Our Story

“After many years of experience working with different species of wood, I realized the passion and talent I have working with wood and colors could be so much more. That is when I began to entertain and eventually put in to action the idea of what is now Montello Custom Floors. When experimenting with colors I found that I was able to create unique stains and finishes for clients, not yet available or offered elsewhere. I have always embraced the challenge of creating something different. Most of the colors we create are done by hand application and some are applied in our factory. What continues to set us apart is our work with reclaimed hardwood, which is what we use as our main source of wood. The beautiful history behind our wood and uniqueness is something that is rare, something you want to showcase in your home and community.”

The process of our
Reclaimed Hardwood

Majority of barns were built in the mid-late 1800s and early 1900s. After the barn is dismantled, the beams that are getting re-sawn into lumber get moved to the location of the saw mill. The employees at the saw mill go over all the beams with a metal detecting wand, much like the ones you see at the airport. This detects nails and other foreign objects that are metal in the beams. This process needs to happen so the Sawyer does not damage the teeth of the saw blade when sawing the wood. From there the beams go into the mill. This process is different than sawing new wood as well. The saw mill is equipped with a drip system that drips as the wood is being cut to provide lubricant. Newly cut wood does not need this as the wood is wet, with natural water in the wood.

From the saw mill the lumber gets moved to an alternate location in which it is loaded into a kiln. The kiln process is very important with reclaimed wood in one different element than with new wood. Reclaimed wood needs to be stabilized like new wood, meaning adjusting the moisture content, but also for insect control. After the kiln process, which takes between 7 to 10 days it goes from there to the manufacturer.

The making of our Prefinished Hardwood

The flooring mill is where many things happen to beautify this material. The flooring manufacturer defects the lumber, cutting out large holes, cracks, rotten spots (from insect and water damage). It than gets surfaced to obtain a uniform thickness. From surfacing it goes into a straight line ripping machine, which makes the board uniform widths, that will accommodate the moulding machine it goes into next. Because of the varying sizes, the boards will be selected out by size, so the machine can tune each width at each time. After going through the moulder, the flooring will be tongue and grooved and relief backed. From this step it goes to either an end matching machine or a saw that cuts the flooring straight on the ends. This completes the milling process and from this point the material gets shipped to your flooring artisan, who installs and beautifies this wonderful old growth reclaimed wood.