Wood Floor Rescue: Restoring Beauty to White Oak in Charleston, W.V.

From the December 2025/January 2026 issue of Wood Floor Business:
In this circa-late-1800s home in the East End Historic District of Charleston, W.V., someone had committed the atrocity of covering the original wood flooring with a thin commercial carpet. When Chris Bailey of Charleston-based Bailey Floor Sanding saw the project, he could barely see the wood through the old adhesive. “The first thing I thought was, ‘Prepare the customer for a dark stain.’ I didn’t expect them to come out so clean.” Although the job was formidable—2,500 square feet and two staircases that had to be done on a tight timeline—Bailey wanted to salvage the historic white oak flooring that was installed in a log cabin pattern throughout the first and second floors. To Bailey’s surprise, 24-grit on the big machine brought it right off. He and his crew then used the multi-disc to work their way up through the grits. After a week straight of sanding, they were finally able to apply the stain and three coats of satin waterborne finish. “The old floor wasn’t perfect, but we were proud of how well it looked and the fact that we were able to save an old historic floor. Our client was thrilled with the results,” Bailey says.
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