2022 WFOY: Best in Color/Finish and Textured Wood

Neuroh Hardwood | Williamsport, Tennessee

Best in Color Finish and Textured Wood Photo
Photos Courtesy of Neuroh Hardwood

CATEGORY DETAILS:
Entries in this category include all types of applications of dyes, reactive conditioners, layered color systems, faux finishing, or other finishing systems, as well as textured wood flooring surfaces such as hand-scraped, wire-brushed, distressed, sculpted, or any surface that is not traditionally flat.

WHAT MAKES THIS FLOOR UNIQUE:
This Wood Floor of the Year was born out of a client’s desire to repair the work done by another company on their butler’s pantry floor.

“Another company had attempted to install some solid end-grain, but it failed. The color was not right, and the layout was poor,” says Kyle Neuroh, owner of Neuroh Hardwood. “We tore out sections, but to get everything to line back up correctly, we were going to have to taper some of the squares to get different sizes.”

Brass End Grain SquaresTo take the floor to the next level, Neuroh came up with the idea of making some of the end grain squares out of brass to tie into the theme of the home, which featured brass in other sections of the house. The homeowner approved of Neuroh’s idea and gave him free rein.

“We took some high-resolution photographs of end grain and had it transferred into a vector file where we could cut the end grain pattern into the brass with a CNC machine,” explains Neuroh. “The brass was then aged with chemicals to get contrast and to get the etching to come out black.”

Neuroh then sanded the floor flat, wire brushed it, did any filling that was needed, and then finished it with UV-cured Vesting LED oil.

“It took us about a week because while it wasn’t a very large area, we needed to be careful,” says Neuroh. “We finished the floor before we laid the brass in, because we didn’t want to damage the brass during the sanding process.”

Detail of Finish Process: The floor was sanded flat using 80 grit Red Heat on the Epoch with multidisc, then palm sanded with 80 grit mesh power.

Installation Type: Glue Down
Flooring Type: Solid, End Grain
Flooring Finish: Vesting LED HardWax Oil
Finish Sheen: Satin
Species: White Oak
Mixed Media: Brass
Pattern: Squares
Square Feet: 80

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 in-depth discussions with WFOY winners about their projects.


HFM Subcribe

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.