Wood Floor of the Week: White Oak Elevator Roof Rises to the Occasion

At the time he was contracted to install white oak in a home in Nashville, Tenn., Michael Wilson of Nashville-based Michael Wilson Hardwood Flooring had already installed a fair amount of wood flooring inside elevators, but he’d never installed wood floors on top of one. The request didn’t faze him: “I’ll try anything,” he chuckles.

Outfitting the elevator roof in a ranch-style house with white oak flooring was a special request from the homeowner, who’d had the elevator put in recently. The elevator travels between the basement and main floor; its roof rests level with the main floor.

“He was 60-something years old and he said ‘I’m going to live here forever, and I might not always want to use steps,’” Wilson recalls. The roof of the lift had a vinyl cover over ¾-inch plywood at the time it was installed.

After detaching the heavy lid of the lift, Wilson brought it back to his home to work on, removing the vinyl.

“I basically just picture-framed it, and it worked out perfectly where I didn't have to rip any boards,” Wilson says. “Honestly, I couldn't have measured it any better."

Placing the lid on sawhorses, he used adhesive and short brad nails to install the flooring so he wouldn’t pierce all the way through the plywood. Since the roof disappears into the rest of the floor, the edges were left square.

With the flooring installed, he laid the lid flat in his driveway and sanded it with an edger, then screened it with a buffer.

With the lid back on top of the elevator, “I had to do a little bit of an adjustment, like run a hand-planer on one side,” Wilson says. The important question, though, was if the weight of the flooring would cause the elevator sensors to malfunction. But after running a few tests, all breathed a sigh of relief.

Wilson applied finish to the lid at the same time he finished the rest of the 800-square-foot white oak flooring he installed in the home, applying three coats of satin finish.

Going the extra mile on residential projects has paid off for Wilson, who took over his father’s wood flooring business two years ago after serving more than 17 years with the Nashville police department.

"A Friday was my last day with the police department, and I sanded floors on Saturday,” Wilson says. “I haven't stopped since."

Suppliers:

Abrasives: Norton Abrasives | Sander: American Sanders | Finish: PoloPlaz