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Hardwood Floors |
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HARDWOOD BASICS
Hardwood is a staple of the flooring industry and I’d dare say most people if not everybody loves a hardwood floor. The big question you have to ask your self when starting out is, “are hardwood floors for me?” Hopefully this article will help you determine whether or not they are for you. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of having a hardwood floor.
Maintenance: Hardwood floors are relatively easy to clean and maintain, most manufactures recommend that you just sweep/vacuum and damp mop the floor, and occasionally use a recommended professional cleaning product.
Ecologically Friendly: Hardwood is a renewable commodity, though getting scarce in some areas most manufacturers take great pains to replenish the wood that is used for the flooring they manufacture. A lot of wood floors are also made out of recycled wood from old ships, barns and other wooden structures.
Installation: Modern technology has made wood flooring a D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) project. If you are handy enough you can install your own hardwood floor. Most manufacturers use the tongue and groove method that can either be, nailed or stapled down or “floated” using glue on the tongue and groove. And some manufacturers now feature “click together” or self locking “floating” floor that does not require glue or nails.
Aesthetics: It enhances the natural beauty of a room. Even a small room can look more elegant with a touch of hardwood floors. Most hardwood floors will enhance any room’s décor, creating harmony in your living space and even tying separate living spaces together.
Value and longevity: Increases the value of your home and lasts longer than most other types of flooring. Most realtors say that homes with hardwood floors will sell faster and for more money than homes with out. A well maintained hardwood floor will last well beyond a carpeted floor and can be sanded and refinished many times within your homes mortgage. Even after the finish wears out, most hardwood floors could be refinished and be brought back to its natural luster. While other types of flooring end up looking old and worn out, hardwood floors enhances its beauty as it grows with age.
Variety: There are countless types and species of hardwood flooring, choosing the right floor depends on a few factors. Some of these would rely on your own taste and preference, what kind of look and feel you want in your home, and a few of the other reasons will be covered below.
Types of Hardwood floors and where they can be installed:
1. Solid Hardwood
Solid hardwood is generally made of one piece of wood either plain sawn, quarter sawn or rift sawn. Hardwood is not recommended for areas with high moisture such as kitchens, basements, laundry rooms etc. as it will expand and contract, bow and cup unevenly. This floor is only recommended for installation on grade or ground level and above grade or above ground such as the 2nd or 3rd floors. Solid hardwood is generally around 2 ¼ to 3 or 4 inches wide and random length. Installation options are nail or staple only.
2. Engineered hardwood
Also known as cross-ply engineered, consists of 3-5 layers or plies. Some manufacturers use as many as 7 ply’s. This floor is more dimensionally stable and will fare better in areas that have higher moisture content. The Construction of engineered floor is as such; the top layer or face of the board is the specie that is listed on the product, such as maple, oak, or any exotic hardwood such as Brazilian Cherry, or Australian Cypress, the other ply’s being an inexpensive hardwood. Thickness of the board varies. Most manufacturers would have boards of about 3/8 to an inch half. Capella Wood Floors makes engineered floors that are ¾ of an inch thick. That’s as thick as most solid hardwood floors are. Engineered flooring typically would be 3 to 5 inches wide and comes in both random lengths and fixed lengths at 4 feet and above. Installation options are more flexible. Aside from gluing down on concrete, nailing and stapling, Engineered hardwood floors can also be floated.
3. Long Strip Hardwood
This floor really is just engineered flooring, with bigger and longer the planks, hence the name. These floors can be installed on all grades and generally would utilize glue less lock together tongue and groove. Longstrip floors have a variety of looks and styles. Typically, they’d be about 7-8 inches wide and 6-7 feet long, but the face of the board varies. Some will have a “planked” look meaning the strip will look like one long wide board, and some will have a “blocked” look, the face of the board though being 7-8 inches wide will have a 2 strip or 3 strip look on the face of the board
Now you may want to ask yourself which one’s better, Solid or Engineered? How do you determine what you need? Or what is better for you? You also have to consider where you’re putting it down and what look you want to achieve.
Hardwood floors, in my opinion, are the most elegant looking floor covering there is. But as tough as some species are, it’s not impossible to scratch and damage these floors. That’s why it is not recommended to install wood floors in high traffic areas and areas with high moisture content and uncontrolled temperatures. Solid wood floors expand and contract. Excessive movement would normally cause floor board to come loose or to be uneven. The nice thing about Solid Hardwood floors though is that you can sand and refinish them after years of abuse. With proper care and maintenance, Solid Wood Floors could last you a life time.
Engineered Hardwood floors are layers of different wood species glues together to create wood plank that is not susceptible to rapid changes in temperature, this means that your wood floor will not expand and contract as much as a solid wood floor. Once it’s down, you will not be able to tell the difference between Solid and Engineered floors. On the downside, most engineered floors can’t be sanded down and refinished but rather “screened” and refinished. Some manufactures only warrant you to screen and refinish your floor 2-3 times
Every wood species has a distinct look depending on their natural color, grain pattern and direction how they were cut. Manufacturers now a days, creates collections with different plank sizes so as to give you choices on what look you want to achieve. Engineered floors are made in the same way. With wide and narrow planks that comes in single or multiple strip patterns, you are sure to find the pattern for you.
Here are some more elements to consider:
Subfloor. A good hardwood floor is really only as good as the floor it’s installed over. Some “subfloors” are not conducive to hardwood flooring installation. For example, a solid hardwood floor in most cases could not be installed directly over a concrete slab. Since most solid hardwood floors are traditionally recommended to be installed by nailing or stapling, a concrete floor may not be as effectively for a solid hardwood floor.
PRE-INSTALLATION
Before you start putting down your floor, please make sure that you let the material “acclimate” in the area where the flooring will be installed for at least 24 hours. Wood is hygroscopic--meaning, when exposed to air, wood will lose or gain moisture until it is in equilibrium with the humidity and temperature of the air. Therefore it is imperative that wood floors have time to adjust to the environment where they will be installed before they get installed. Hardwood floors need to be installed in a climate controlled environment. Choosing wood flooring especially solid hardwood flooring for a vacation house, cottage or a non-temperature controlled area that is probably unattended most of the year without heating or air conditioning isn’t a good idea.
When determining how much flooring you would need for your project simply measure the room using the equation for getting the area of a space length x width then you’d want to add at least 7 to 10% for waste. This additional amount would be to make allowances for mistakes made when cutting boards to fit in award spaces like the last row by the wall or the last board in a row.
It’s also probably a good idea to rack out the boards or planks before installing them so you can choose where each board go. You can also click on the Flooring Calculator to help you figure out your measurements. |
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