Istoria Bespoke Vesuvius B in The Lookout
Photography by Christopher Kemp
"I decided on engineered wood flooring - and wanted the best for such a project. The Vesuvius ‘B’ gave me everything I wanted in design and colour. It works well against the whites and tonal colours. It also compliments the blue of the sea and sky quite well. It has also been a pleasure to own. But then a few weeks after finishing - disaster. A major leak sprung and ran for three days. It destroyed a ceiling, a fridge-freezer full of food and several rooms. The floor was under an inch of water when we came in.
No wooden floor has a right to do anything but be ruined under such circumstances. I let it dry out naturally and expected most of it would end up in landfill. As it happened it did not buckle and the joints have been almost perfect. I have had to re-cut doors that have swollen and won’t fit anymore, but the flooring has been sound. It needed re-oiling and in some minor places re-colouring - a very easy task - and my floor looks almost as good as new.
Of course this ‘get-out-of-jail-card' isn’t something anyone can expect to happen to their floor if they have a leak (if I have another leak again, I won’t!), but it certainly shows the quality of the product."