Zach Christie and his brothers werenβt supposed to be the contractors on this job. βA funny thing is, they ended up going with the cheap guy at first ... and the very first day, he was like, βThis is just too much for me,ββ says Christie, who along with his brothers, Matt and Jason, run Christieβs Hardwood Flooring in Honey Brook, Pa. The floor was the attic of a home that dates to the 1800s, and the owners were turning the space into a bedroom. The inch-thick boards were never intended to be used a finished floor and were comprised of a mixture of white oak, white pine and chestnut (βFrom that area, whatever trees were around are usually the species that are in the house,β Zach explains.) The boards hadnβt been touched since the home was built, and some areas had as much as ΒΌ inch of overwood. The Christies replaced boards with old flooring found from other projects or bought at mills, epoxied cracks and plugged old holes to keep the historic look, then starting with cross-cuts with the big machine before sanding at a 45 and then the usual sanding sequence. βThe first day when we got the field sanded with just the Hummel, they were like, βWow, we didnβt think youβd be able to get it flat,β Zach says. They ended sanding with a multi-head, then coated it natural with waterborne finish for a stunning transformation. βIt was definitely one of our favorite projects for the year,β Zach says. βK.M.W.
Wood Floor Rescue: Original Attic Floor Transformed for Modern Life
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