I don't do a lot of hardwood floor, but this job was especially interesting to me. The room had a large fireplace made of rock. The edges were rough, and there were large grout joints to deal with. So how do you end the hardwood floor without leaving unsightly gaps everywhere? See the below:


The gap:Close up:
The filler before installation:
Finished product:

This is what it would look like if I just cut a normal square cut. Not terrible, but there is an unacceaptable gap at the grout joint. Also, most of the rocks weren't as square as this one.
So to make it look like it should, I cut the profile of the rock into the piece of flooring. How? I'll keep that secret if you don't mind...


Here is the same piece after it was installed.
The side of the fireplace after I finished: Click on the picture to see it closer if you want to look for gaps.

The wood is Bolivian Rosewood

This floor is what we tradesfolk call "cut-up". It means that it's not just one big room, but that it has lots of turns, doorways, etc. This one has ten doors, two different rooms, four hall sections and two closets. AND it's all done in a pattern. The pictures were taken before I gave it the final buff, so you may notice some haze.

Here's the pattern. Both pictures are the same floor, just a different angle so you can see how the pattern works. Daltile calls it the "Hopscotch" pattern.
It is grouted with a special grout that is stain-proof after curing five days. It is harder to install, and requires extra steps during installation. When you install normal grout, you squish it into the joints with a rubber grout float, then use a stiff sponge to spread it around and form the joints. This step also cleans off extra grout, leaving a haze. After it dries, you buff the now dry grout off the tops of the tiles.

Well, TEC XT grout always leaves the same haze, but in my experience, it doesn't buff off. So I come back again the next day, and mix one cup of vinegar to five gallons of water, and sponge it again. The acid in the vinegar breaks down the grout on the tile, making it come off easily. Then I have to sponge it again with clean water to get the vinegar off, because it will continue doing it's job if I leave it on. Extra step, but worth it for Antique White to stay Antique White, and you never have to seal it.





These pictures represent two people, six days worth of labor:

Day 1, demo old floor, which includes three linoleum layers, two plywood layers, and we found out the subfloor is only 7/16" thick. Not strong enough for tile, even with concrete board. Remove doors, toilet and stove.

Day 2, install 1/2" roof span rated 5 ply plywood, glued and nailed down to sure up the floor.

Day 3, install 1/4" concrete board, polymer modifed thinset to floor and nailed.

Day four, install all uncut tiles, leaving the cuts for later. This lets us do a cut up floor in two days because we can walk all over it the next day and install the cuts.

Day 5, install all the cut tiles, these are the ones against the wall, under the doors etc. Anywhere the tile runs into something.

Day 6, grout: Mix, install, sponge, buff, re-install toilet and stove.

Day 7, just me: Vinegar sponge, water sponge, re-install doors. And on the seventh day I rested as well.

Built-in bookcases. I did all the finish, including the floor and columns.

Diagonal kitchen backsplash. Sorry, I only did the tile.

This is one of five radiator covers that I built over the winter to hide some rather commercial looking heaters. The wood is white oak, the style mission.
The top flips up for access, and this one is about 4.5 feet wide and about 22" tall to allow space so the heater could cycle air around itself. That way, it can do it's job, not burn out, not be a fire hazard, and look stylish at the same time.

Kitchen remodel here... There was a sliding door where the new one is, but we took it out to make room for the peninsula.
Before pictures forthcoming... maybe. You won't believe the difference.
There we no cabinets here at all, but now there are. Again, an improvement, I think.


The before...

Mantle- I built this custom mantle out of red oak to match the existing hardwood floor. The black is 12X12 granite tiles with no grout joints. From these pictures, it does appear to raised panel, but it is not. The construction actually involves the building a frame, then attaching a panel to the back of the frame, and then installing trim inside the frame. If you click on the picture, it will blow up close enough to see the detail. Scroll down to see the before picture.
It is always nice to be able to watch your favorite cartoons while working!!

The before. I know I'm partial, but the new one is a vast improvement.

Bookcase- She has plenty of space for those books now!!

A good ole' country kitchen I built and installed, this one's actually in a barn. (I'm not kidding.)
It's for an agricultural program for a local Christian school, where they learn about nature, critters, and a little bit of cooking.

Portico- Here is a little project that I did with a friend. He custom built the house for a client, and they "just had" to have a portico on the front. It was to be "the pearl necklace" of the house. We were given a black and white photocopy of a completely different house with something similar on it, and told, "do this". So we did. It has a flat roof, and all material exposed to weather is made of composite materials. Nobody did, but if you ask me, a cape cod house with a federal style front porch looks downright wierd. But I don't design them, I just build them. I do think that it looks good, though, just not with this house. (The portico on the front is what I am talking about.)

It seems I am dangerously close to becoming a tile man, and projects that challenge and give great job satisfaction make me not mind that so much. As you can see from some of the other projects, I enjoy detailed, custom projects. These were fun, and it's fun to have clients with such good taste in colors and products. (You know who you are). These three projects are all in the same house.

The above is a fireplace surround. The 4X4 diagonals really make the hearth look interesting. Imagine the difference if it was just straight tile. Though the pictures don't really show it, the decorative nosing adds a nice touch as well. The surrounding cabinetry isn't finished yet. I will post an update when completed. I think the finished product will make us all drool!



The diagonal 8X8s give the floor sort of a quilted look.
Here's a doozie! The thing that makes tilework difficult is patterns, and how many cuts you have to make. I think this one has about 1 million cuts, and a step up and a step down to contend with. In addition to that, it's laid on top of existing tile, so I had to grind the glazing off the old tile with a diamond grinder so the new floor would stick. Worth all that sweat? I think so. (You would agree if you saw the old floor.)


AHHHHH! Wood, how refreshing! This coatrack/hat&gloverack is on the wall above the previously pictured mudroom tile . It is much bigger than it looks.

Here is a bookshelf that I built in my own house about a year ago. I'm just now putting it on here, because I just now wrapped the baseboard around it. Other carpenters have told me "You do your worst work on your own house.", but I thought to myself, "not me. I'll be different. I'll do my best work on my own place." Well, I say now that they were right. When you do it all day, you don't want to do it during free time. This one was a "when you have time" kindof thing. So please don't judge company quality based on just this one picture. Also, it is obvious that I need to make about three more of these to even get close for our books.

Hickory dresser/shelving. It is about 8.5 feet wide, with six big drawers(11.5X28 and 9.5X28, and adjustable shelving on top. However, all the shelves in the angled sections are fixed. The wood is hickory, and I did a Danish oil slurry finish. Slurry means that during the second coat of oil, you wet sand with a very fine grit sandpaper, and then again with an even finer paper for the third coat. The end product is is a thing of beauty. Even open grained woods like oak can be as smooth as glass. The whole piece was built in place, mostly due to the logistics of the house. (The piece wouldn't have made it to the third floor bedroom where it was installed.) It is such a joy to work with interesting woods like hickory, which has a very unique personality. Notice how I tried to make the individual pieces flow, like where it meets the ceiling, or the top drawer fronts. I tried to avoid abrupt color or grain changes at joints, so the appearance is that the board actually turns the corner. The drawer fronts will have antique style pulls, and I will update this post when they are on.