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.

DIY: Log Run Hickory Floors

Posted by Megan Sprague

Lauren Power of our New Hampshire design team received this photo and letter from her clients in Walpole, NH! The floor is unfinished… but GORGEOUS just the same. We hope to get some additional photos once the finish is applied!

Hi Lauren. Hope this email finds you and the baby in good health. Thought I would send you a small section of the floor. As of yesterday, it is all in. Moe and I are so pleased. It is absolutely beautiful!! Thank you so much for your time and your help through the process. We will never forget all you did. Are you all settled into your house?

Posted on November 12, 2008 at 03:27 PM in Customer Stories • DIY • Hardwood Flooring • Home Building & Contracting • Wood Grains & Styles • (0) Comments
Carlisle: A Sponsor of the Mountain Living Natural Dream Home

Posted by Megan Sprague

Carlisle's Denver Design Center has been participating in the sponsor festivities with Mountain Living at their Natural Dream Home in Cordillera, Colorado. Our FSC Certified Antique Ash floors (with a stain) were used throughout the first level of the home. The home is now open through November, for tours!

Here's a close up of the FSC Antique Ash with the brown stain, also check out the interview with sales person, Laura Leier! This article can be found in the November/December issue of
Mountain Living on page 70!

Posted on October 31, 2008 at 11:24 AM in Green Building • Home Building & Contracting • True Hardwood Story • Wood Grains & Styles • (0) Comments
A Nice Thank You Letter

Posted by Megan Sprague

Here's a nice letter that Adam Whitney, of our New York sales team, received today! This couple purchased our wide pine floors.
Hello Adam,

I hope this note finds you well.

Thank you for the kind note and the maple syrup. My wife and I go
through tons of the stuff, so it's much appreciated.

I am doing less and less construction apart from home projects, as "my
other job" as a magazine editor is taking more and more of my time (and
generating more of a fulltime income). I still sing the praises of
Carlisle any chance I get, especially when folks visit our outbuilding
where the pine flooring looks great (and works great) over our radiant
flooring.

Thank you and I will be in touch about any future projects. Best, Brian

--
Brian Halweil
Editor, Edible East End
edibleeastend.com

Posted on October 31, 2008 at 08:40 AM in Customer Stories • Home Building & Contracting • Home Decor • (0) Comments
Our friends at Classic Hardwood Floors

Posted by Megan Sprague

We've been working with Classic Hardwood Floors for over ten years now. Here's a nice letter from owner, Joe Boos.

Although it is my profession and can be challenging and stressful at times, I thoroughly enjoy being the owner/operator of Classic Hardwood Floors. In 1998 my brother Eric and I formed our business and had the best time of our life working together for 10 years. A person seriously could write a book about all of our experiences. We did have a few employees throughout the years, most notably our other two brothers and our father. Imagine a customers surprise after contracting us to work in their million dollar + houses based only on phone conversations and a written proposal; only to have a truckload of 18-24 year olds show up at their door on day one to install a beautiful, expensive wide plank floor. I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked how old I am, when my dad or boss was showing up, or where is the guy I talked to on the phone. Of course the outstanding results continue to be a testament to the beauty of Carlisle’s wood and our commitment to perfection. Eric has recently moved on to bigger and better things (design consultant for this company called Carlisle Wide Plank Floors), however I still enjoy installing floors with my employees Jeff and Eddie.

Originally our business was a general wood floor operation (strip flooring, sand and poly, refinishing, etc). Thanks to the expertise and knowledge of so many at Carlisle we transformed into specializing in the installation and finishing of wide plank floors. Many quickly conclude they are one and the same, and although wide plank flooring contains many of the same aspects of “wood flooring”, in my opinion it is in a league of its own. You could liken it to the difference between arithmetic and algebra. A mathematician cannot learn algebra before the groundwork or basics are laid (arithmetic,etc). I feel as if we went from being nailers and sanders to craftsmen and artists. We went from installing and finishing floors that looked good to creating timepieces that make a house.

The first floor we did with Carlisle was a face nailed, stained, and tung oiled eastern white pine for John and Randee Malmberg. Randee could not find the floor she had seen in a magazine picture. No one in the area could. After extensive searching we stumbled upon Carlisle. Todd Waterman and Chris Sy were tireless in their efforts to insure we gave Randee the floor she wanted. Thank goodness they were! What a difference this floor was from what we were used to. No conventional sanding? No way! Face nail the face of the boards with antique square cut nails? No way! However, it turned out great and because of our commitment to quality and a number of referrals from Carlisle and the Malmbergs our wide plank career took off.

Since the Malmbergs we have installed and finished 111 wide plank floors for Carlisle. We have done many eastern white pine and heart pine, along with red and white oak, hickory, maple, ash, walnut, cherry, antique woods, saw kerf surface, hand scraped surface, barnboard, and many others that I am likely forgetting.

Among my favorites are the antique woods. The warmth and character in antique wood cannot be beat. One of my all time favorites is probably the antique sweetgum (an extremely rare antique wood with grain and color being similar to a mix of hickory and cherry) we installed in Lakeside, MI. Beautiful!

We also, because of being specialists, have had the privilege of working a large territory and discovering so many great places to visit, restaurants, and wonderful people. Carlisle floors have brought us to downtown Chicago, many of the suburbs, on the lake in Michigan, and rural Wisconsin, and many other places.

Over the past 10 years we have worked with so many great people at Carlisle. I truly view it a privilege and honor to be a part of crafting your beautiful floors and working with you guys. Without your help and support we would never had made it, and we sincerely thank you for everything! The relationships formed through the years are far more than simple business ties. We view you all as friends and family. So here is to 111 or more outstanding works of art!

THANK YOU!

Here's a few photos of floors that Classic Hardwood Floors' has installed over the years!

Birch

Hand Scraped White Oak with Stain

Posted on October 28, 2008 at 08:57 AM in Customer Stories • Green Building • Hardwood Flooring • Home Building & Contracting • Restoration Projects • True Hardwood Story • Wood Grains & Styles • (0) Comments
A Visit from Warmboard at the Log and Timber Show!

Posted by Megan Sprague

Bill from Warmboard stopped by for a visit during the Log and Timber Show! We have partnered with Warmboard in the past on events and email marketing as our products are a great fit together. Bill works with the girls from our DC office, Janel and Hannah.

Here's a radiant heat panel that Warmboard let us borrow during the show!

This is Tim (left) from Carlisle's home office in Stoddard, NH and Bill from Warmboard

Posted on October 28, 2008 at 08:44 AM in Green Building • Home Building & Contracting • Home Decor • (0) Comments