Wood flooring has always been a part of Michael Dittmer's life. "I can remember-and this is the God's honest truth-being with my dad at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago when I was in first grade and driving home from the job sitting on a 5-gallon bucket on the passenger seat of his Ford van!" he says.
Things turned out far better than his teacher ever imagined. Today Dittmer runs his own contracting business, Michael Dittmer Wood Floors in Putnam, Ill. (Read an article about how Dittmer started that business here.) He's worked on job sites from small farmhouses in rural Illinois to luxury homes owned by celebrities in downtown Chicago. "I feel fortunate that I'm 48 years old and I still love what I do; it's a gift to have an occupation that I enjoy," Dittmer says.
Dittmer first got involved with the National Wood Flooring Association after going to an NWFA technical school; he recalls that wood flooring legend Allan Pyne was one of his instructors at that first class. He started going to more schools and attending the convention. "The more schools I went to, the more I learned and the better we got … I saw how it changed my career professionally and financially," Dittmer says. "I wanted to give back, too, because I felt like I was given a gift." Dittmer has volunteered at many schools since then and is now an NWFA Regional Instructor. This year he'll teach at the following schools:
Feb. 18-21: Principles of Wood Flooring | E.J. Welch Company (Chicago)Nov. 3-7: Problems, Causes & Cures | Wood Floor Repairs | Machine Maintenance | Certification Testing | EPA Lead Renovators - E.J. Welch Company (Chicago)
To read more about the revamped NWFA technical schools and see the schedule for this year, click here. To register, click here.
The NWFA Regional Instructors for 2014 are:
(back row, L-R): Jay Daniel Moore, Daniel Boone, Scott Taylor, Jason Elquest, Roy Reichow and NWFA Director of Certification and Education Brett Miller; (front row, L-R): Jon Namba, Mike Dittmer, Kjell Nymark and Joe Rocco.
