My path to the manufacture and sales of the wood flooring transition trim. My experience in the flooring industry started in 1973 when I went to work for my aunt and uncle at Meyers Home Decorating in Weston, WV. Since graduating from Technicians Training School in 1972 as a drafting tech, I worked as a carpenter, roofer, and mason’s helper. Although I had no experience in the flooring industry, my Uncle John and Aunt Clara took me under their wings and taught me well. I learned the ins and outs of installing carpet, ceramic tile, wood flooring and even hanging wall paper.
In 1975, at a New Year’s Eve celebration back in my home town near Pittsburgh, PA, I met the girl of my dreams. After a whirlwind courtship, we married in June of the following year. We lived in Weston, WV for a year and decided that we wanted to move back home where I found a job in the coal industry. Some ten years and three children later, I decided to get back into the flooring business because my employer was unable to keep operating during the recession. It wasn’t an ideal time with the economy and I faced many challenging times in the beginning but as my reputation for a conscientious installer grew the work became more consistent.
This is where my involvement in the wood flooring transition moldings came into play. Keep in mind, this is circa 1985. When it came time to install a transition trim in doorways and other areas where different flooring materials were installed, I had three choices:
1. Use a piece of metal trim (gold or silver) … OH my gosh, no! Gold metal trim for a $3,000 marble floor?!?!
2. Use an existing wood trim (baby thresholds, as I recall, were all you could find). This was an option, in some cases, if the baby threshold trim piece appeared to be level when installed – but what happens if it didn’t???
3. Make my own wood flooring trims to fit each transition when needed. Bingo!
As my installation business grew, I developed an inventory of solid oak wood flooring transition moldings for my own use on my installations. I was doing a substantial amount of work for the local Color Tile store managed by Dave, who had seen one of my flooring transition moldings installed and asked where I had purchased the transition molding (wood flooring trim). I gave him the spiel of how I could rarely find the appropriate flooring trim and decided to start making them myself. He was impressed by how universal my transitions were at being able to transcend carpet to tile, tile to wood planking, vinyl to carpet etc. Shortly after that, my venture into sales of the Nelson Watson Solid Red Oak Wood Flooring Transition Moldings began. I was eventually selling the wood transition moldings in over 100 Color Tile stores.
As time passed, my customer base grew and more wood flooring transition moldings were developed. The demand on my time needed for the production and sales of the wood moldings, in addition to the installations, became overwhelming. In January of 1994, I made a decision to refer my future requests for installation estimates to another installer and gave the flooring transition moldings my full attention.
Since that time, I have developed additional flooring transition moldings and have sold my wood flooring moldings nationally. I now have this website from which my existing and potential future customers can view the transition moldings. I recently joined Facebook, at the request of my children to help make my flooring transition moldings available to friends of friends and others.
I have resided at my current residence in Claysville Pa since December, 1978, raising three wonderful children Jessica, Adam and Angela. Among Jessica and Angela’s activities were playing slow pitch, then progressing to fast pitch softball, in which I was involved in coaching from 1985 thru 2010. Adam’s niche was as a wrestler starting at 6 years old and finishing up in his sophomore year in college. He made the decision to leave the sport to give the studies his full attention. I have also been blessed with an amazing daughter-in-law, Amanda and three Grandsons, Brady Nelson, Benjamin Joseph, and Dylan Anthony.
I am currently experiencing the empty nest stage of life with the exception of two of man’s best friends, a brother and sister pair of thirteen year old Dachshunds, Okey and Lizi.
It’s been a wonderful adventure, along with its ups and downs, into the wood flooring transition business. I am grateful for the businesses that have supported a “small business man” and I hope to continue my dedication to producing a great product.