Wood Floor of the Week: White Oak Circle in a Chicago High Rise

After nearly three decades running Enmar Hardwood Flooring Inc. in Mesa, Ariz., multi-award-winning hardwood floor pro Todd Thompson knows a lot about installing circular wood floors.

"There's a lot of round walls in Arizona, so I'm used to working with radiuses all the time,” says Thompson, whose 2007 reclaimed radial entryway took home a Floor the Year Award.

Thompson doesn’t run into as many circular wood flooring projects while working in the Chicago area with his new company, La Grange Park, Ill.-based Renovation Hardwood Flooring, but when he does—as with this white oak circling a stone inlay in a Chicago high rise—he’s unfazed.

"It really wasn't that difficult,” he says of the project, which was on the 37^th floor. “Just take your time. A lot of guys get in a hurry; sometimes it takes time to do stuff like this."

Hired to install 3,000 square feet of prefinished engineered white oak, Thompson began by gluing down a ¼-inch cork subfloor, a step necessary to meet sound requirements. He then tackled the circle, located in the main entryway.

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While the rest of the boards in the project were 7 inches wide and ¾ inch thick, Thompson ordered 10-inch-wide boards for the circle so that he and a helper would have enough material to saw the boards into the circle. After mitering 19 prefinished pieces on site to create the circle, Thompson glued them to the cork and weighted each down overnight with 45-pound weights. The next day, Thompson used a router to shape the inside of the circle.

“You just work your way around,” Thompson says. “I always had my center point.” He also used the router to cut the outer portions of the circle that connected with the three intersecting hallways of the home. The circle took about two days to complete.

For a pro with Thompson’s experience, the most challenging part of a high-end project like this wasn’t the installation, but rather “dealing with the security guard” to get in the building, he laughs.

When the rest of the prefinished installation project was completed, Thompson left the placement of the stone centerpieces in the circle up to a stone floor installer.

“That stuff gives me a rash,” he says of stone. “I stick with wood.”

Suppliers:

Wood Flooring: Carlisle Wide Plank Floors | Adhesive: Bostik | Router: Porter Cable | Saws: DeWalt