Log in to view the full article
Jason Elquest found himself “stuck” working hardwood floors at the age of 18, he says.
"And that's not a bad thing," Elquest says. "Once you start in wood floors you never really get out. It's that instant gratification of turning a floor from something hideous like carpet into something miraculous, and quickly."
He has his aunt to thank. He was 18 and unemployed when she had her floors finished by a pair of cousins. One cousin, she learned, was leaving the state, meaning there was a job opening. Elquest's aunt recommended him.
Twenty years later, Elquest is the owner of Blackhawk Floors Inc. and, starting this year, an NWFA Regional Instructor. Elquest has led two schools so far and will lead two days of workshops at the end of September at Philadelphia Floor Store's headquarters in Conshohocken, Pa.
He'll give keen insights and hands-on instructions for applying finishes and doing tool and machine maintenance on the job site.
Elquest says he gained the confidence necessary to teach a class of wood flooring industry professionals by running his own business and being a student himself. He is always learning, be it through NWFA training schools or reading industry literature on his own time.
That expertise allows Elquest to break procedures down to their key steps and explain the how and why, he says.
While basic wood floor finish techniques aren't brain science, Elquest says the detail work—creating a “French bleed,” for example—would tax even the smartest doctor.
Which is why training is so important, he says, especially for the guys who have been working for years: "You can do it your whole life and be doing it wrong your whole life."
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.