Odds are most people with office jobs don't understand how difficult wood flooring work really is. Cristina Ortega, executive sales support at Downers Grove, Ill.-based Apex Wood Floors, admits that's how she felt a few months ago before she volunteered with four other Apex employees to install wood flooring in three rooms at a nearby group home operated by nonprofit organization Trinity Services Inc. With 2¼ prefinished maple flooring donated by Mullican Flooring, and trim and thresholds donated by John Lessick, Apex's president, the volunteers removed lots of carpet and installed 765 square feet in about nine hours on Aug. 27. "I had never used a nail gun, racked out a floor, or installed a floor before that day, so I guess I can put that on my résumé," Ortega says. "I had never done carpet removal before, either, so that was a little interesting. It's really not a pretty job!" And, turns out, the Apex crew is all the better for their charity. "Used to be, the crew guys would come back to the office all sticky and sweaty and I'd be, like, 'Eew, why are you so sticky and sweaty?'" Ortega says. "But now I know it's because this is hard work!"
