Well howdy there gang! How is everyone doing?! Patrick here again. I hope you’ve all been well. My last project diary post about our flooring project in Lake Forest did incredibly well. So, I figured, why not share some brand new content with my favorite hardwood floor diary family, since you all seemed to love the last post! This time, I’m back on the scene with the crew in a brand new location, in Barrington, IL. We’ve got not only a brand new flooring install, but also hardwood floor refinishing as well as the installation of a brand new railing system at this Barrington, IL project! We are going to be completely renovating the staircase and restoring it into a brand new modern beauty with brand new Oak railings. We’re going to be adding some brand new Oak floors in some rooms\hallways, and we’re also going to be refinishing all of the pre-existing Oak floors that are everywhere else throughout the home. So strap up, grab some popcorn, and enjoy reading along as I walk you through this massive project! And as always, if you are in the area and interested in having your own flooring project completed by us, feel free to reach out here.
start of the flooring project - initial walkthrough & Demolition
Well, things kicked off on a sunny but cold & windy Monday morning in Barrington when we arrived on the jobsite. The weather was cold, but let me assure you, the coffee was extra hot. The homeowner opened the door extra happy to see the crew and myself ready to tear into their project. The homeowners had made sure to completely clear out the home of all furniture and belongings, as we request with every job, before we arrived and got started.
Tile Removal
After performing a walk through with my excellent team, it was obvious this project was going to be a tough one. There was loads of tile to rip up in the hallway, the front entry foyer, and the entire kitchen. All of the tile was to be demoed, removed, and the plywood was to be cleared of any junk as well as properly resecured in order to prevent any squeaks in the future. But boy oh boy, the whole team knew the kitchen would be a nightmare! Why you ask? Great question. The tile in the kitchen was running underneath ALL of the cabinets. This means there was no great way to bust it up and remove it. In order to prevent any damage to the cabinetry, we would have to cut & chisel every single piece by hand. A true nightmare for any skilled tradesman. Surely, though, we were ready for the task. Our handy dandy grinder made things a little bit easier, but not by much. Here is what all of that tile initially looked like:
Entryway\Foyer completely tiled, starting to remove baseboards before tile removal
Hallway completely tiled. This hallway also led into a tiled bathroom and laundry room that we would be demoing as well
Demolition starting in the completely tiled kitchen (that’s my 70 year old Dad goin’ ham!)
Staircase Demolition
Well guys, now that all of the tile removal was underway, we could also start the next portion of the project. The staircase! It was time to have my phenomenal railing craftsman, Gerardo, come in and start demo on the staircase. And let me tell ya, it was it a lot of work. He started by initially cutting out all of the railings, spindles, and newel posts. Then, he started removing all of the carpet runner from the steps, pulling all of the padding & staples out as well.
Original staircase before the start of demo
Staircase halfway through the demo
As you can see, we were making great progress. Not only on the staircase, but also the flooring as well. The tile was coming up painfully, but at least it was coming up. The second picture of the staircase and the hallway being cleared was after about a week worth of demolition work, and many Redbulls.
Existing Hardwood Floor Refinishing
Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “Patrick, there’s still more to this project?!” That’s right, there is! And that would be the fact that we were also going to be sanding and refinishing all of the pre-existing oak flooring that was already running throughout half of the home as well. Here are a couple of photos of the rooms that had flooring in them already, so you can compare them to what they look like afterwards.
Pre-existing Oak floor in the Living Room
Pre-existing Oak floor in the Dining Room & Front Room
Staircase Refinishing & Starting New Oak Floor Installation
After about a week and a half of grueling demo work and preparing the subfloors to accept their new hardwood flooring, it was finally time to begin installation. Great progress was being made on the staircase too. After Gerardo removed all of the railings, we were able to refinish all of the stair treads perfectly without having any spindles or posts in the way of our sanding machines. The homeowners would be painting all of the risers and spindles white when we concluded our flooring & stairwork. This would help achieve the most modern outcome for the staircase.
Treads of staircase sanded, railing install underway!
First lines of flooring getting nailed in
New Stairs, New Railings, & New Oak Hardwood Floor Installation
After another couple of days on the project, things were moving along nicely! The plywood was finally all cleaned up, we had all of the areas around the kitchen cabinets cut out & cleaned, and the new floors were starting to install beautifully. Gerardo was making wonderful progress on the railing systems & had most of the posts installed. The customer chose these posts and these spindles.
There was tons of old glue from the tile on the plywood, which the team and I were forced to scrape off by hand. This allowed for a smooth surface for the new floors to be installed over in order for there to not be any weird bumps or un-levelness in the new hardwood floors.
Things kept moving along very well now that all of us were pushing full steam ahead and focused on the installation portion of the project. We were really starting to make some great progress. As you can see, most of the Newel posts of the new railing system were installed, the steps were totally sanded, and the railings were ready to go in! We also decided with the homeowner, that straightening the first stair tread would be a great idea, in order to make the staircase even more modern in appearance. So that is exactly what we did. Gerardo totally rebuilt the first stair tread from scratch, in order to make it straight instead of curved. It came out lovely!
Stairs sanded, Newel posts installed!
Loads of hours later, the railing system was totally installed, the beautiful new iron spindles were in, and the hardwood floor installation was completed! You can see from the photo below, that in the entryway foyer, the homeowner paid an extra fee in order to have us install the new floor board by board into the old floor. In our industry, this can be referred to as a couple of different things, but most commonly, it is called a “tie in” or a “tooth in”. It is an additional upcharge because it goes without saying, that this is a ton of extra work! But the end result is a seamless transition from the old floors to the new ones. Both the homeowner as well as myself decided that this would be the best appearance for the front door entryway right as you walk in. Whereas, in the back of the house, between the kitchen and the living room, we left a turn board in place to make installation easier.
Installation of railings, posts, spindles, and floors finished! Time for floor sanding!
Hardwood Floor refinishing project
Well my friends, the time was finally upon us. After all of the hardwood flooring had been installed, the steps were rough sanded, and all of the railings were installed. It was finally the portion of the project where we get to show off our sanding skills. This, of course, happens to be my favorite part of the entire project! Why? Because this is what sets apart the real craftsmen and artists, from the guys that just do this for a paycheck!
On a hardwood flooring project, sanding is everything. Proper sanding technique is very crucial, and of course, everybody has their own way of doing things no doubt. Sanding wood floors is very tricky, and has to be done in an unbreakable step by step series of grit sequences that can not be done out of order, or you risk a nightmare. Great sanding paper and machines are also the backbone of any proper floor refinishing project. Most companies around our area in the Northern Chicago Suburbs don’t use the high end machines that we do. But what can I say, over here we are wood nerds! So we use the absolute newest and highest end equipment available. Mainly, we use a large German planetary sander called a Lagler Trio. We use this machine to complete all of our medium & fine sanding. Most other companies around this area will simply use a belt sander and a buffer, so the quality doesn’t even come close when you compare it against our floors!
Sanding all of the hardwood flooring in the home
Stain Selection
If memory serves me right, I believe it took us about 3-4 days of full on sanding before we were finally ready for the fun stuff, stain sample selection! The staining day was fast approaching and it was time to lock in a color with the homeowner.
As with all projects, I had the homeowner select their top 3-4 favorite colors from an online brochure. After the rough sanding was completed, I would then apply these stain selections directly to their floors in sample swatches that I would make by hand, in order for them to receive the closest color sample to what they would actually be getting on their own floors. Over the years, I’ve found different floors can take stains and colors differently. So to me, it’s important to show the homeowner these samples during the sanding project, on their actual floors, instead of stand alone samples which can sometimes end up looking a bit different.
The colors that the homeowner chose were: Golden Oak, Special Walnut, Medium Brown, and Gray.
I’ll be honest, I threw the Gray in myself as a wildcard, haha.
From left to right: Golden Oak, Special Walnut, Medium Brown, Gray
Flooring Stain Application
Color selections were in! The homeowner knew exactly the color they had wanted, and if I’m being honest, I think it was a perfect pick. They decided to choose Special Walnut. A color that would be perfectly fitting for the home. It was something that would not only make things a bit more modern, but wouldn’t be too drastic of a change from what they had before. Also, it was a color that we knew would play very nicely with the wooden cabinetry in the entire kitchen. It was time to get messy, it was time to sling some stain!
Floor stain application timelapse in kitchen
Flooring Finish Application
Well folks, my favorite day of the project was finally upon us, the final finishing day! Staining had gone incredibly well the day prior. The stain applied perfectly even, and there weren’t even any spots that needed any touching up. It applied incredibly well over both the old floors as well as the new ones. A difference between old & new was now completely impossible to see.
I personally enjoy applying stain with a buffer using carpet pads. I feel like it goes a bit quicker, and certainly uses way less stain than doing it by hand. But that still doesn’t save you from the edges! All of the edges everywhere still need to be done completely by hand. Buffed on, and buffed off with rags. To minimize mess, we initially cut all of the edges in with a brush. However, when staining a floor, paint touch ups will ALWAYS be necessary. Because of how quickly we have to work applying it in order to avoid lap marks, leaving marks on white base boards is always inevitable.
After a full day\night cycle of drying time, the floors were ready for the finish application. On this project, the homeowner opted for our Elite water based finishing package. I always recommend this option as it is incredibly beautiful. And lets be honest, oil based poly is so out dated these days that using it is just more of a hassle than anything else!
Applying water-based hardwood flooring finish
Finished Project!
The time had finally come! All that hard work, all of the blisters, all of the chugged cans of Redbull & Coffee! Was it worth it? I’ll quit blabbering and let you decide for yourselves my wonderful friends…
But Pat…
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait just a second. I know what you’re asking yourself, “Pat, did you really leave the staircase like that? It looks terrible! WTF?”
Yes, yes I did. I thought that closing out here at the end, it would be a great opportunity to show people the realistic expectations you must have with a project this large, and how it can sometimes be very difficult to visualize the end result even AFTER our flooring work is completed.
Our work was concluded, but that doesn’t mean that the project was concluded. Remember what I mentioned to you in the beginning of this blog post? Paintwork must ALWAYS come after flooring work. All portions of the staircase that still look ugly, had to get painted! Yes, we could have actually finished those brand new posts with stain to look like the floors, but for more of a modern look, the homeowners opted to paint them white as well. And ya know what? I think it came out looking incredible! So fear not, my fellow bloggers, I’ve saved the best for last. Your final, finished photo, with this incredibly beautiful staircase fully finished and painted.
Fully finished project after staircase paintwork was completed
concluding thoughts
Well hey, if you’re still here and you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading this. I hope you enjoyed our fun Hardwood Flooring project in Barrington Illinois. Hopefully by this point, you’ve happily realized that this post wasn’t written by ChatGPT or some crazy AI. Even though, most days, I worry that AI is taking over the world and we are going to somehow end up in some weird version of either The Matrix or I, Robot. Haha. Guess until that happens, I’ll just keep chugging along and sanding floors.
If you happen to be interested in the flooring services that I offer, and you have a project in the area, don’t be shy. You can always reach out to me here. I offer all types of hardwood flooring services.
Have a good day kitties, I love you all.
-Patrick
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