Acorn Hardwood Flooring Inc.

First, I chose Aged Timber (also known as Acorn Flooring) because I'd seen their work and knew of their longstanding local reputation. I have selected a traditional installation, rather than engineered wood - there are advantages to engineered flooring, but because my home has a classic Victorian Queen Anne cottage appearance, a traditional installation of smooth-finished wood, stained and polyurethaned, made sense to me. Yes, it will require refinishing from time to time, but so would engineered wood. Primarily, the flat surface with no grooves or divots will be easier to maintain - although the first few scratches will be grimace-inducing. The estimate was actually performed in August 2008, but because of family issues and travel we postponed the work until now. Still, Donna was able to retrieve the estimate and re-validate it for the present work. Materials costs had not changed appreciably, and labor was the same, which surprised me somewhat but then again this is not construction lumber. The estimate was similar to a bid I'd obtained for engineered wood - the difference in labor costs seemed to be made up in the price of glue for the manufactured product! As I observe the process of installation, I am more and more satisfied to have gone with the traditional installation - the floor is gorgeous, and hasn't even received its first coat of poly. A crew of four removed the existing wall-to-wall carpet and small areas of hardwood (the kitchen, breakfast nook and entry), then prepped the plywood subfloor by sanding all butted seams smooth, re-leveling one subfloor segment and replacing a section of subfloor that had been extensively damaged by cat urine, then laying asphalt building paper as an underlayment for the hardwood. This process took approximately 4 days. They then installed the flooring using specialized flooring nails (unlike the previous hardwood!!!!) that appear to be designed to resist vertical displacement, thus resisting the possibly inevitable squeaky floor. Prior to sanding, they taped plastic sheeting over all cabinetry and around the stairwell to minimize dust entry into the upstairs and cabinet interiors. Each morning before beginning work, they've rechecked the plastic and re-taped as necessary - and each afternoon they swept and placed their tools neatly along the edges of the rooms. After sanding the entire floor twice, using a large flooring belt sander for the central portions and an random-orbit sander for the edges, (I think there were two sanding steps) they spread a putty-filler over the entire floor to fill all minute voids in the wood surface, then sanded again. After the filler was sanded, they spread several stain examples in taped squares directly on the floor for us to evaluate and select from - they are willing to mix stain colors as desired, but our choice was a simple 1/2 and 1/2 combo of golden oak and spice brown. Then - they sanded the area where they'd applied the samples, replaced two boards we'd identified as flawed, buffed the entire floor and applied stain and sealer. This part required us to move out for 2 nights, while the stain and sealer dry. Fortunately, the local hotels are offering great deals! They will be applying polyurethane in a couple of days, but we'll not have to move out, only stay away until the late evening. I am convinced that the polyurethane process will go smoothly (pun intended). Why did I write this before work was completed? Because the process has been unbelievably satisfying, and there were no other Angie's list reports for Aged Timber. I hope that this doesn't mean that AL is being outcompeted by other networking services!