Hardwood Floors October/November 2025

Wood Stock

By Libby White Johnston Charred CHARMING A frustrating termite situation led to a fresh start with a truly unique floor in the office space of Willie Short, owner of WJ Hardwood Designs near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Termites had destroyed the existing floors, so they had to be ripped out. But when Short saw some live-edge yellow pine slabs for sale, a creative spark was lit. “The smallest point was 2’ in width and I thought I could do something with that,” he recalls. “They were different thicknesses, so it went from 1¼” to 2½” thick. We had to cut them down a little bit to make them the same thickness. I ended up having to cut the live edge off.” With a total of 160 square feet, Short has seven pieces of wood in the office. He scribed them into one another and dry fit and cut it outside, then brought it inside to install. He used a ½” by ½” square notch trowel to get the proper coverage for this type of floor. Short says Wayne Highlander with Bona suggested he use their vapor system and adhesive for this type of project. &

The floor’s elevation was a challenge. Since the planks were different sizes, Short had to handscrape the edges to avoid having hard edges that would be a tripping hazard. The loose knots were hit with a router and epoxied. “Southern yellow pine is a very tricky product and can be as ugly as it gets,” says Short. “It doesn’t take stain right. That’s why I went through three different stain processes before I found a method that worked. It’s so splotchy when you’re staining it, and no matter what you do, it looks horrible.” Short ended up burning the wood using a traditional Japanese method of wood

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WILLIE SHORT | WJ HARDWOOD DESIGNS

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