Clary Floors

Can't recommend Morton Clary highly enough!!! A great experience with him, and we gave him some challenges. We needed our hall closet hardwoods refinished and the hall leading into the closet needed to have the old vinyl stripped off and the hardwoods underneath to be refinished. And both had to match the living room hardwoods that connected to them. It wasn't easy, especially since Morton discovered yet another stubborn layer of vinyl to be peeled back underneath the first. But he did an absolutely beautiful job and I'm thrilled to finally have continuous hardwoods from my closet to my hall to my living room. Next he had to install pre-finished hardwoods in our "office" room which had 1950's linoleum in it. We chose to install over it rather than attempt to remove it, and once more, Morton did a beautiful job. He has an artistic eye and mixed the boards up so that they looked as natural as possible. Again, they match beautifully with the pre-existing hardwoods in the rest of the house. And Morton was so helpful in picking out hardwoods that would match our old ones as closely as possible (other floor people we contacted were uninterested in helping us, just told us to go out and buy some), got us a good deal, and even brought them over to acclimate for a couple weeks before he put them in. He was on time with his estimate and very reasonable. And he was punctual and meticulous in his work methods. Everything you could want in a trustworthy floor specialist. We hope to use him again soon.

We've hired Morton Clary before - once to refinish our wood parquet floors and once to install a tile floor in our half bath, and both times we were very satisfied with his work. This time, the issue was more complicated. The original contractor who built our house failed to place a vapor barrier before he poured the concrete slab. As a result, every spring the parquet floor would swell with moisture and form an accordion-like surface. Our house was built in 1982, so finding replacement flooring to match the original was a challenge, but Mr. Clary was able to do so. He added a vapor barrier over the concrete, then installed the new parquet and stained it to match the adjacent woodwork. As before, he went beyond what we had asked him to do, extending the flooring beyond the dining room and down the hallway until he ran out of parquet. He also refinished the entire hallway, not just the new wood. We were delighted with his work.

During our kitchen and dinning room remodel we discovered that the previous owners covered up the original hard wood floors with linoleum. Prior to hiring Morton, I had already pulled up all of the linoleum and got as much of the adhesive off as possible. Morton was able to come the same day to give me an estimate and started the work the following week. He arrived on time and was able to sand and apply the first coat of poly the first day. Morton returned the next day to apply another two coats of poly and install a transition piece between our dinning room and kitchen. Because of the color of the floors in the rest of our house, we did not require any stain but I am confident that he would have been able to match it. Not only was Morton professional but you can see that he is truly passionate about what he does. The quality of his work is impeccable and he has a great attention for the details. Our wood floors flow seamlessly through the living room on into the dinning room now and I could not be more happy. I would definitely hire Morton again.

unknown

Morton - good guy - showed as promised and completed the job on time. Did a great job of getting the color right with several rounds of trial and error. He's professional and did a super job.

He did a good job at a reasonable price. He actually drove me out to the warehouse and helped me pick out my flooring. He was very helpful.

Excellent experience from initial visit to completion high quality installation. Mr Clary very clean with work. Very pleased and highly recommended. Always on time. responsible very professional.

Morton arrived on time and did excellent work. Cost was reasonable.

Morton Clary was referred to me by a carpenter (David Higginbotham) I had used in the past to repair some kitchen cabinets, and whom I had asked to give me a quote to refinish the floors in one of my bedrooms. After calculating the price, David recommended Morton because Morton owns his own floor refinishing equipment and would be able to give me a more competitive price for doing my hardwoods than David could. Additionally, though David had never met Morton in person he had seen the results of his handiwork many, many times and thus also recommended Morton based on his quality of work.

Morton returned my voice mail the day after I'd left him a message late in the evening (well after normal business hours). We set up a time for him to come out the next day and bid the removal of carpet, and refinishing of hardwood floors under it in one of my bedrooms. He arrived on time, and we discussed options in the finish / stain of the wood, plus any possible hidden damage that might be uncovered once the carpet and padding were completely pulled up, and the possible extra costs associated with repairing or mitigating that damage. His pricing was, indeed, much more affordable than what I had received from my carpenter, as well as from another floor installer/refinisher. And his price even included matching oak quarter-round, fully finished and installed. Since I was having construction done on my bathrooms and the general contractor's scheduling was unreliable, I told him I would call him early the following week with a start date.

I called Morton 3-4 days later and suggested a start date of the following Monday. His calendar was open, so we scheduled for then. He arrived on Monday and he and his assistant, Ryan, moved the last of the heavy things out of the bedroom for me onto my back porch (which they did cheerfully, even though it was freezing cold and pouring rain, *and* they had to carrying the items out the front door and down around the driveway to the back porch).

Before he got started that first day, I asked Morton if he could repair the floor of my Master Closet where a leak from the shower drain had damaged the floor along and near the wall that the closet shares with the shower. This repair would be paid for by my general contractor. [Ultimately, though, paid by my insurance company, State Farm - who will be getting a separate A+ rating from me, based on how fabulous they have been throughout the whole process of gutting and remodeling two bathrooms. :-) ] Morton said, Yes, of course.

After pulling the carpet up, we found three large, nasty stains, likely from the previous owner's dogs. (Eeeew!) It looked like maybe 20-30sf of flooring would have be ripped out and replaced. But Morton did such a fabulous job of sanding (with the grain, diagonally to the grain, and then with the grain again - if I understood it all correctly), that only a few individual boards needed replacing. We also found out that one of the boards in the room was a replacement board from a previous repair. . . but instead of real oak, they had used oak *laminate*! So that was one more board Morton would need to replace. I think he pulled that one from a good board in the Master Closet, so he could get on with sanding that one section of the bedroom. Monday ended with the bedroom floor sanded, patch/filler material spread to dry, and with Morton needing to buy a bundle of quartersawn oak to make the repairs to the bedroom and closet floors.

Come Tuesday morning, Morton and Ryan were back to cut out and replace the damaged boards in both the bedroom and the closet, to sand down the filler material in the bedroom, to sand the closet floor, and to put down the first coat of clear polyurethane. I was pleased to be able to go with the natural color of the wood (i.e., no stain), because initially we thought we might need to put down a dark stain to help hide some of the dog urine damage.

On Wednesday Morton and Ryan were back again, to buff (? - I'm not sure of the term) the floors before putting down a second coat of poly. They left for a couple of hours while the 2nd coat was drying, then came back to buff (?) again, and apply the final coat.

The floors are beautiful. Just absolutely beautiful.

And I have that beauty for - quite literally - half of what all the other folks had wanted to charge me. I'm saving up my money now to be able to have Morton put in a new kitchen floor for me some time in the very near future. He is a true craftsman; someone who clearly cares about the quality of his work, and someone who plies his craft in a manner that speaks of his desire to help his fellow human beings, not just make a quick buck. Not only do my floors look utterly fantastic, but my household felt lighter for his company.

Morton is a big man, similar in looks to and quot;Mr. Cleanand quot; (minus the earring); and though others probably call him things like and quot;a great big teddy bearand quot; or even and quot;a gentle giantand quot;, he is most certainly the kind of person my grandmother had in mind when she spoke of and quot;an old soul.and quot;

It is rare to find that combination of artistry, attention to detail, concern for humanity, and a warm, pleasant demeanor in a single person.

But you'll find it all in Morton Clary.