We asked followers on WFB Facebook and Instagram to put themselves in the old-timey shoes of wood floor pros from the 1930s and answer: If wood flooring pros from the ’30s came to a job site today, what would surprise them most? Here’s what they said:
Mark Hootselle
How long it takes us to install a floor.
Andrew Cory Boyd
How many tools it takes to make it look just as good.
Robert Edginton Jr.
How much of all their work that's been covered over with new wood/laminate flooring.
Smithwood Floors
Industry calling #1 common boards select and better now.
Sean Michael
All the gizmos and gadgets we think we need.
James Dole
Water-based finishes.
Karla Contreras
How lazy your helpers are. I believe back In the days everyone worked so hard and there were not lazy people even when work was tough. My grandfather always said men are built from working.
Shana Marie McFarland
The cell phones that occupy the young workers time...
Jeffrey Gray
No boards longer than 7 feet.
Richard Conway
Lack of dust, how clean we are when we go home. I have memories.
Jesika Peterson
A woman sanding the floor.
Bruce Folk
Lack of quality and work ethic.
Andrew Dreis
Lack of people still willing to do this kind of work.
Brian Cosgrove
Still pay the same, huh?
Jason Duron
The Fein saw. #mindblown
Carsten Olsen
Strap-on knee protectors...
Tchardwood Floors
How we aren't drinking or smoking on the job.
Bill Hoover
The absolute lack of scheduling and the total lack of knowledge and experience of builders and remodelers in today's industry.
Jeff Foster
The price of plywood!!!
Wesley Elliott
Dust collection!
Michael Todd Inmon
Backpack vac.
Jeff Herrick
Pneumatic nailers.
Phillip Jim Blake
Buffing.
Carlos J. Garcia
Compressor.
Mitchell Canter
My work truck.
Matheus Leonel
Rubber mallets.
Jose Zuniga
I’m pretty sure cell phones. Lol
Ed Johnson
Prefinished hardwood floors and the price of materials.
Tim Mikels
The Bona Power Drive.
David Beags
The helper walking around with a computer in his hand. Or maroon pads.
Justin Singler
Can y’all imagine all the “back in my day” speeches?
Van A Stahl
How fast I am!
Cody Rhodes
How easy we actually have it.
Daniel Caffo
Water-popping would blow their minds. We weren't allowed to get a floor wet for any reason.
Cheryl Hallman Phillips
The cost of materials. My father was sanding in 1941, he talked about how far a sheet of sandpaper would go. He said they could sand an entire house with one sheet of edger disc. It wasn't polyurethane or moisture cure, either.
all_0riginal
Efficiency and innovation.
ecowoodfloorsusa
Posting TikTok videos on Instagram.
floorestore
Underfloor heating.
floorsbytheshore
I would say women sanding floors. In the 1930’s if you got married by law you were supposed to stay home and if you were not married you were considered a spinster and probably working in a factory. Crazy right? So unfortunately I’m sure they would be impressed by our slew of products, but they would be more amazed seeing women sand floors better than them.
david.shafer512
The picky customers.
cardinalfloorsinc
Short boards and soft oak...
rami.slameh
LVT.
sublimeflooringllc
All of the phone calls/texts that I take during the day.
cedar_valley_wood_floors
How easy it is to buy alcohol!
oakhardwoodmasters
How much “pros” get paid per day.
tina_darling_boone
The sanders have not changed! And yes, women on jobs.
frasershardwoodfloors
All the Monster cans left by the drywall guys.
goodmanhardwoods
Plastic wood floors, yuck.
cashpyle_loba_wakol
Ah, everything! No hand nailing, no hand sawing.
maxwellflooring
They wouldn’t know how to act when they see the Pallmann Spider.
bonplancherflooring
Noise-cancelling headphones.
adams_hardwood_flooring
Super 7’ are still the same!
ryanthelucky
Pneumatics and electric tools existed so these would not be that surprising. Cordless anything would seem magical.
jjhardwood
“Wow, fake wood floors?!??”
sprigglynn
Nailing guns. It was a big game changer. The man that I was sent out with as a kid of 12 was Guy Vought born 1898. He was the hand nailing king. He preferred to hand-nail over a power nail gun. A hand hatchet was a tool he used to rip boards. He wore overalls, work boots and a long sleeve button up shirt. He was a wiry man that talked few words. Never heard him say a bad word. Told me he rode a horse for the first 25 years of his life. What a man. I worked with his boys, who were awesome floor layers. His last boy died in the 1980s. Always remember him saying to me, shorts are only good for burning the stove. What a memory!
dbdurr53
Most floor guys have a hammer more for decoration, and don’t know what it is used for.
soulbrotha09
Top-nailing the last row and not the last 3 rows. Running the BM only once.
missmyhardwood
All the finish options.
dawsonhardwoodfloors
Air Conditioning.
woodyshardwoodflooring
No young guys working … all old guys!!!
hardcorefloor
That we still hand-scrape corners.
mn_floors
The lack of smoking on the job site.
floorrestoreandmore
The ridiculous amount of nails we use today compared to their 24s on center.
markmeidra
Dust containment.
b_e_z_g
Sanding past 40 grit lmao.
the.flooring.guy
Instagram breaks.