the brochure! Magnifico! You can check out our pictures here:

  We're calling in a friend (professional) to do the stairs in a couple of weeks. Next up, new moulding and casing that we can match to the floors. Your advice is certainly welcome on that topic.

  Thanks for helping me get through this. Let me know when you're coming up to Summit, and we'll get you in to take a look.

  Regards,
  Stan and Tracy
  

   

  Posted on September 2, 2008 at 07:00 AM in DIY • (0) Comments

• Green Floor, Clean Floor: Natural Cleaning Solutions for Hardwood Floors

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  By Albert Waitt

  If a homeowner is environmentally conscious and chooses to install a wide plank hardwood floor, it's easy for them to remain consistent and "go green" when caring for that floor and keeping it looking its best.  Whether one has chosen a responsibly forested white pine or an antique reclaimed hickory, a green approach to upkeep and cleaning will benefit the homeowner and their wood floor.

  When considering how to maintain and clean hardwood floors,

  The American Hardwood Information Center offers the following advice:

  • Place floor mats and throw rugs at entrances to trap dirt.

  • Sweep floors weekly with brooms that have fine, exploded ends.

  • Weekly vacuuming will also keep hardwood floors clean.

  • Wipe up spills, pet accidents, and other liquid mishaps as soon as possible.

  • It is important to remember that water exposure can harm a hardwood floor.

  Instead of relying on commercial floor cleaners that may have toxic ingredients, the consumer has green alternatives when choosing materials to keep a wood floor clean and lustrous.   The first step is to determine what kind of finish is on the hardwood floor. 

  For hardwood floors finished with polyurethane, Greenerchoices.org, thedailygreen.com, and Martha Stewart  recommend damp mopping with a solution of one cup of vinegar per gallon of water.  The mop should be barely wet, just enough to pick up dust and dirt, but not enough to leave water streaking on the floor itself.  

  For wide plank hardwood floors and soft wood floors with a penetrating finish, such as Carlisle's Tung Oil Finish, water should be avoided during maintenance.  In addition to sweeping, dry-mopping, and vacuuming, Care2.com's Live Green Producer

  Melissa Breyer recommends a natural Citrus Solvent be sprayed on the floor in a light film and then dry mopped off with a micro-fiber or regular dust mop. 

  New green cleaning products are being rolled out on a daily basis and there's no doubt that consumers will have more choices in green floor care in the coming years.  But the tips offered here (and now) are safe and effective.  Through these simple practices, a homeowner can preserve their floor and protect their planet at the same time. 

   

  Posted on August 9, 2008 at 07:05 AM in DIY • Green Building • Hardwood Flooring • (3) Comments

• Installing Hardwood Flooring: One of the Safer DIY Projects

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  By Phil Johnson 

  I'm not a big Do-It-Yourself guy. Generally, my DIY activities are limited to painting, wallpapering and unclogging the toilet. Other than that, my main handyman skill is writing a check. It's no surprise, then, that the thought of installing my own wide plank hardwood floors seems about as doable as building the space shuttle.

  However, after a little research, I've come to think this is the kind of project that even I could handle. At the very least, it's less life threatening than other home improvement projects like:

  Plumbing – Plumbers use blowtorches. Can you say, "burn unit"?

  Electrical – They use electricity to execute convicts. No thanks.

  Roofing – I'm not afraid of heights; I'm afraid of falling from heights.

  So far as I can tell the odds of installing hardwood floors and living to tell about it seem relatively high!

  If you're thinking of installing a hardwood floor yourself, there's lots of helpful information out there about it – even videos tutorials! After careful review, I get the feeling that, with a little patience and free time, I could actually handle it.

  For starters, nowadays you can buy prefinished flooring – even for wide plank flooring – eliminating the need for sanding, staining and sealing. Since using a drum sander sounds about easy as operating a Zamboni, this reduces the project complexity – and potential medical co-payment costs - quite a bit.

  Next, the tools involved aren't all that complicated. They include – among other things – a hammer, a crowbar, a floor nailer and a miter saw. Now, sure, a power saw sounds a little dicey, but I figure you can lose a digit or two and still maintain a high quality of life.

  As for the actual hardwood floor installation, it sounds quite reasonable, and has been described as a weekend project. It involves some variation of the following basic steps:

  Remove any existing baseboard – Heck, even I can take stuff apart.

  Prepare the floor base – You can put hardwood flooring on top of a plywood sub-floor, an existing hardwood floor or even concrete! Usually, you put down a plastic or felt vapor barrier to keep the moisture out.

  Install the floor - Start laying planks or boards from one wall, nail them in place using said floor nailer (try not to do this) and work your way across the room. Be sure to stagger the seams where the boards join!

  Edge special room aspects - If the room has floor vents, fireplaces, or some such thing, make sure to edge them, which requires a few extra cuts, no biggie.

  Replace baseboards, sweep up and enjoy your new floors! At this point you may want to enjoy a celebratory beverage of your choice (in my case that'd be beer).

  The more I think about this, the surer I am that I'm going to have give this project a go! Now I just need to convince my wife that I won't maim myself doing it …

  Posted on August 8, 2008 at 07:19 AM in DIY • Hardwood Flooring • Home Building & Contracting • (0) Comments

• DIY Wood Floor Cleaner

  Posted by Megan Sprague

  Believe it, or not, there’s a very simple way to make your own wood floor cleaning solution—right in your own kitchen!
  
  Next time you wash your wood floors (after you’ve vacuumed or swept them clean), try adding a few cap-fulls of white vinegar to your bucket of hot water. It’s that simple! There’s no need to add any soap or floor cleaners to the solution, simply the vinegar and water.
  
  I have even heard of some people adding 8-10 drops of an essential oil to the vinegar/water solution—this gives the room a nice, fragrant smell without adding any harsh chemicals like some of the store bought cleaners. Consider peppermint or lavender!
  
  Choosing to make your own wood floor cleaning solution is very cost effective, simple and great for the environment. Try it out the next time you are doing your weekly chores.
  
  

  Posted on July 23, 2008 at 10:27 AM in DIY • Hardwood Flooring • (5) Comments

• Green Cleaning: Eco-Friendly Solutions for Your Home (and Floor)

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  By Nancy Shohet West

  Until very recently, it was something of an oxymoron - two irreconcilable opposites - to look at cleaning products as environmentally friendly. Many of us are accustomed to thinking that clean equals germ-killing, and killing germs might not be compatible with preserving all other life forms. When you go into a hospital, you smell bleach; when you pick up clothes at the dry cleaner's, you smell...well, we're not sure what the smell is, but it definitely connotes a pristine wardrobe, even if it's not an aroma found in nature.

  In other words, in the past it was almost taken for granted that in order to rid surfaces and substances of pollutants - whether the item to be cleaned was wood flooring, dishes, household appliances or clothing -- a certain amount of eradicating might be necessary. Sometimes you have to prioritize, we believed then, and let your ecological principles lapse a little if it meant getting your home germ-free.

  Fortunately, that kind of thinking has changed. With more and more people feeling guilty about pouring chemicals into the groundwater every time they mop a floor or polish an antique, the demand grew for environmentally friendly cleaning products, as this article on green cleaning explains. So now, it really is possible to do both: preserve the environment and protect your home from germs and dirt.

  Of course, the best way to keep things clean is not to let them get dirty in the first place. Your most environmentally correct choice when it comes to a cleaning substance is to avoid cleaning substances altogether. In the case of floors, there is a lot you can do to prevent the need for stringent cleaning. Bearing in mind that the three most powerful foes of wood flooring are dirt, sand and water, consider these very easy tips that promote "holistic" - i.e., non-chemical - cleaning:

  • Encourage the removal of shoes as people enter your house by placing a mat or a durable runner made of indoor-outdoor carpeting just inside your front door. Even more generous is to have extra pairs of slippers handy in a basket by the door for visitors.

  • Sweep your hardwood floors regularly, using a natural or nylon bristle broom with slightly frayed ends. Doing this every day if possible will make a huge difference in terms of the quantity of grit that gets ground into your wood floors on a regular basis.

  • Clean up liquid spills right away, including water, which often comes into the house in the form of snow clumps.

  • Dry-mop with a terry-cloth dust mop. Dry-mopping provides the benefits of buffing and polishing without the harshness of cleaners.

  • If you have pets, keep their toenails short.

  • Avoid dragging heavy objects across your wood floors.

  • Place felt casters under furniture legs.

  When you do need to go the extra mile and wet-mop or polish, there are several environmentally friendly products designed for use as wood floor cleaners. For example, Floor Kleener from Earth Friendly Products has been specially developed for cleaning a variety of flooring, including sealed hardwood floors. Another good example is Envirorite Hard Floor Cleaner, which uses soy in place of chemical substances and can also be used on sealed hardwood flooring surfaces. Envirorite boasts the added advantage of being safe for people with allergies, asthma, and chemical sensitivities, which is also important if you have babies or toddlers crawling on your floors. You can find these products and more at the Floor Cleaners and Kokopelli's Green Market websites.

   

  Posted on July 15, 2008 at 02:22 PM in DIY • Green Building • Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

Page 7 of 9 pages « First  <  5 6 7 8 9 >

• The Carlisle Story
• Our Wood, Our Craft
• Browse Our Floors
• We Make Buying Easy
• Installation

• Showrooms & Trade Shows
• Request Information
• Blog

• My Favorites
• My Profile

Search Carlisle