2021 WFOY: Manufacturer Spotlight

Bona US | Installation by Wayne Highlander

Photo courtesy of Wayne Highlander

CATEGORY DETAILS:

This category gives manufacturers an opportunity to submit any projects that use their products.

WHAT MAKES THIS FLOOR UNIQUE:

Representing both a legendary installer’s last project, as well as a showcase of his company’s products, this spectacular installation is a deserving winner of our second annual Manufacturer Spotlight award.

“This was a floor in my own historic 120-year-old home that I had always put off doing. I’ve known for a long time that this is probably the last floor that I would ever install. I’m now in sales, and I don’t do installations anymore,” explains Wayne Highlander, national sales manager of adhesives for Bona US. “If this was going to be the last floor installed, I wanted to do something extraordinary. I wanted something that if you look at the floor at a different angle or time of day, you’d always see something different.”

In addition to being a floor that would test his skills, Highlander wanted to use the project to highlight his company’s many flooring products.

“I am the national sales manager for Bona adhesives, but I was a contractor for 30 years before that,” says Highlander. “In addition to doing something that would push me and be a fitting final floor, I also wanted to highlight all of Bona’s products with this installation. Everything that touched this floor was a Bona product.”

For Highlander, a large part of the challenge was working in an area that was both completely out-of-square and
out-of-level.

“There were a lot of things about this project that pushed me. The condition of the room itself was a challenge, but beyond that, preparing the materials also took a lot of time,” he recalls. “It was very time-consuming making blocks. To achieve a three-dimensional appearance, each parquet block is made up of 27 individual pieces. I used a tablesaw sled to make all of my intricate cuts.”

For a finishing touch, Highlander chose to install an intricate medallion in the center of the floor.

“The medallion has more than 16 species of wood in it. To me, it represents the beauty of fall colors,” explains Highlander. “I had done my best to make the floor really pop with color, and the medallion really took that, and the entire floor, to the next level. I couldn’t be happier with the final results. If this is truly the last floor I install, it’s a fitting end.”

Photo courtesy of Wayne Highlander

Installation Type: Glue Down
Flooring Type: Solid, Reclaimed, Parquet
Flooring Finish: Two coats of Bona Neutral Craft Oil were trowelled on and buffed in with a red pad and towels to achieve a matte hand-rubbed effect.
Finish Sheen: Matte
Species: Rift and quartered White Oak in the field. Each parquet block is made up of Jarrah, Padauk, Maple, American Cherry and Walnut. 16 different species make up the medallion and flooring.
Mixed Media: Epoxy, Copper
Pattern: Hand-cut three-dimensional parquet pattern with a medallion and border that were scroll-sawed on-site.
Square Feet: 130

Click on the links below to learn more about that floor, the other category winners, and to see a showcase of all projects entered into the contest. And be sure to check out upcoming episodes of the NWFA Wood Talk podcast, as Brett Miller, VP of technical standards, training, and certification, will have discussions with WFOY winners about their projects.

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