When Daniel Saucedo, owner of Daniel Wood Floors in Humble, Texas, started in the wood flooring industry 23 years ago, he had no idea where it would take him. Since starting his own company 18 years ago, Saucedo has spent many years furthering his wood flooring education and attending training events to help grow his skill set and product knowledge.
“After seeing the beautiful floors in the NWFA Wood Floor of the Year contest, I came up with this unique idea to hand-craft a zebra rug for my customer,” says Saucedo.
Using red oak and walnut and milling it to 1/4″, Saucedo freehanded the outline and stripes of the zebra. “It took many templates and corrections to come up with the right design,” adds Saucedo. “We spent countless hours using the jig saw and band saw to cut each piece for the zebra’s stripes individually.”
“The ‘rug’ was a glue-down installation over 1/2″ China birch,” says Saucedo. “Our team used small brushes to stain each piece using DuraSeal True Black on the walnut and Country White on the red oak.”
The floor surrounding the rug was hand-scraped and softened with an apple vinegar, water, and steel wool solution to help show off the DuraSeal Aged Barrel stain.
“As tiring and exhausting as this job was, it was incredibly rewarding to create this piece from my passion and love for wood flooring,” says Saucedo.