Wood Floor Rescue: Industrial Seattle Vibe Comes to Life

This building in Port Angeles, Wash., has been many things, including a warehouse, a car dealership, and a restaurant, and, now, a healthcare clinic, but before that could happen, its century-old flooring had to be dealt with, and for that, the flooring company involved, McCrorie Carpet One, turned to Kyle Thompson of Port Angeles-based Thompson Floors & Home Repair. “The North Olympic building was interesting, because I’m in the first year in my business, and 4,600 square feet is a lot, especially for one person,” he says. The flooring was 2-by-6-inch tongue-and-groove Doug fir, and because of its lengthy history, it had been cut apart in many areas for ductwork and other additions. Thompson’s first task was to repair the floor with materials as close to the existing flooring as possible, then sand the layers off. Huge dents remain part of the floor’s history. Because the flooring was gapped throughout, Thompson had to scrape the edges—all 4,600 square feet of them—and ended up using a Fein tool. The gaps also created a concern for finish drips, as there was no subfloor. “I ended up hiring one of my buddies to stay downstairs while I rolled finish,” Thompson explains. “We had walkie-talkies, and he stayed there for hours … There was no electricity downstairs, and it was dark by the time I was rolling finish, so he was in the dark for hours with a headlamp. When we were done, he said, ‘You know what, dude? That was really creepy.’” Thompson laughs. After a month of hard labor, creepy stakeouts and all, the floor was complete, and the staff of the health clinic were ecstatic. “They were blown away with every single step,” he says. “I think educating your clients and your contractor and helping them with their expectations at the start of the job, not the end, is very important. Throughout the job, I just kept saying ‘rustic, rustic, rustic,’ and they got the industrial Seattle vibe they wanted.”—K.M.W.

SUPPLIERS: Abrasives, Sanders: Bona | Finish: Bona Drifast Natural, Traffic Extra Matte | Knee Pads: ProKnee | Nailer: Primatech, Milwaukee | Palm Sander: Festool | Vacuum: Festool CT 48AC