Itâs not every day you apply finish to a cedar tree in a $4 million lake home.
The trick is not to do too much, said Robert Smith of Smith Flooring Co., a third-generation wood flooring pro recently contracted for the task in Smith Mountain Lake, Va.
âIt can be a fine line to take too much and not leave enough to still maintain the natural look of the tree,â he said.
The cedar tree, which boasts its original knots and character, has white pine treads protruding from it, and its sanding and finishing created a new challenge for Smith.
âIn this industry, thereâs a tendency to do the same thing day in and day out, so I kind of had to step back and say, âWell, how am I going to approach this?ââ Smith says.
Smith came to the conclusion that hand sanding and hand scraping was the best way to tackle the project, using 100-grit on the treads, starting from the top and working his way down.
He used a Festool orbital sander on the tops of the treads, which he said were milled smooth compared with the natural character underneath.
â[The homeowners] didnât want it to be so slick that it didnât feel like that natural character,â Smith said.
Because the treads were new, Smith sanded them only once before applying a coat of Bona IntenseSeal, which he followed with a coat of Bona Traffic Anti-Slip.
Smith used a brush to apply a coat of the IntenseSeal on the cedar tree.
âIt just really brought out that color without kind of taking away the natural look of the trunk itself,â he said.
Aside from the staircase, Smith and his team also sanded and finished the new timber-framed homeâs 5,000 square feet of wide plank reclaimed white oak flooring and four other sets of reclaimed barn wood stairs, a project that took three weeks to complete.
Smith said the homeowners are planning on installing a long metal rail along the spiral stairs that will be shaped to look like tree branches to complement the unique staircase.
âThey spared no expense,â Smith said.
