Real Time Answers to Hardwood Flooring Questions

How many times have you found yourself in the middle of a DIY project and ran into an issue that brings the entire project to a screeching halt? I know I have been there a thousand times and am confident that I am not alone.

On average, my company fields 2-3 calls per week with similar individuals that have started sanding or installing their own hardwood floors and have encountered an unforeseen circumstance. So many times, people have the misconception that sanding a hardwood floor is simply. “Sanding the floor with a piece of sandpaper.” Likewise, “Installing a hardwood floor is just putting a puzzle together.” Folks, I’ve got news for you… I have been a hardwood floor tech for nearly a decade and run into something new on almost every job. So many times I have thought to myself, “I wish there was someone I could talk to right now that could help me out with this.”

About a year ago, I was sitting in one of our logistics meetings, in the office, and had that thought about a custom border installation we were having trouble with. Luckily, I have a phone list on my desk of other professional flooring techs that I occasionally consult and rang one of them. After discussing the issue and coming to a problem solving consensus, I realized that I had been on the phone for nearly an hour. It is possible that during that hour, on one of our phone lines, I could have cost our company thousands of dollars in missed calls. No to mention, long distance to CA…

I remember thinking that there had to be a better way for contractors and trade services to access a quick problem solving network to help with their issues; Especially the professional contractor that invests a lot of money in time. As some time went by without putting much more thought into it, I noticed an increase in DIY’ers contacting our office with the hopes that we might give them some insight with their dilemmas as well. As I have always made an effort to answer any questions that come into our office, it is sometimes difficult to respond to these requests in a timely manner as I am in the field 75% of the time. Therefore, many times it might be several hours or a couple of days before I could respond to the “freebie” questions. Mind you, I have no problem answering questions (as long as they are not proprietary).

About 6 months ago, I received an email from a gentleman in Memphis, TN who had gotten our email address from www.refinedhardwood.com . In his initial email, the gentleman, whom we will call “John”, asked the question, “how do I know what grit of sandpaper to start with on my floor.” Now, about a month prior to receiving this email, my company had transitioned all of our company cell phones to Sprint ® Black Berries. Therefore, we now received all of our emails on our phones, with “John’s” being one of them. I was able to answer his initial question and a series of follow up questions right there in the field, almost immediately. Of course, the light bulb was burning me!

Over the next couple of months, I spent some time researching several different options to facilitate an online chat for anyone in the world to use, in real time. After experimenting with a few servers, my company decided on “Google Chat ®”. With this chat function, anyone who visits www.refinedhardwood.com can click the link on our contact page for “Google Chat ®” and chat with one of us in real time. Enquirers can ask questions, opinions or whatever else is on their mind. Basically, it has turned into a very efficient Q&A forum that is also private. Privacy was important to us because I know that it can sometimes be a little embarrassing to ask a “stupid” question in a public forum. Of course I contend, the only stupid question, is the one not asked. Why risk thousands of dollars in potential floor damage because of a “stupid” question? I question who the “stupid” one might be if pride keeps you from asking…

So to answer the question, “is there anywhere I can get real time answers to my hardwood flooring question/” Yes, there is! Visit www.refinedhardwood.com , go to our contacts page and click on the link for “Google Chat ®”. Send us a message and we will get right back with you. Ask a technical question, ask our opinion on a product or just ask us what we are doing… We love hearing from hardwood folks and DIY’ers from all over the world! Our online chat has taken off faster than we could have ever dreamed and we welcome many more to join us.

In the modern age of communication and technology, there really is no excuse in being inaccessible as a service oriented company. More and more people are turning to the internet for their everyday shopping and information. I know that I have always associated the internet with retail shopping and searching for information that I may be in need of at the time. However, who ever said that the service trades can’t have a web presence? No one ever told me that! Maybe that’s why Refined Hardwood Flooring is now one of the best known hardwood flooring contractors on the net. Coincidence? Maybe; or perhaps consumers are in need of this real time solution. I tend to lean towards the latter.

How Do I Choose a Hardwood Floor?

Probably one of the most difficult dilemmas that my clients run into during their project. You know, I wish I had one line of advice that I could give you on how to choose the right species for your home. However, there really isn't one. All I can tell you is that there are several things that you should consider when choosing. First, you have to choose a species that carries the characteristics that will compliment your home. If you have a high end home with very involved decorating and accent work, then a rustic Pine floor might not be for you. On the other hand, many homes look very nice with a rustic grade of flooring in them. Think about the overall look that you are going for and look at samples to jog your mind. Second, not only is the species an issue but solid or engineered flooring must be decided upon. Keep in mind that in some applications you may only have one option to choose from. Make sure you ask your flooring contractor which options are available to you. Another issue that I run into time and time again is the quality of flooring that people buy, "on their own." Here again, you get what you pay for. I can almost guarantee you that if you are paying $.99 per square foot; it is going to look like it. In addition, your flooring contractor may charge you more to work with a "cheap" floor that is more difficult to work with due to the milling of the floor boards. Most of the time, you will wind up paying less money for the overall flooring project if you buy a more expensive flooring material. I encourage all of my new floor clients to purchase the flooring material from us as I can honor a material guarantee. If you go out and buy the product on your own, guess what, if there is a material defect, you are on your own. Be careful purchasing liquidated or close out products. If you run into an issue a couple of years down the road, chances are you will not be able to re-purchase the same material to do repairs. I have run into several horror stories of houses that have flooded in one room and the entire home's flooring had to be torn out and a new floor installed because the product could not be found anymore. Oh yeah... the insurance company only paid for the room that flooded. Be careful; find something that should be around for a while. When selecting a product, have realistic expectations of the life of the floor. If you buy a solid floor, it should last you a lifetime. If you buy an engineered floor, you will probably only get one or two sandings out of it, if you hire a highly skilled craftsman to sand it (very expensive). If you buy a laminate floor, it can not be sanded. Check with flooring companies before you buy product from a large retail chain. Many contractors are actually Dealer/Contractors that can offer really good deals on flooring believe it or not. Think about it, a flooring contractor makes their money trough the labor to install or sand, not from the flooring purchase. In addition, most professional contractors will only offer mid to upper line products that many times you can purchase for less than you can get a lesser product from the large retail stores. So basically, you get an upgrade in flooring, you get the product from the installer and you get a material guarantee from your contractor. Remember, not all hardwood manufacturers mill their floors the same. Some are good and some are not. You get what you pay for!