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This issue's Tale comes via Joe Gelsinger, who works at Artifice Floor Carpentry in Pensacola, Fla.:
"About two years back we were installing a 5-inch hickory natural engineered floor. It all started with a single plank in the living room that was a maple-like blonde color. I gave the homeowner my spiel about hickory, and how she should show me what characteristics she didn't care for. I explained we would place them under beds and in closets and such. The next morning, the clearly exhausted woman answered the door. She had been awake past 2 or 3 a.m. going through over 1,500 square feet. There were piles of planks literally everywhere, each one with a Post-It containing her preference of plank and exactly where in the house she wanted it installed. She had 20 planks numbered 1 through 20 in order of best to least best. (Our crew now refers to these as "designer planks.") There were so many piles she ran out of room, so she filled up dresser drawers with stacks of Post-It planks. The majority of the installation was upstairs, so we had to hand-carry 1,000-plus feet of loose planks up a flight of stairs. Not cool. In all honesty, I felt bad for her. She wore herself out almost for nothing."