The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) held the second Basic Installation training event of the year at its headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri last week, February 13-15.
The sold-out event, led by NWFA Regional Instructor, Ben Totta, Totta Hardwoods, included safety, an introduction to installation tools, exploring the many elements of job site preparation, and a variety of installation methods used when installing solid and engineered wood floors, including nail-down, glue-down, and floating.
“I think the most valuable thing about being at a school is getting comfortable with the tools and gaining the knowledge of when to use which tools,” says Jason Duron, owner of JD’s Flooring in St. Louis, Missouri. “If we ever want mistakes to happen, we want them to happen here and not on the job site. I’ve been doing this for 17 years and I’m still learning every day.”
“I always try to tell people, it doesn’t matter who you are and how long you’ve been doing this,” says Totta. “Every time you come to one of these classes you can learn something from everybody there and if you come in with that mindset, you’re going to get a lot out of it.”
The NWFA would like to thank all of the students and instructors who made last week’s event a success:
STUDENTS
Ryan Alfaro, Wichita Wood Floor Specialists
Rafiq Alfred, Rafiq Alfred
Frank Chastain, Kenny’s Floor Coverings Inc.
Matt Edmondson, Luminous Flooring LLC
Jeff Endrise, The Master’s Craft
Anthony Fletcher, JD’s Flooring
Alex Galvan, The Master’s Craft
Michael Hytrek, Intermountain Wood Flooring
Whitney Jones, Wichita Wood Floor Specialists
Phillip Jordan, JD’s Flooring
Katie Knight, The Master’s Craft
Richard Laughlin, Intermountain Wood Flooring
Brandon Martin, Real Wood Floors
Conner McMahon, The Master’s Craft
Marcus Mote, The Master’s Craft
Melanie Paris, The Master’s Craft
Tyler Powell, Powernail Company Inc.
Tyler Riggs, The Master’s Craft
Matt Rott, Luminous Flooring LLC
Dan Ruhland, Real Wood Floors
Katelyn Shaw, The Master’s Craft
Anthony Smith, Certified Surface Inspections
Fred Smith, The Master’s Craft
Justin Spivey, Cumberland Lumber & Mfg. Co. Inc.
Andrew Williams, The Master’s Craft
John-Mark Wiseman, The Master’s Craft
Eric Zellmer, The Master’s Craft
INSTRUCTORS
Jack Boesch, MP Global Products
Jason Duron, JD’s Flooring
Mark Lamanno, Titebond
Charlie Lammers, MP Global Products
Wayne Lee, Middle Tennessee Lumber
Matt Thrane, Gehl Flooring Supply
Ben Totta, Totta Hardwoods