Monday, 12 October 2009 15:50

Last week we had a phone call from a customer who lives here locally. Our homeowner had some hardwood flooring installed in her living room a few years ago but overlooked her front door area as a potential problem due to heavy traffic at this area.  This front door foyer, though small was becoming a problem due to the heavy traffic scuffing the nice looking maple hardwood and it's finish.  Not to mention the water that was being tracked in from the rain and occasional snow doing continual damage to this flooring.  This area showed wear very quickly and our homeowner Cheryl missed not having a small buffer zone from the outside elements.

Our task at hand was not easy as we would have to cut the hardwood back while it was installed on the floor.  Cutting a nice clean line and finishing the cuts at the two ends would have to be done with sharp chisels and a lot of care and patience.

As seen in this picture we first built our containment envelope using our trustee Zip Wall poles and plastic.  Now, installer Jason could cut the hardwood without worrying about having any of the dust carry to the rest of the house.  Notice in this picture the straight edge beside the saw. This straight edge is screwed down to the floor and placed at exactly the correct distance back from the cut line.  This way Jason was able to make a clean and precise cut that our "border" piece of wood would abut (see above finished shot).

Next we removed all the excess hardwood and installed the appropriate tile backer to bring the tile up to the same height as the hardwood. We then introduced an aluminum L-edge by Schluter Industries where the tile would butt to the hardwood so the grout would not crack since the hardwood will have plenty of movement in it as it expands and contracts with the various temperatures throughout the year.

Finallly, Jason installed the tile and came back the next day to do the grouting.  We installed SpectraLOCK Grout in order to give the grouted area a stain-proof quality that would last for years and years to come.  No sealers needed here: this grout has a lower porosity than the tile itself!  .05% to be exact....that means that nothing can be absorbed in it including dirty shoes from the future snow, rain, mud, etc!  Great job installer Jason!