The Magic of Carpenter Chuck!

Enjoy another beautiful hardwood project by Carpenter Chuck.  He is adding a hardwood floor to a room that comes into contact with a previous laid hardwood.

Can you tell which floor was the original and which is the new?

                                                                 Don't look at the color difference to make your choice.

Can you figure out how the alignment took place?

                                                                Carpenter Chuck was less than 1/16" off in 24 feet.

Answers will be coming soon!

Quad City Mallards Hockey Club

 

"When the President of the Quad City Mallards Hockey Club wanted his office painted, he asked Carpenter Chuck."

 

 The first grouping of pictures are of the original office color.  The key to going from a light color to a dark color is in the primer.  To accomplish this, I used a deep base primer in grey.  When done, some of the staff commented on the primer color being attractive.

CARPENTER CHUCK TIP:

 

Always cut in the corners and the perimeter first.

If you are good at free hand painting, it saves a lot of time

not having to tape the room.

 A view of the cut in of the new color.

Here is the final outcome.

The room is filled with a deep, rich red (actually "Twister Red").

One coat, with a touch up feather coat.

 

           Not bad, not bad at all.

Hardwoods & Placement

Some of the trickiest issues with putting in hardwoods is placement and alignment.  This is why sometimes it can be better to work alone then with someone with a different eye.

Here's a tricky part that's called the "bowling alley".  If this job doesn't get started right and carefully measured along the way, you will get one crooked alley!

 



This is an example of "tying in" or "feathering in" new hardwoods with an existing floor (the original floor ended where the black tar paper ends).  I decided to tie in right in the center of the "bowling alley".  Most people would not take this path. 

There are two reasons for this decision.  First, the extra scrutiny on being dead on straight will pay dividends in the "body" of the main floor.  Secondly, if done right, you will never be able to tell there was ever anything other than hardwoods there (and it really looks great).

 

 

Another tricky spot is around the fireplace.  Curves and lines that could throw the most seasoned carpenter off his game.

Look at this -- just beautiful!

 



Custom Entertainment Center

Check out this beauty of a custom Entertainment Center that I designed and built for my current home.

Hardwoods at the Beach House

In April 2011, we updated the hardwood floors at the beach house in North Carolina.

Check out the video for the project progression.  Notice how we wrapped the fireplace.  It is critical to any floor project to start with a fresh measurement to determine the width of the first curve or contour.  Telling you how I did that would ruin the allure of being Carpenter Chuck.




When finished, hardwood floors look fantastic, there is little doubt.  There is, however, preventive maintenance that will help keep them looking great.  Don't be fooled, vinegar and water, although a good combo for cleaning the wood does not keep the shine.  There is a process, clean and then polish!


Snapshots: