Surface Blog

Customer stains and finishes Ash floors herself

• Posted by
• Don Carlisle

A customer, JoAnn Johnson, sent us these photos of the Premium Grade Ash floors she had just put in. She reports that she did the staining and tung oil finish herself, and that she had a lot of fun choosing which of the many boards to "highlight" in each of the rooms she finished. Besides these two rooms, she’s also undertaking a new floor in her Great Room. Way to go, JoAnn!

Posted on May 08, 2009 AT 03:24 AM in (2) Comments

Carlisle floors seem to go with every possible decor

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

We’re pretty thrilled with these photos sent to us by a customer in Traverse City, Michigan.  Her condo home is in a restored former mental hospital, which is fascinating in itself. But just look at the way these premium grade Eastern White Pine boards blend in with her otherwise modern and eclectic decor.  The floors are finished in Concord Honey with a tung oil. What do you think? Write us here by clicking onto "Comments" just below.

Posted on May 06, 2009 AT 03:21 AM in (0) Comments

High-end builder has high praise for Carlisle floors

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

We got a nice note from Von Salmi in April, letting us know he had a new website. He builds and designs homes and is based in Westminster, MA.  Mr. Salmi wrote:

 I have worked with Carlisle Wideplank Flooring  and Rick Menard for almost 10 years. It has been a pleasure to work with such a professional organization. I work on very large homes with very discriminating clients who look for the unusual and most beautiful floors that we can install. I had an instance where the client wanted a mahogony floor in a master bath. Traditional Honduran Mahogony was the wrong look and Rick provided an Asian Mahogony as an alternative that completely fulfilled the interior designers’ and clients’ needs.

I have purchased everything from 4-inch White Oak quartered and rift sawn, quartered Walnut Herringbone, Custom Oak parquet to antique all Heart Pine flooring and Carlisle has delivered consistantly in quality and time on every order.

Whenever I am asked who I use for my flooring there is only one name that comes out of my mouth, Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring. I hope it is the only name that I will ever have to say.

A very satisfied customer,

Von Salmi, Pres.
Von Salmi and Associates, Inc.
Construction, Consulting and Design
P.O. Box 425
Westminster, MA 01473 

Well, we’re very satisfied when we hear this kind of thing from folks we’ve worked with over the years. Thanks, Von!

Posted on May 06, 2009 AT 03:16 AM in (0) Comments

Yes, you can glue Carlisle Walnut floors directly to concrete

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

Homeowners Kim Keast and her husband in Houston, Texas set out to directly glue a Carlisle Walnut floor, with 5- to 10-inch widths, directly to concrete, and they worked with Robert Plut out of Carlisle’s Denver offices and showroom. We got photos from them while they were in the middle of their project and another set and a nice report from them when they were done with the installation. 

[Above: The dining room, left, mid-project and the finished piece, right.]

Here’s the note Robert got from Kim right after she and her husband finished the installation.

Hi Robert, 

I have attached a few pictures of our home.  A view from the upstairs to the foyer, my dining room and then my path to the master bedroom.  Thanks for all of your help and we’ll be in touch about our next Carlisle project in 2010!  Now that’s it’s done, it’s hard to believe we laid it ONE board at a time!  It’s absolutely beautiful!  Exactly what I had pictured in this brain of mine! 

THANKS!  KIM

p.s. We had only 6 - 8-inch boards left of different lengths and very little scrap.  We used every 10-inch and 5-inch board that you sent to us!  I had so few left over that I could stack them in my clothes closet for when we get to our kitchen project next year!  Great estimating!

[Above: The concrete floor of the foyer, left, and the finished foyer, right.]

Posted on May 01, 2009 AT 03:13 AM in (0) Comments

Carlisle adds new floors to Vermont’s historic Hermitage Inn

• Posted by
• Christine Halvorson

We were quite honored to have supplied the floors for the Hermitage Inn in West Dover, Vermont recently. The top photo shows the dining room of the inn, and the bottom shows the pub area.

The inn was looking for a floor that was historically accurate to the time period—the structure dates back to the 1840s—and that was sustainably harvested to be in step with the inn’s Green Initiative.  As Glen Renagan, our sales and design consultant, says, we were able to meet the inn’s needs on both counts.  We did about 2500 square feet of the restoration project in Carlisle’s 10 to 17-inch Old Growth Eastern White Pine and another 2,500 square feet was in the 8 to 12-inch Old Growth Heart Pine. Read more about how Carlisle’s floors are sustainably grown.

Posted on Apr 29, 2009 AT 03:11 AM in Green Building • (0) Comments