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.

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 and Eco Friendly Products • Hardwood Flooring • Home Building and Contracting • Restoration Projects • True Hardwood Story • Wood Grains & Styles • (0) Comments
A Designer’s 1800’s Vintage Home

Posted by Megan Sprague

We received these photos from our clients in Pennsylvania. The homeowner is a designer and used our wide plank, 13-20" Eastern White Pine with signature Plymouth Pumpkin stain and authentic face nails for their historic restoration project!

Posted on October 13, 2008 at 09:17 AM in Home Decor • Restoration Projects • (0) Comments
Customer Letter: A Sweet Tasting Thank You- Part II

Posted by Megan Sprague

Hello again Peter,

Just so you have some perspective of why I said it was such a pleasure working with Carlisle…that little kitchen took 4 tries to get the right cabinets installed (wrong measurements, wrong size door panel for the refrigerator, wrong finish when the new panel came in, etc., etc. Those cabinet were originally measured and ordered in August of 2007…it finally got completed correctly in August 2008…and they were local.) You folks delivered the right product exactly what was described and exactly to dimension. THANK YOU.

Here are some shots of the 3rd floor hall with your clear vertical grain heart pine. The shot from the bedroom shows both the original and the new floors..pretty good!

Steve
Original Floors-100 year old Heart Pine

Carlisle Floors-Recreating the look of the existing floors!

Posted on October 1, 2008 at 10:48 AM in Customer Stories • Restoration Projects • (0) Comments