Readers Respond: What Was The First Wood Flooring Skill You Learned?

294302802 5550271048356963 2691007900660875910 N

WFB asked readers on Facebook about the first wood flooring skill they learned. Here is what they said:

Michael Schuetz

Scraping and edging. Both jobs that are not liked.

James and the Giant Floor Sander Co.

Puttying edges and scraping corners for $50 a day.

Daniels Floors

Scraping corners and troweling wood filler.

Danny Stenhouse

Sanding—I hired a floor sanding machine, it was so bad (like all the hire machines) … Then, I sanded and finished my own floor about six times in a row, until my Mrs. had had enough and was going to kill me. This then gave me the confidence to ask local guys if I could come help them out … The rest is history!

Rob Prest

Still learning every year! Main skill I learnt was there’s many ways to sand and finish a floor, keeping standards high is a constant skill 👍🏼

Bee Ha

Scrape. Many bloody cuts.

Daniel Frederick Reddy

Hand scraping. Like entire floors, not just corners.

Jason Vivash

Cutting the head maple bowling lane on a 45 with 36-grit using a 12-inch drum, without falling in the gutter. Luckily it had double wheels.

Joe Smith

Edging, and more importantly, how to edge without leaving swirl marks in the floor.

Chuck Kutchera

How to sweep the warehouse, and to load a truck properly.

Ryan DeGrange

Scraping corners, edging and filling. Which, to this day, I don’t mind doing any of them. My son hates scraping and complains about his hands hurting after trowel filling. 😂

Luke Biello

Mid 90s. My dad's boss needed more bodies to run big machines in a local school gymnasium. So dad goes over the basics with me and says, "OK, get to work. I'll be over here running the edger." I grab a drink of water, head back to my machine and flip the switch. I hear a funny noise coming from the machine and look up. Poof, the cord is on fire at the connection about 75 feet away.🤣 That's the first thing I learned.

Cash Pyle

Before vacuums got good: Sweeping a floor for finish. As dad would say, “Sweep it so you can eat off of it.”

Rob Griswold

Day 1: edging.

Shawn Myers

How to carry wood and place it properly ... first and second skills I learned.

Matt McGrew

Fetching.

Lorie Davidson

How to properly hold someone’s big machine cord.

Paul Digiore

How to strip wax off stairs, learning how to apply wax and buff.

Wood Floor Chuck

How to properly vacuum a floor for a coat.

Chris J. Compton

First day doing floors I was being taught to run the edger. The guy I was working with walked me through it and let me have a go at it. He watched me for 10-15 minutes before letting me go on my own. He only let me first-edge to get the hang of it. Then he'd do second and third edging to correct any mistakes I made. Did first-edging for several jobs. Maybe a couple months before I started edging jobs to completion. That was over 22 years ago. I started my own company over 12 years ago.

Tina Darling Boone

Scraping corners.

Ron Teljeur

Sweep the floor.

T.J. Haas

Dumping bags.

Chuck Helt

Using a manual nailer, before you softies got air nailers. 😁

Lars Frohnsdorf

Very first job, I was handed a hammer and told to pound down every single nail in the subfloor. 1,100 ft and I never really swung a hammer before. I could barely lift my arms by the end of the day.

Neal Garcia

Hand-cutting jambs. Am I showing my age?

Chris Kritzer

Scraping corners, and spot-filling.

Dave Mitchell Jr.

Holding the big machine cable.

Jim Hyde

Put on the edger on day one with a 5-minute lesson.

Tim Mikels

How to cut 36-grit edger disc with a roll of drum paper, wooden mallet and a metal disc cutter.

Craig Charleston

Hand-sanding edges for a dark stain.

Tony Robison

The job ain’t done until you collect the check!

Glenn Harris

Hand-scraping underneath radiators, vacuuming.

Gregory Brown

Hold the cord and empty the dust bags. I was nine.

Zach Smith

Edging and Scraping.

Russell Jackle

Hire a professional.

Travis Morse

Cutting paper for the drums, and punching edger discs.

Josh Lammi

Punching nails!

David Friedland

The Belt Sander.

Jonas Starita

Corners.

Dean Milazzo

Sharpen scrapers.

Karla Contreras

🧹Cleaning 🧹

298942074 2195211670637521 1474891324852608273 N

Page 1 of 26
Next Page
Resource Book
Looking for a specific product or a company? Wood Floor Business has the only comprehensive database of the industry.
Learn More
Resource Book
Podcasts
All Things Wood Floor, created by Wood Floor Business magazine, talks to interesting wood flooring pros to share knowledge, stories and tips on everything to do with wood flooring, from installation, sanding and finishing to business management.
Learn More
Podcasts