Turpentine parquetry.

This floor was glued straight on concrete. With a moisture barrier membrane painted on first. One of the things to remember when getting or laying a parquetry floor is the light coulored pieces are usually s lot softer than the darker coloured timber pieces. So either sort them out and don't use them or don't group them together. As well as don't use them in the high trafficed areas as entrance and kitchen or where you have furniturues that you move a lot as in a dining area etc. It's unfortually a lot easier that those light coloured pieces will be hollowed out more and leave a dip after the sanding, as they are so much softer. So if you can aford it try to not use them, or use them more at the edges of the rooms.

European oak herring bone parquetry.

My friend Leif and I installed this European oak parquetry on a concrete slab. We had to do a moisture barrier before we could glue the parquetry. The difficult thing was to work out where to start as the herring bone pattern went diagonaly instead of straigt towards the light (back balcony doors) which is the most common way of laying! Afterwards the kitchen and all skirtings, architraves, tiling, painting, electrics and appliances where installed. I was the last one to finish as it is recomended to have as few workmen afterwards as possible. The floor was finished in Bona Traffic matt finish.

When Non-toxic coating is great!

I got this job, sanding and polish Bright side kindergarten in Boronia. It had to be done over 2 weekends as the place couldn't be closed for any period of time. I had a friend help me as we had to move furnitures, remove carpets, do some repairs and then sand and polish into the very late evenings. Bona's Traffic matt was used and the kids could be back on the mondays to continue their play. That's when a non- toxic coating is great!


Here are some before and after shots.

Maintenance of a wooden floor.

As I come across a lot of timber floors, it always astounds me that the maintenace has never been explained properly. People gladly wet or steam mop their timber floors and wonder why the timber is swelling and cupping. As I say to my customers: NEVER WET MOP a timber floor, instead use a damp microfiber mop. As what Bona is offering in their maintenace range or any other brand for that matter. As I'm familliar with the Bona range of products, I realy like that they offer a maintenance coating wich the owners can apply them selfs. Here is a link to Bona's maintenace pdf: http://bona.net.au/Contractors/Products/Maintenance.aspx

Get your measure righ!

As I was laying a parquetry floor and getting to the end of it, it was realised that there wasn't enough timber. The owner had measured from the plans and missed some. When we measured the actual floor space it turned out to be 8 m2 larger than what was measured from the plans. The owner had to chase more parquetry and it turned out to be difficult to get more straight away. It took almost 2 weeks untill it came. So make sure you measure the actual space and get someone else to measure as well to get a second opinion. Nothing worse to be short or if you bought the last batch. Allways allow 7-10% more for waste and some spares incase a repair is needed in the future.

Tassie Oak finger parquetry

This floor was not in a good state when I started. The previous owners had tried to patch the old, coating themselves. Resulting in a darker surface spot, not a good look! The small finger parquetry pieces had also started to loosen in many spots. They had to be cleaned and glued back before the sand and polish started. Some came loose as I sanded and had to be glued as I noticed it. The end result is a nice light flooring ready for many years to come. Here are some before and after shots.

Oakleaf Versailles French Panels

When I started this floors I asked the owner Lily where she had bought this floor from. She told me she had got it from http://www.hazelwoodhill.com.au and it came as ready made panels. So it didn't take long to lay according to Lily! It did take some time sanding due to the many directions of blocks in each panel. First thing I did was to do some colour samples on the floors to get the desired look that Lily wanted. As she really liked the colour, she asked if it also could be used on the skirtings, architraves and handrail. After a sample on that timber she decided to go for it there as well. So I instructed the painter how to use it before I started the floor sanding. I started on the top floor and then continued on the stairs and finished on the ground level.
I did a direct stain with my slow spinning polishing machine using a soft cloth over a nylon pad. Using Bona Dri Fast Provincial stain on oak realy highlight the nice grain. I then used Bona Prime Intense as the primer and Bona Traffic matt as the 2 finishing coats. On the stair steps I put on Bona's R10 rated antislip coating as it was stipulated by the local council befor the certificate of occupancy could be issued.

Happy customers.

I recived this text from a happy customer a few weeks after the floors where done! I had done their Baltic pine and cork floors wich I have written about in previous posts. It certanley makes me feel good to get feedback such as this!

Great workwear.

I'd like to share with you what I believe is one of Australia's best workwear retailer. If you want quality, durability and nice looking pants, shoes and jackets etc from Sweden then you have to have a look at : http://www.scandinavianworkwear.com.au/

I have bought my work pants and shoes from Leif for the last 5 years now. His showroom is in his van and he comes out on site. He has a credit card machine so no need for cash when he comes out on site! Because he is based outside Melbourne, he also sends ordered stuff to customers all over Australia. If you want him to come to you (in and around Melbourne) give him a call on 0412 211 867. His service is outstanding.

Cork floor.

The owners where realy suprised how nice the old cork floor turned out with sanding and finish in Bona Traffic matt non-toxic & non -yellowing polyurerhane. It's nice when you get a 'wow' comment from people! This photo (no 2) is after 2 coats.

Joining a room to a already sanded floor.

If you want to sand and polish a room next to a already sanded area. The best place to join the two areas is in a doorway. You should go lengthwise with the boards, otherwise you will se a cross line where the new coating meets the old. I have done it in the middle of rooms aswell, but the shorter the join the better. I have done half a house a lot of times for customer who don't want to store their furnitures in their garage or elsewere.

Adding a room.

I was called up by the owners where I had done all the floors of the house a few years earlier. It was only one bed room wich had carpet on it left to do. So here is a before and after shot of a Baltic Pine floor. It was coated with Bona Traffic satin finish

More Baltic Pine

Here are some more photos from the same job as the previous post. Also coated with Bona Traffic matt finish.

Baltic Pine

Here are two photos of the same Baltic Pine floor, before and after sanding & polish. It has been coated with Bona Traffic matt finish, wich is a non- toxic and non- yellowing polyuruthane. Healtier for you to live on and for me to use.

When new boards meets old.

I want to show you in these two photos the different look when an extension with new floor boards meets old. On the top photo there are a couple of boards that divides the new and old section. This is a good solution when the boards don't have the same width.
On the bottom photo they have tried to aligne the boards without the dividing boards. The old section (darker boards) had carpet on it before and the lighter had been sanded and coated once before. If you have to repair any of the floors try to match the floor boards and use second hand boards if nesseary. These floors are both Tassie oak and look so different in colour becouse one was protected and one was raw (under carpet).

Cuts from stanley knifes.

These cross lines are a result from people cutting carpet or lino etc with a Stanley knife straight on the floor. The lines are usually so deep that you cant't sand them off. So don't use your floor as a chopping board if you want them to look nice.

A late night test from my Blogger app!

As we try to get the grips on how to get our blogs updated (my wife and I) with the Blogger app. It seems that you have to have a Google+ account and a gmail to access and log in to your Blogger app and not just a Blogger account. As my wife is trying to get the Blogger app to let her in to do a post, she is getting stuck at the profile page of Google. Where to go from here is the question? I guess a lot of people have been frustrated and deleted the Blogger app as a result of not being able to sign in in the first place!

With this being a test here is a beautiful Australian gum tree photo uploaded from my iPhone

Waiting for the coating to dry...

As I'm sitting and waiting for the 1:st coat to dry, I thought I should try and get my second post done! One of the many benefits of using a nontoxic coating is, you don't have to leave the building! As a matter of facts when we did the floors at our own place we slept in the house! No one was effected by the smell and we could carry on with our daily life even though we had to camp out in the living room. The kids loved it and it has been a special treat for the kids to sleep on their mattresses in our lounge room ever since that day. They love to jump and wrestle and be a bit crazy. So no problems when using Bona's nontoxic and non yellowing polyurethane, to necessary leave the house. There have been many times when people have moved their furniture to a couple of rooms or garage and had only to be off the floors just when its wet (for 5 hrs). That's one of my priorities when dealing with people, to make as little interruption to their daily life as possible. Oh the coating is drying so I better get back to work.. See you soon!

A crafty link.

As a first entry to the blog world, this will be a short one.... Here's a link to a blog by my wonderful wife  Helene who makes beautiful designed Sami bracelets! It's called Swede Little Things . Hope you will enjoy it!