Back in 1980, David Gleason of Clackamas, Ore.-based Masterpiece Wood Floors was sanding a floor in a "rather grand" three-story new home construction project. Typical of the times, he was using "Goop On" as filler and cutting it with lacquer thinner in order to trowel. When he was about done troweling a large family room, the GC decided to add heat by putting an electric space heater next to the floor without telling him. Back then, wearing a respirator for that task was not common practice, so Gleason was somewhat light-headed when he heard a loud "poof" and saw a wall of flame headed toward him. He had the presence of mind to grab the gallon of lacquer thinner and the Goop On and run into the garage. Since that sort of flame is just a flash, the only remaining flames when he re-entered were the thick spots of filler, which were easily extinguished by stepping on them. That was working fine until an excitable plumber came around the corner, yelled "Fire!" and whipped off his nylon jacket to start swatting at the spots of flame. "He was not in a teachable moment, so he wouldn't listen to my suggestion of simply stepping on them," Gleason recalls. Of course, the sticking filler caught his jacket on fire, and as he waved the jacket around it threw bits of flaming nylon onto the drywall, turning a "no big deal incident" into some actual damage. "The worst part of the story was that when I returned to final-coat the job, the owner strongly admonished me for not buying the plumber a new coat after he had saved the house!" Gleason says.
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Back in 1980, David Gleason of Clackamas, Ore.-based Masterpiece Wood Floors was sanding a floor in a "rather grand" three-story new home construction project. Typical of the times, he was using "Goop On" as filler and cutting it with lacquer thinner in order to trowel. When he was about done troweling a large family room, the GC decided to add heat by putting an electric space heater next to the floor without telling him. Back then, wearing a respirator for that task was not common practice, so Gleason was somewhat light-headed when he heard a loud "poof" and saw a wall of flame headed toward him. He had the presence of mind to grab the gallon of lacquer thinner and the Goop On and run into the garage. Since that sort of flame is just a flash, the only remaining flames when he re-entered were the thick spots of filler, which were easily extinguished by stepping on them. That was working fine until an excitable plumber came around the corner, yelled "Fire!" and whipped off his nylon jacket to start swatting at the spots of flame. "He was not in a teachable moment, so he wouldn't listen to my suggestion of simply stepping on them," Gleason recalls. Of course, the sticking filler caught his jacket on fire, and as he waved the jacket around it threw bits of flaming nylon onto the drywall, turning a "no big deal incident" into some actual damage. "The worst part of the story was that when I returned to final-coat the job, the owner strongly admonished me for not buying the plumber a new coat after he had saved the house!" Gleason says.
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All Things Wood Floor, created by Wood Floor Business magazine, talks to interesting wood flooring pros to share knowledge, stories and tips on everything to do with wood flooring, from installation, sanding and finishing to business management.
