Wood Floor Problems?
Answers to hardwood floor troubles are a phone call away.
Free Samples
Sometimes a Phone call is better than
10,000 words on a website. Need
More information?
My name is Franklyn. My picture is on a $100 Bill.
Call me at 1-360-807-3122 (I live in Centralia, WA
in the Pacific Time Zone but take calls from anywhere)
I got into the wood flooring business by accident.
By that I mean I messed up a floor royally and when
I asked for help I ended up working for and learning
from the guy I asked for help. God surely has a
great sense of humor.
Because of this "interesting"
way of getting into the wood flooring business
I can relate to the problems associated with trying to install,
sand and refinish for the first time.
I have been in the business for the last 35 years as an employee
of flooring firms and as a self employed
contractor. I now prefer to work as a teacher.
My customers become my temporary apprentices and my temporary
apprentices become lifetime friends.
I have experience in custom wood floors, installing, sanding,
and finishing. I have done custom inlays and borders.
My experience includes:
- Inlaying goldfish made out of cherry into an ash rectangle
in front of a huge fireplace. The ash was bordered with 3 1/2" maple, 2 1/4 inch black
walnut and 3 1/2" maple. The balance of the
room was laid at 45 degrees to the room and mitered in
four different directions.
The cherry was pickeled - flourescent Orange and the ash flourencent blue
so as to create a "pool" of "Goldfish" in the floor.
Goldfish picture 1.... Goldfish picture 2
Goldfish picture 3.... Goldfish picture 4
Goldfish picture 5.... Goldfish picture 6
Goldfish picture 7.... Goldfish picture 8
- Inlaying a quilt pattern called the double wedding rings
into an oval in the center of the floor.
I did this for a friend who was a quilter. She loved it!!!
(Pictures coming)
- Installing a 16,000 square foot gym floor at a college in Vermont.
Gym floors is where I learned the trade
and I did this while working with a firm that was doing gym floors.
Just to give you an idea how big an area 16,000 square feet is,
imagine a floor capable of having three full size basketball
courts side by side with space between them.
The Sugar Maple flooring was 1 1/2" wide and and 33/32" thick
(just over an inch) You want to talk about a lot of nailing !!!
I have been on over 60 gym floors.
Many of them as the foreman of the crew.
(Pictures coming)
- Repairing an old school house floor in Colstrip, MT.
The school was built back in the teens and to repair it
required having wood that was the same age and species.
What I did was I used wood from the back offices.
When I first suggested this the contractor and painter
almost had strokes. They had just finished replacing the old brittle molding
in those rooms and were afraid I would break the molding removing it.
I didn't even touch the baseboards.
What I did was I cut 6 inches away from the baseboards
and salvaged the flooring in the middle.
When I replaced it with new maple I made a border of oak
and maple and laid the new wood in the center
at 45 degrees to the room. I stained the oak Red Mahogany.
When I was done fixing the 27 repairs in the
main floor using the old wood they couldn't find the repairs
. "Repairing a floor" and "Patching a floor" are not the same thing.
Picture 1....Picture 2
Picture 3....Picture 4
Picture 5....Picture 6
Picture 7....Picture 8
Picture 9....Picture 10
Picture 11..Picture 12
Picture 13..Picture 14
Picture 15..Picture 16
Picture 17..Picture 18
Picture 19..Picture 20
- Repairing and refinishing parquet floors in the
Watergate Condominiums in Washington D.C.
Picture 1..Picture 2
Picture 3..Picture 4
Picture 5..Picture 6
Picture 7..Picture 8- Installing prefinished wood. On many jobs I have done french curves
to make an interesting and softer transition
to carpeting and other flooring materials.
(Pictures coming)
- One of my favorite things to do is what I call the "poor man's Walnut".
What I do is I put down the 15#roofing paper.
Then I snap chalk lines 18" from all walls and 18" around the fireplace.
I install the flooring in the center either parallel to the walls
or at an angle to the walls. What is nice is I don't
have to cut each row.
The wood has to just go over the chalk line.
After I have installed the center I nail
down a "dummy board" 1 1/2 inches outside of where I want to cut.
This gives my worm saw a guide to cut all the boards in one cut.
By nailing the boards on the wall side of the cut I eliminate
any nail holes in the finished field in the center of the floor.
I then cut a groove in the cut.
By inserting a spline in the groove I create a tongue and then install the border
with 4 boards and cut a 9 inch skirt to the wall.
After it is all installed I sand it and masking tape off
the inside and outside boards of the 4 board border and
stain them in place. Voila!!! The "poor man's Walnut"
Wood floor border picture 1..Wood floor border picture 2
Wood floor border picture 3..Wood floor border picture 4
Wood floor border picture 5..Wood floor border picture 6- Installing a ten foot circle into the entryway of a Condo in Washington, D.C.
Picture of the 10 foot circle
- Sanding painted floors
Sanding a painted wood floor picture 1
Sanding a painted wood floor picture 2
Sanding a painted wood floor picture 3
Sanding a painted wood floor picture 4
Sanding a painted wood floor picture 5
Sanding a painted wood floor picture 6
I now prefer to work as a teacher.
My customers become my temporary apprentices and my temporary
apprentices become lifetime friends.
I also give free advice by phone to people all over the world.YOU Benefit several ways when I help YOU with your wood floor project.
- I provide tools of the trade SAVING YOU rental costs
- I show YOU labor saving tricks making the job EASIER.
- I show YOU ways to SAVE MONEY in supplies.
- I adjust to fit YOUR skill level.
- I help YOU get satisfaction of participating
- I bring the tools to YOU
- I make it FUN for YOU
- YOU adjust the cost by deciding how much help YOU need and thereby keep within budget.
I have many people ask what happened to the original "I Teach Wood Floors Page".
It is still around. I just got carried away and it got so large at 82K that it was
getting very slow to load especially for people using dialup. If you would like to see
the original website which is loaded with information about wood floors click on the banner below.
I Teach Wood Floors - Wood Floor Problems | Free QuotesNew Hospital Wing| National Health Directory | Wood floor pictures | Wood Flooring Books
FriendlyBank.net | Items for sale | Free books
Wood Industry Associations Directory | FREE How to do Hardwood Flooring Videos | Flooring Forums
Hardwood Flooring Websites | How to Refinish Parquet Floors | Sign My Guestbook
Banners | Olympia Washington Website Design Group
WDFSales.com | USA State by State Flooring Contractor Directory
If you live in Shelton , Olympia , Lacey, Bucoda, Cinebar , Curtis, Ethel, Tumwater , Yelm , Rainier, Tenino, Glenoma, Mineral, Morton, Mossyrock, Napavine, Oakville, Onalaska, Packwood, Pe Ell ,Randle , Rochester, Salkum, Silver Creek, Toledo, Winlock, Tacoma , Seattle, Longview, Vancouver, Puyallup, Lakewood, Steamboat Island, McCleary, Elma, Satsop, Brady, Montesano, Dayton, Allyn, Grapeview, Belfair, Hoodcanal, Union, Hoodsport, Brinnon, Centralia , Chehalis, Littlerock or anywhere else in western Washington State ( WA ) and would like some onsite coaching please give me a call at 360-807-3122 .
Additional Suggested Searches for Wood Floors
wood floors, woodfloors, hard wood floors, woodfloors com, woodfloors org, laminate wood floors, www woodfloors, discount wood floors, www woodfloors org, woodfloors plus, hard woodfloors, prefinished wood floors, engineered wood floors, www woodfloors com, refinishing wood floors, installing woodfloors, installing wood floors, african safari woodfloors, oak wood floors, install woodfloors, bruce woodfloors, solid wood floors, Where to buy hardwood flooring splines
- Installing prefinished wood. On many jobs I have done french curves