Natural, warm and
charming, elegant or informal, graceful, refined or rustic, comfortable, sleek
and uncluttered, endlessly stylish, durable and long lasting.
Few materials on the market today can compare to the classic beauty and
versatility of a fine hardwood floor. With the broad range of wood species
and designs available, you can create or compliment almost any style in your
home be it traditional, country or contemporary. Hardwood flooring also
comes in an array of quality and pricing levels - enough to match just about any
budget.
Thinking about a hardwood floor?
Consider the following aspects:
Three types of hardwood flooring:
Unfinished Solid Hardwood
This type of hardwood comes in the form of rough, unvarnished planks.
Each board is milled from a single piece of wood into planks 3/4 of an inch
thick and random lengths. A variety of widths are available. Solid
hardwoods must be nailed down to an appropriate subfloor. Sanding and
finishing the floor must be done on site - and should be performed by a
skilled professional to achieve the best results. Installation can take
anywhere from 3 days to a full week or possibly more. Between the dust
produced during sanding (which can create quite a mess in the house) drying
times associated with polyurethane and fumes from different finishes,
residents will need to find somewhere else to stay until floor finishing has
been completed.
Where and how to install:
*Should NOT be installed below
grade or over concrete*
Must be nailed down
to a wood subfloor at or above grade. Not recommended for full baths or
other areas where excessive moisture would occur.
Prefinished
Solid
Hardwood
Similar to the
unfinished solid woods except that the boards have already been sanded,
stained and finished within a controlled factory environment to achieve the
best possible result and yield a furniture-like finish. The factory
applied finish usually includes an aluminum oxide component that provides
extra protection from scratching and general wear. A prefinished solid
hardwood installs quickly without the mess and inconvenience of an unfinished
product and can be lived on instantly.
Where and how to install:
*Should NOT be installed below
grade or over concrete*
Must be nailed down
to a wood subfloor at or above grade. Not recommended for full baths or
other areas where excessive moisture would occur.
Prefinished Engineered Hardwood
Engineered
hardwood flooring is 100% wood; constructed from 3-12 plies of solid wood with
each layer placed cross-grain to the next and permanently bonded together with
resins. This cross-grained construction counteracts the natural tendency
of wood to expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity and
yields a product much stronger than a solid piece of wood. The greater
the number of plies, the greater the stability of the floor. The
aluminum oxide urethane finish is applied in a factory controlled environment
for the best result and will yield a furniture-like finish which will be much
more durable than anything applied on-site. A prefinished engineered
hardwood installs quickly without the mess and inconvenience of an unfinished
product and can be lived on instantly.
Where and how to install:
*Install in any level
of the house - including below grade*
Engineered products can be nailed down, glued-down, stapled down or "floated"
over most subfloors without the use of nails or adhesives.
Remember the
Accessories:
Typically, a
hardwood flooring installation is going to include more than just the planks
of wood. Other items will most likely be needed to complete the job such
as moldings to join with the walls, edgings, stair nosings, wood vents etc...
