Surface Blog

Crafting ‘the best looking floor of all time’

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

Read this great profile of one of the terrific craftsmen who work in our Swanzey, New Hampshire mill. The story appeared in the most recent issue of our e-mail newsletter. (Note: you can subscribe to the newsletter here.)

Craftsman Profile: Cliff Faulkner

Since childhood, Cliff Faulkner’s life has always revolved around wood, from delivering firewood to learning about all the different species. As a young boy, Faulkner and his father would drive into the woods with a tractor and a truck bed to cut cordwood, which are short pieces of debarked tree used as firewood, and deliver it throughout their local community of Fitzwilliam, NH. As a result of spending his days in the woods with his father, Faulkner’s knowledge and passion for wood and the different species greatly increased evolving into his current lifetime profession.

After high school, Faulkner began working at a local wood mill on the green chain sorting lumber, collecting desired boards and stacking them onto a cart. Within six months he was promoted and moved inside the mill. Within the mill, Faulkner worked the trim saw for close to three years where his talent was quickly noticed. He soon progressed to operating the dry kilns, making wood usable by removing its moisture, which he did for five years.

Looking for an opportunity within another company, as well as his need for a larger career challenge, Faulkner joined the leading makers of wide plank floors, Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring based in New Hampshire. Bringing with him years of experience in wood flooring and more than eight years of experience in bulk wood sales, Faulkner was pleased to join a team of enthusiastic workers who shared his same passion for wood. He found that Carlisle craftsmen worked as a unit both inside and outside of the mill. As a very tight group, the craftsmen expand their relationships outside of their work environment having after hour’s gatherings.

Faulkner is a loyal and passionate Carlisle flooring employee, having installed white oak flooring in his own home, which he says adds a more rustic look. Pleased with his custom Carlisle flooring, Faulkner keeps in mind the quality he expected in his own home when crafting a floor for others. At Carlisle, since he assembles the orders of hardwood floors, Faulkner is very selective when choosing planks, keeping in mind each individual job, making sure they are compatible in size and appearance.

“My primary goal is to craft the best looking floor all of the time, no matter how big or small,” Faulkner explained. “I take immense pride in giving all of my customers the finest wood floor that I can create.”

Faulkner enjoys working with hardwoods daily, especially hickory since it has great wood character. In fact, wood character is Faulkner’s favorite thing about working with wood. He loves being able to see how a tree grew, noting where its branches were or if it had burrowing insects. By selecting interesting milled pieces of wood like this, Faulkner helps to create what he calls a conversation piece for the home. Faulkner believes that wood flooring is all about the quality of the end product, how it looks installed.

In closing, for other craftsmen, Faulkner has one piece of advice—“If it is good enough for you, then it is probably good enough for the client.”

Posted on Sep 12, 2011 AT 05:14 AM in Hardwood Flooring • (3) Comments

Washington Post features renovation that includes Carlisle White Oak flooring

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

When designer Andreas Charalambous, who heads up Forma Design in Washington DC, was called on recently to update a 1970s-era condo in Tysons Corner, Virginia, he chose Carlisle’s White Oak to replace a carpeted concrete slab. The Washington Post featured the renovation in a story on the front page of its Real Estate section on April 22, 2011.

The writer made note of the new floor: “Paying special attention to the ceiling and floors may have made the most dramatic difference in the condo. To start, the flooring was concrete slab covered with wall-to-wall carpeting. Today the floor is wide-plank rift and quarter-sawn white oak, the long lines of which seem to stretch the rooms.”

Click here to read the whole story.

Click here to learn more about Carlisle’s White Oak, and see photos of White Oak floors.

Click here for directions to and information on our Washington DC Design Center.

Posted on Sep 09, 2011 AT 02:03 AM in Hardwood Flooring • News & Events • (2) Comments

Carlisle planks make great walls and ceilings, too: Check out these pics of a vineyard’s wine cellar

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

We love it when our customers get creative with our flooring planks. For instance, we recently received these terrific photos of our White Oak flooring, in 7-inch widths, used as accent walls and ceilings in the wine cellar of a vineyard. The crew at Majestic Wood Floors in Frederick, Maryland, one of our preferred installers, hand-finished the planks with Rubio Monocoat before installation.

Bob Humphreys of Majestic Wood Floors worked with Carlisle Sales and Design Rep Adam Whitney, of our Washington D.C. showroom, on the project. Thanks to both for sending along the photographs!

Posted on Sep 08, 2011 AT 06:33 AM in Hardwood Flooring • (2) Comments

Ash flooring: It’s sophisticated, striking, and durable

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

Looking for a floor that’s sophisticated, extremely durable, and exceptionally striking in appearance? Consider Carlisle’s American Ash, which is sustainably harvested in Indiana. The wood is dense and durable, with a unique elasticity. As a result, it makes great baseball bats — and also great floors. Ash can also be used very successfully over radiant heat, on concrete slab foundations, and in humid climates. Best of all, it’s prized for its grain patterns and hues, which range from the cream and light almond colors of the outer tree to the rich, nutty brown of the heartwood.

Kevin Crowder of our Denver showroom recently sent along these pictures from a customer who purchased an Heirloom Ash floor, prefinished with Clear Coat.

“Looks great!,” the customer wrote. “Happy with results and look forward to living on it.”

Posted on Sep 04, 2011 AT 05:13 PM in Hardwood Flooring • (3) Comments

Hamilton Grange, Renovated Manhattan landmark, includes Carlisle floors

• Posted by
• Jane Eklund

Two hundred and nine years ago, Upper Manhattan was a rural neighborhood. Alexander Hamilton, the very first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and the man whose face looks out at us from the $10 bill, built his country house there. In the years since, the house was moved from 143rd Street to Convent Ave (that was in 1899), transferred to the National Park Service (1962), and moved a block down the road, in 2008, to a corner of the 23-acre St. Nicholas Park that faces West 141st Street. Over the last three years, the Hamilton Grange, as it is called, has been undergoing an $8.4 million renovation to return it to the look and feel it had when Hamilton lived there. The new site is an appropriate one, as it was originally part of Hamilton’s estate.

Here at Carlisle, we love to be part of history, and part of historic renovations. So we’re really thrilled that our 5” Heirloom Grade Reclaimed Heart Pine, which is made from antique wood taken from buildings scheduled for demolition, can be found in the newly renovated Hamilton Grange.

We’re also happy to report that the contractors working on the Grange were dazzled with the floorboards. The project coordinator at Lumus Construction sent this note to Carlisle Sales and Design Rep Glen Ranagan:

“I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the quality flooring you sent us to the Hamilton Grange Project. Our superintendent on site stated to me that he was thoroughly impressed with the quality and craftsmanship. The floor looks amazing and I want to thank you and your staff personally for a job well done.”

The Hamilton Grange is scheduled to open to the public on September 17, 2011. We hope you’ll have a chance to visit!

Click here for the Park Service’s Hamilton Grange web page

Click here to read a New York Times story about the project.

Click here to see a slide show of the building’s 2008 move.

Posted on Sep 01, 2011 AT 10:43 PM in Restoration Projects • News & Events • (0) Comments