Wood Floor of the Week: An Unusual Species for the Okanagan Valley

Rick and Shannon Johnstone founded Strong Roots Flooring Inc. in Kelowna, B.C., in 2006.You don’t see a lot of African sapele floors in Kelowna, B.C., says Strong Roots Flooring Inc. Owner Shannon Johnstone.

“We have very hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters,” she says. “So there’s not a lot of exotics.” The first encounter she and her husband, Rick, had with the beautiful species also came with beautiful views—looking out at the sprawling mountain ranges in the Okanagan Valley.

The project was an insurance claim for the new home. After the damaged floors were removed, Strong Roots used adhesive to install the 2,464-square-foot flooring over the home’s plywood subfloor. They sanded the flooring with 50-, 80-, 100- and 120-grit. The floating stairs were fabricated in Strong Roots’ workshop and installed once the rest of the floors were down.

Along with the unique species, the color requested for the project was also atypical—the client wanted a dark stain, which required a bleaching process to take out the red color of the sapele. Strong Roots was ready, however: The company makes a point to encourage refinishing when possible and has developed an effective bleaching technique to remove red from the common red oak floors in the region, Johnstone says. This way clients can achieve the modern “cool” flooring tones without the floors turning pink.

However, while the wide windows in the home made for stunning views of the mountains, combined with the dark colors, they also ensured any flaw in the bleaching and staining process would show. This made for a meticulous application process.

RELATED: Wood Floor of the Week: ‘I Got a Bit of a Sunstroke Because I Was Just Trying to Get It Done’

“It can be really tricky working with the wood bleach and making sure that it’s done properly so that it doesn’t ruin your stain,” Johnstone says. “You can get cloudiness, so there’s a specific process that has to be followed. It’s just maintaining that it’s perfect the whole way through.”

With the stairs and floors successfully bleached, Rick and his crew applied a custom stain mixture of gray and ebony. They completed the project with three coats of satin finish.

“I think that for anyone with a love of wood, getting to work on a beautiful modern house is nice,” Johnstone says. “Stairs can be so impactful, so often that’s a huge pride point for the crew, watching it come together and complete.”

Suppliers:

Flooring: Koeda Hardwood Floors | Adhesive, Finish, Stain: Bona | Big machine: Lägler