The parquet installation for this oceanfront home was the largest, most expensive project Belmar, N.J.-based Floors by the Shore had undertaken at the time it was finished. When Floors by the Shore was approached with this project, owner Adam Bissey said the homeowners wanted a specific style. “They had a vision,” Bissey says. “They didn’t hire a designer, which is rare for a house that big. Every design aspect was hand-picked.” For their Spring Lake, N.J., oceanfront home, the owners wanted deep red floors in a diamond Louvre pattern—a design choice that Bissey says is unique since his coastal customers are typically drawn to lighter, more natural-looking floors.
Floors by the Shore
For intricate patterns, Bissey says he likes to mill the products in-house; this way, his team has precisely cut boards. Floors by the Shore selected engineered rift-and-quartered white oak for this project and then milled the boards according to the pattern. “It’s time-consuming when you have a lot of different-sized pieces, but worth it to have a floor that is completely gap-free with some really intense patterns,” he says.
The team installed 8,000 square feet of flooring throughout the homeowner’s basement, first floor and second floor, with the Louvre pattern throughout the entryway, main-floor hallway and second-floor foyer. The homeowner wanted the pattern size to correlate with the size of the rooms. This presented Bissey and his team with an interesting challenge of determining the pattern dimensions for each room and milling the boards accordingly. Determining how to lay out the pattern and mill it took longer than the installation, Bissey says.
Once the prep work was done and the flooring was milled, the installation and sand-and-finish process took around four months. The homeowners chose a red mahogany stain with a semi-gloss finish.
With the home’s shorefront location in mind, the team applied a UV-cured finish for maximum durability. The most fulfilling part of the project came at the end once the finish was applied; this is when Bissey said the floors “came to life” and his team could see the fruits of their months of labor. “It's like an instant gratification,” Bissey says. “There's nothing like seeing the results of all your hard work come together.”
Floors by the Shore
SUPPLIERS: Edger: Lägler | Finish: ProCoat | Moisture Barrier: Bona | Moisture Meter: Wagner | Stain: DuraSeal | Wood flooring: Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring
