January 2010
Closing the Books
Like all good Americans, we're trying to get our taxes done ahead of schedule.  But even when we're paying our taxes, we're looking at the floor.  Check out this fabulous trap door in the c.1890 floor at FoxTax in Northeast Minneapolis:

Our accountant, Mark Fox owns a combination art gallery and accounting firm and he wisely retained every ounce of patina and history he found in these maple floors. They were aggressively scrubbed, but not sanded. The scrubbing made sure that there was nothing to interrupt a bond with the polyurethane finish he applied, but it allowed the beautiful aged, warehouse quality to remain.
And his does great taxes too: foxtaxservice.com

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July 2008

We've bragged about the portability of our sanders, but this takes the cake:

Robert Y. actually toted away a drum sander, edger and a full crate of abrasive on a 6' bike trailer.  And he was not just going around the corner - his 700 square foot sanding job was in Minneapolis!  Robert says he hasn't owned a car in 20 years, and doesn't miss it.  Our hats are off to you, sir.

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May 13, 2008

Monocoat is Finally Here!

We've been experimenting with this product since late winter (see story from March 8) and even tried it in Bob's house.  So far, it's living up to its promises so we now proudly stock Rubio Monocoat.  We carry nine of their 28 colors: walnut, mahogany, cherry, oak, dark oak, smoked oak, natural, pine and pure.  Pure is the hot seller so far.  And you get a free applicator bottle with every liter purchased!  Read the entire, very detailed article on the "Applying Finish"  or click here
Monocoat data

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March 18, 2008

Notes From the Field:
Learning things from our contracting division

Can you figure out what
happened here?

We sanded a prefinished Merbau floor to remove the following defect:

A circular band of discoloration about 10' in diameter was completely removed by sanding the floor to bare wood.  What do you think caused it?
 

Answer:

The cotton edging on the back of a 10' round rug was glued to backing with a plastic adhesive.  We had to unfold several layers of fabric to find it.  It is well-know that non-latex rug backings will interact with and discolor polyurethane.  We had never seen it happen before with an adhesive, especially an adhesive well-protected by textile.  The finish on this floor was a modern aluminum oxide - an extremely hard and durable coating.  We would not have expected it to be vulnerable to such a small amount of glue.

March 8, 2008

Experimenting with Rubio Monocoat - a linseed oil finish that claims it contains no volatile organic compounds

This week, we are experimenting with a new zero-VOC finish.  I know it seems like we're just trying to take advantage of the movement to all things green and environmentally sensitive, but there is more to our interest than that.

Floor finishing can be miserable to live through because of the odor of many of the finishes, never mind their toxicity. We would love to be able to recommend a no-VOC finish that we have actually used. Rubio claims that this is a single coat finish that "adheres to the first micros of the wood by molecular bonding (with no film forming nor saturation.)" It comes in an amazing array of colors (some of which are prettier than others.  We were not so fond of  'Ruby' but all the brown tones were quite fabulous.) So far, the product seems to be living up to its advertising, so look for us to stock before the end of March.
http://www.rubiomonocoat.com

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Look what we found on E-bay

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Here are a few hints: the home is 80 years old, but the finish we removed was about 50 years old and there was a runner down the center of the hallway.

 

What is going on that problem floor?

It may look like the center of the floor was stained or darkened in some way, but we know that can't be true because an applied pigment would have sanded right out. In fact, the opposite was true: the edges of the hall were stained and/or finished while the center strip was left completely bare, presumably because it was being covered with a runner.  But utterly naked, unfinished wood is at the complete mercy of the ravages of time.  Air, dust, moisture, lack of exposure to light and even the content of the rug itself were able to age and change the unprotected wood fiber.  And 50 years of all those elements working on that bare wood changed it so deeply that the discoloration could not be sanded out. The lesson to be learned here is, treat every part of your floor uniformly, even if you think it won't ever be exposed again.  It will. And don't yell at your floor guy or gal if they can't sand it out...

© Pete's Hardwood Floors. All products cited are copyrights of their respective owners.  Website comments should be directed to peteshardwoodfloors@gmail.com

May 2010
We are now official distributors of Wood from the Hood!

Stop in at the shop and see our Wood from the Hood samples; a sustainable floor that may have come from your own zip code!!

Welcome Members of the
Minnesota Woodworkers Guild

Yes, we know it's a stretch to refer to floor installation and refinishing as "woodworking," but we've been a member of the MNWWG for several years now. Be sure to check out the benefits of becoming a member which include great discounts from many local businesses and some specialized but inexpensive tool rental (including a drill bit sharpener and mortising machine!). mnwwg.org

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Sometime in 2009

We're designing and making our own
BUFFER SKIRTS!
 

No, not to wear, silly.  To contain the dust kicked up by the buffer so it can be captured by an attached vacuum.  Didn't you know you could attach a vacuum to the buffer?  And that we can rent it to you at a very reasonable rate?
Well now you do.

Buffer skirts are commercially available, but they are expensive and shred easily.   We made ours from marine vinyl with a strip of industrial brush-fringe along the bottom. 
For $20 we can make one for you too.  Call the store to place your order;
we can even make you a pink one.

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Spring 2009

AND, also this week, our customers are working on some really vile floors:

Matt M. and his dad tackled this as part of their project last week.  In Matt's own words:

... A 1956 rambler with red oak floors.  The dining area had been linoleumed over in 1961 by the previous owner.  It took a little work with the 16 grit on the edger to get the remnants off, but the wood was in nice shape...
I'm pleased at how beautiful they ended up turning out, they look much better than I expected.  I used the pure monocoat finish with satin soap and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to work with. 
 

It's a good thing Matt didn't show us his 'before' photo before he started.  We would not have been nearly so positive about the outcome of his job.  It's a good thing his papa was there.

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October 2008

We're having burgers at
the Blue Door Pub!

What could be better, after a long hard day of sanding, than to drop off your rental sanders and go next door and have a fresh burger and an adult beverage?  Our new neighbors here at the Selby-Fairview corner have made this possible! They are the current darlings of the St. Paul culinary press and many Twin Cities food blogs--and for good reason.   Our staff member, Peter, says to try the Jiffy Burger (mmm... peanut butter), while Randy favors the Cajun Blucy. Check out the BDP menu and their great reviews at http://thebluedoorpubmn.com/ http://thebluedoorpubmn.

June 19, 2008

New customer incentive shirts are in!
Any customer who sends us a photo of the floor they sanded using our equipment gets a FREE Pete's t-shirt. We've redesigned the ladies shirt to make it more, well, flattering.  
The green trim helps too.

We still have plenty of the heather grey ones for those of you who prefer a more boxy fit. But now the left crest has been updated.  The back of the shirt still proclaims that "I'm no wussie; I finished my floors with help from Pete's." Bring us your photos so you can get yours today.

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(This happened back in January, but it's still fairly interesting.)

We're SANDING the store. Finally.

The back office of the storefront has never been an example of "best practices" floor maintenance.  Our abrasive is stored here, which means all the grit drops off onto the floor, to be ground in by employees' boots:

  And we used a plastic mat under an office chair for months.  Water and salt seeped under it and pitted the floor terribly:

So, it was time.

The problem is, the back office is so small, 85% of the sanding had to be done with the edger, especially under the counter. So, the short people were pressed into service. But, worse that that, the floor had been finished with Traffic.  We now know, for certain, that Traffic is harder than every other finish, because it took 6 hours of edging, starting at 24grit, to sand it off.

But after a coat of Bona's new Deep Tone Sealer (waterbase sealer with color and no stink!), it all looked so much better: