We recently did a phone consult for a customer who needed help with a stain job that didn't quite go to plan. She hired a contractor to sand, stain, and finish her floors, and asked for some actual stain samples to choose from. You may not know this, but not every...
Sanding jobs always have surprises. So, you've taken on a floor sanding project. You're smart, you're confident, and you're ready to sand. But you pull up carpet in that last room and find a problem like this: Carpet stretcher gouges. Lots of hardwood floor had carpet...
“Do people even go to trade shows anymore?” It seemed like a very old-fashioned, beforetimes thing to do, going to the national convention of the National Wood Flooring Association. But this year's expo was in Milwaukee, easy driving distance for Pete's. And we've...
Low odor polyurethanes have lower VOCs. And lower VOCs are healthier for you and healthier for the planet. But it is more difficult to engineeer low- or no-VOC protection. Hardwood floor finishes need to incorporate really hard, wear-resistant resins and solids in...
“We don't want orange floors.” When we first help a typical DIY floor refinishing customer, we ask about their hopes and dreams for their refurbished floor. Their most common wish is to “take away the orange.” We hear that and can help.Many hardwood floors still look...
This happens all the time, but especially on Saturday mornings. A new homeowner shows up at our St. Paul storefront at 9am, no appointment, no job pictures, no plan. But they are determined to rent sanders right now because have just pulled up their carpet and found...
Here in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, we have a lot of historic housing stock with covered fir porches. We need porches to take advantage of our short and glorious summers. But wood exposed to sun and weather year round takes an extreme beating and it...
It’s new; isn’t it already perfect? I know – this seems crazy, right? This beautiful, fresh-from-the-mill, newly-planed wood gets nailed to your subfloor, and now you have to sand it? Why??It’s not that the wood surface isn’t smooth. After installation to your...
OMG please do! We didn’t plan for this when we first started carrying Rubio Monocoat, but almost half of what we sell now is for coating wood other than floors.And countertops are the perfect project for Rubio:No stink. Most countertops are already in place by the...
As we’ve probably told you a million times already, Pete’s is proudly located in Minnesota. So the lion’s share of our customers have floors made of northern woods like oak, maple, or birch. But the next most common wood in these parts is Douglas fir which we see on...