Clinton Duff
I mixed my water-base finish on site.
Danny Caffo
Linseed oil-based filler mixed with gasoline.
Dennis Cudd
Cords on all tools and lots of flammable floor sealers and finishes! And a “worm-drive” buffer that gave me Popeye arms.
Bob Stanley
Glitsa fast-dry finish and Fabulon alcohol-based … not wearing a mask. Then you would drive home drunk from the fumes.
Greg Carrier
Watco stains—this was the spontaneous combustion era.
Chuck Bailey
MAPEI in the square buckets.
Damian Pullar
Manual Powernailers, a chisel sharpened with Regalite 100-grit on the edger, a Makita table saw with no fence and a framing blade, Glitsa, Wood Doe and rags for staining. No compressor.
Charlie Ingle
Renovator in its heyday.
Mike Fullmer
Using a strip floor nailer and a stool to nail up a room.
Glenn Harris
Harvester moisture cure.
Patrick Young
Kerosene to keep the sandpaper from clogging. You could smoke inside of the school buildings. Wood bundled by the length, not nestled bundles. Linseed oil putty. Hand-nailing shoe with hardened steel finish nails.
Chris Kritzer
Lacquer sanding sealer and dust for filler and two coats of Fabulon. Dust everywhere and hand-rag on and wipe off Duraseal stain. Special jobs got Glitsa or Pacific Strong.
Harvey Penner
Franklin 711. Holy moly that stuff was toxic! We would wear a gas mask for spreading it.
Michael Firstbrook
A Cavanaugh nailer for 5/16-by-2, 3, 5, or 7-inch flooring, 5/16-inch with the optional beveled edge on one side. Goop On. Lots of 5/16-by21/4-inch reversible red oak baseboards. ¾-inch oak cove base. On stain jobs, final pass with 60-grit on the big machine, 50-grit hand-sand the perimeter or any area that could only be edged, then steel wool on the buffer and hand-rubbed stain. Rag on, rag off. Three coats brush applied DuraSeal poly. Beautiful.
Morales Construction LLC
A hand-powered cleat gun, Bona and Minwax stains, dust bags on the big machine and edger (nothing when screening on the buffer), gas station maps every morning or ask the community for directions, walkie-talkies with the crew, writing contracts/work orders by hand.
Dallas Day
Wood Mosaic flooring.
Shawn Hegwood
I started sanding with the old Clarke split drum.
Leaming Ewing
Shellac, Fabuloun, Red Devil scrapers and file, mixing edger dust, no hearing protection, no knee pads … yes, I was dumb.
Lorie Davidson
Pacific Strong and Red Devil polyurethane from Kmart.
Richard Cherry
Harris-Tarkett long-strip floating floors.
Michael Settlemyre
Nextel, Mapquest and moisture-cure.
Gus Fermanian
Striped socks, manual nailer and a Black and Decker circular saw! [pictured]
Mark Stephens
8d cup-head finish nails and a 16-oz. Vaughn hammer. Yes, that was the whole floor. Clarke 12-inch split-drum sander and/or hand-scraped.
