Hardwood Flooring Installation & Refinishing

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. My most common job would either be resurfacing existing hardwood or installing and sanding new wood floors. But wood floors are a hot commodity right now. In the late eighties to early nineties it was tile, In the seventies it was shag carpeting. Everything is in a revolving circle. I have noticed an increase in carpet sales in the last year, but I think that is due to economy and not trends.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. The best advice for any one looking to hire someone to do work for them is to ask for THREE references with specific work related details to what you are looking to have done. If they give you one reference for tile, but you want hardwood, they may say wow what a great job and great company, but you still don't know if they can do hardwood. Or say they give you one tile reference, and two reference for pre-finished installation, but you want raw wood installed, sanded and stained a custom color, you have know idea if they are capable. So ask for specifics, if they can't delivery at least one solid lead on your specifics, well then it is likely they can't deliver a job you will be happy with either.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. Our work stands out from the rest, because of the time and attention to detail that we put into every area of our work, I have so many clients that have told me that my work is far superior to that of any others that have worked for them. Our professionalism and customer service has always been our secret to success. And when you put all that together with finishing in a timely manner, well then you know you've hired S.M.B. Hardwood Floors

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. The thing I like most about the work we do is seeing a customers expression. Many times customers are unsure of the color they chose, or whether or not my work would be good enough... then when we reveal the finished product I know we have done something more than earn a few bucks, we've made someone's day so much warmer and brighter. To look in their eye's and see skepticism turn to awe, ... that is why I started this company that is why I do it everyday.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. The most common questions I get would be, what do I think they should do?
See most people know they want new flooring whether it is tile, carpet, or hardwood, but what a lot of people don't know is that what we can do with any one or all three of these products is virtually limitless. With the right amount of time and creativity we can do just about anything you can think of.
Another question I get a lot is, Is it dusty, when you sand?
......... yes, yes it is. There has been a lot of innovation in the equipment that has come out in the last couple years, and people advertising "dustless" floor resurfacing. Now with the new dust containment vacuums that company's use, there is dramatically less dust in the air. However, there is simple no such thing as "dustless". A dust-less system is only 98% dust-free. When you put the sanders on the floor and start sanding it is inevitable that some of that dust will escape even the most powerful vacuum's.
Basically people want to know what clean up will be like after the job is done. And though we do clean up after ourselves there will likely be a good week or two of the fine particles settling down all over the house, and is usually not any worse than if you went on a two week vacation.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. When I was about ten years old I went to visit my aunt in Wyoming, and I remember she had dark brown hardwood floors, and when we back the following summer they were a light blonde color. Being so young I thought it was magic to have the floors change so drastically, until I met someone who showed me how the magic happens. And now everyday I get to share the MAGIC with new people! what is better than magic?

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. I have been working with Home Vestors ("we buy ugly homes"). And usually the floors that we save for them are in some of the worst conditions you can imagine. And this one was no different, In the kitchen there were seven layers of linoleum laid atop each other, and under all that the original glue they used 50 years ago to put that first layer down, all black and tar like, smears more than it sand, than going down the hall and into the bedrooms, where some sort of water had been pooling and draining and pooling up again for quite a while, and had literally rotted the floor and the subfloor to the point where it was more a trampoline than a floor. And with updating an old house always comes the moving or removing of walls, leaving holes in the floor where you can see right through to the basement.
When we first saw the house we thought it might be better to bulldoze and rebuild from the ground. Ha ha!
But the house was structurally sound, so we began by removing the floors in the hall, and the subfloor, then moved to where the walls had been moved and toothed out boards all along the holes in the floor, and after patching back in with all new material we finally began to sand. The first cut we had to use 16 grit paper which looks more like asphalt than sand paper, that just to get through the varnish, paint, tar and glue down to raw wood. after that everything went smoothly Stained it a dark brown and put 2 beautiful coats on the floor and even the workers who had been there from the first day of the demolition could not believe that it was the same floor.
Now this is one of those rare jobs that many floor guys would not have even tried, and the floor had its last sanding, and there was a ton of prep work that was done before that. It took six days to complete, and this was not a large floor, no more than 650 sqft., but there is a lot of extra work that goes into it to make it look so good. And yes extra work means extra $. But unless you are flipping a 50 year old house that has not been updated since it was built you don't have to much to worry about.