Avon, CT Hardwood Floor Installation — 3,000 Sq. Ft. Character White Oak With Bona NaturalSeal
This Avon, Connecticut project was different from many of our hardwood floor refinishing jobs because we were starting with a brand-new home and nearly 3,000 square feet of new hardwood flooring.
The homeowner wasn't comfortable using the flooring contractor the builder had planned for the house and contacted us to handle the hardwood installation instead. He wanted a traditional unfinished, site-finished hardwood floor and selected a beautiful 4-inch character-marked white oak.
This was a large and demanding installation. There were also some difficulties between the homeowner and builder during construction, which meant quite a few people were watching our progress. Our responsibility was simple: concentrate on our work and give the homeowner the hardwood floor he expected.
By the time we were finished, the homeowner told us we had done a perfect job, and the builder commented on both the finished work and the professionalism of our crew.
Starting With Nearly 3,000 Square Feet of Unfinished White Oak
The initial delivery of nearly 3,000 square feet of unfinished 4-inch character-marked white oak flooring shows where this project began.
Rather than arriving and immediately installing the flooring, we had the material delivered several days in advance. With a hardwood flooring project of this size, preparation matters.
The homeowner had chosen 4-inch character-marked white oak. The character grade was an important part of the look. Instead of every board appearing perfectly uniform, the flooring contains natural variations, mineral markings, knots and changes in grain that give the completed floor its personality.
We also prefer installing unfinished hardwood and finishing it after installation. It gives us the opportunity to sand the entire floor as one continuous surface rather than having the beveled edges commonly associated with many prefinished floors.
Choosing Between Traditional Oil and a Lighter Water-Based Look
The homeowner knew he liked the character white oak, but he wasn't certain what he wanted the finished color to look like.
So we didn't ask him to make that decision from a brochure or a tiny piece of wood.
We created several larger sample areas directly on his flooring.
The oil-based and water-based finish samples shown on the white oak flooring are particularly useful because they show how dramatically the finishing system can change the same species of wood. On the left is the more traditional oil-based appearance, which immediately warms and ambers the white oak. Beside it are two water-based options, which maintain a lighter appearance.
After looking at the samples in the actual house and under its natural lighting, the homeowner chose Bona NaturalSeal with Bona Traffic HD.
Why the Raw White Oak Was Worth Showing
The newly installed character white oak flooring sanded down to raw wood is one of my favorite photographs from this project because there isn't a stain hiding anything.
This is the newly installed floor sanded down to raw wood.
You can see the lighter and darker boards, changes in grain and the natural character markings throughout the white oak. With nearly 3,000 square feet installed, those differences give the floor movement and prevent such a large area from looking flat or manufactured.
Our goal with the finish wasn't to cover that up. The homeowner had chosen character white oak because he liked the wood.
Bona NaturalSeal allowed us to keep a natural, lighter appearance while still letting the individual character of the white oak boards show through.
The Finished Floor Changed the Entire House
Once the Bona system was completed, we could finally see whether the decision made from those original samples had worked across almost 3,000 square feet.
It did.
The finished character white oak flooring running from the kitchen into the main living area shows how well the chosen finish worked across the space. The NaturalSeal kept the white oak looking light and natural while allowing the character and color variation of the individual boards to remain part of the finished floor.
This is also where site-finished hardwood flooring really shows its advantage. Instead of seeing thousands of individual factory-finished boards separated by beveled edges, the floor reads as one continuous hardwood surface.
A Difficult Installation That Came Together Beautifully
This was not a small project.
Installing and site-finishing almost 3,000 square feet of 4-inch hardwood flooring requires planning, consistency and attention to detail from one area of the house to the next.
There was also more pressure surrounding this project than usual because of the difficulties taking place between the homeowner and builder. We had plenty of people watching the progress of the hardwood floors.
We stayed focused on what we were there to do.
When everything was completed, the homeowner told us that we had done a perfect job. Just as rewarding, the builder—who hadn't originally selected us for the flooring—was surprised by how well the project came out and how professionally the work was handled.
That's a good way to finish a challenging job.
Hardwood Floor Installation in Avon, CT 06001
This project represents the kind of hardwood installation we still enjoy doing the old-fashioned way: unfinished solid hardwood installed in the home, sanded on site and finished as one continuous floor.
For this Avon homeowner, that meant nearly 3,000 square feet of character-marked white oak, on-site finish samples, professional sanding with dust-containment equipment, Bona NaturalSeal and Bona Traffic HD.
From the first bundles of raw flooring to the final coat, the homeowner was able to see exactly how his floor was being built and choose the appearance he wanted rather than simply accepting a factory-finished color.
For homeowners in Avon, CT 06001 and nearby Farmington, Simsbury, Canton and Burlington, this project is a good example of what can be achieved with a traditional unfinished hardwood floor installation when the wood, color and finish are all selected as part of the project.