Hardwood Floors April/May 2025

CONTENTS

PUBLICATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Robert McNamara | Chair, Sheoga Hardwood Flooring Jason Elquest | Blackhawk Floors Inc. Steve Brattin | Chair Anita Howard | COO Brett Miller | VP, Technical Standards, Training, & Certification Stephanie Owen | Executive Director, NERF NWFA LEADERSHIP

Industry Insights

24 Government Affairs The Hardwood Federation Fly-In.

By Dana Lee Cole

28 Design Trends Real wood flooring for pet-friendly design.

By Steven Skutelsky

Business Best Practices

Lenny Hall | Endurance Floor Company Inc. Kevin Mullany | Benchmark Wood Floors Inc. Jim Schumacher

32 Legal Costly boilerplate provisions in contracts.

By Barbara F. Dunn

36 Finance Workers’ compensation insurance.

Libby White Johnston | Publisher | libby.johnston@nwfa.org Burt Bollinger | Editor | burt.bollinger@nwfa.org Brett Miller | Technical Editor | brett.miller@nwfa.org Rhonda M. May | Creative Manager | rhonda.may@nwfa.org Amy Burris | Digital Manager | amy.burris@nwfa.org Bridget Norlie | Engagement Manager | bridget.norlie@nwfa.org PUBLICATION TEAM

By Dana Rogers

40 Marketing Why your flooring website must be content-rich. 44 Special Content The blueprint to scale your flooring business. 48 Special Content Succession planning. At the Site 96 Sponsored Content Pivot time: A business reset.

By Welton Hong

By Justin Shaw

14 Research Park Drive St. Charles, Missouri 63304 P : 800.422.4556 Local : 636.519.9663 F: 636.519.9664 E: news@hardwoodfloorsmag.com W: hardwoodfloorsmag.com

By Doug Howard

By David Williams

108 Abrasives Grit sequence and the

By Jason Elquest

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS John Alford

effects on today’s finishes. 112 Tech Talk Resanding an old engineered wood floor. 114 Health and Safety Wiring essentials for wood flooring projects.

Wayne Lee Brett Miller

Jason Elquest Welton Hong Doug Howard Libby White Johnston Kyle Krueger

Burt Bollinger Steve Brattin Dana Lee Cole Barbara F. Dunn

Dana Rogers Justin Shaw Steven Skutelsky

By Kyle Krueger

118 WFOY Winner Spotlight Best Use of Technology: Czar Floors 121 Hardwood Hints Making custom transitions.

By Burt Bollinger

ADVERTISING SALES

Katie Schenk Advertising & Media Manager katie.schenk@nwfa.org | 636.736.5230

By John Alford

Product Focus

Hardwood Floors (Print: ISSN 0897-022X and Online: ISSN 2475-5125) is published on a bi-monthly basis, plus the Annual Industry Guide, by the National Wood Flooring Association and distributed as a membership benefit to its member companies and without charge upon request to qualified individuals throughout the wood flooring industry. Single copy price is $8, annual Industry Guide is $50. Subscriptions: $40/year (includes 6 issues and Industry Guide) in the U.S. and Canada. Publication office: 14 Research Park Drive, St. Charles, MO 63304. Phone: 800.422.4556. Printing office: Walsworth, 306 N. Kansas Ave., Marceline, MO 64658. Printed in the U.S. Periodicals postage is paid at Chesterfield, MO and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hardwood Floors, P.O. Box 9147, Lowell, MA 01853. Copyright © 2025 by the National Wood Flooring Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Hardwood Floors' subscription base is AAM audited. An AAM audit provides advertisers and agencies with assurance that what they choose to invest in does, in fact, reach target audiences for specific ads. The AAM audit also helps media companies by documenting the quality of their audiences.

122 Sanding Equipment/Abrasives

Also in this Issue

8 Chair’s Cut

By Steve Brattin

10 Business Briefs 16 Wood Stock

By Burt Bollinger

52 Company Profile: Olde Wood Limited 120 Special Content NWFA welcomes new Certified Professionals. 124 New Products 125 Overheard on NWFA Podcasts 126 Wood Talk: Paul Rezuke 127 Ad Index