THE RICH, TIMELESS CHARACTER OF HARDWOOD
Hardwood floors are tough, beautiful and can work in most rooms in your home.
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Your Project.
Hardwood—just the word evokes images of charm, richness, and classic looks. Wood floors last a lifetime and gain "character" with age.
When Choosing Hardwood Consider:
Board Widths. Select from narrow strips (less than three inches), wider planks (more than three inches), parquet squares, and—a new option—squares and rectangles. The traditional choice, strips give the illusion of more space, while planks impart a rustic look. Parquet floors, with the distinctive geometric design, suit formal spaces.
Wood Species. Hardwood species vary in durability, grain patterns, and color. Oak, maple, and cherry are among the most common species due to their hardness. Exotic woods like mahogany, and Brazilian cherry aren't as durable, but are prized for their striking appearance.
Colors. Hardwoods run the gamut from blond to black, depending on species and finish.
Textures. You can get hardwood floors that look shiny and new, or you can buy brand new wood that looks like an antique and adds timeworn character to your room Many manufacturers offer distressed and hand-scraped hardwoods that will disguise heavy use over the years and give the floor an appealing timeworn appearance from the moment it's installed.
Hardness. For busy households with pets and kids, it's a good idea to choose the hardest wood species possible. Hard species, such as red oak, will withstand wear and tear, while softer species, such as pine, tend to show scratches. The choice between engineered and solid hardwood will most likely be determined by location, subfloor, and preferred installation method. But if you're on the fence, keep in mind choosing solid hardwood means scratches from a puppy's claws or dings from a toddler's toy can be sanded out and refinished over and over. Whichever you choose, preventive care and proper maintenance can keep your floors looking good for years.
Finish. Along with protecting the surface, hardwood finishes imbue floors with color and luster. Much commercially available hardwood comes prefinished, which simplifies installation and eliminates dust, chemical fumes, and waiting time. These factory-applied finishes generally have a longer warranty as they are longer lasting and more durable than site-applied finishes.
Some homeowners prefer site-finished floors due to the wider selection of stain colors and the opportunity to hone the surface and even out imperfections after the boards are in place. Boards are also easier to repair if damaged. Urethanes are the most common type of finish.
While solid hardwood can be repeatedly refinished, engineered hardwood flooring can only be refinished a limited number of times. That's because the thickness of the top veneer varies. However, refinished engineered floors are quite durable, generally eliminating the need for frequent refinishing.
Hard wood floors allows for a classy, structurally sound feel wherever it’s used. Here’s a brief overview of the benefits for choosing hard wood flooring in your home.
For one, hard wood floors are straight forward to install. It is definitely less hassle for everyone involved when compared to installing other kinds of floors. They also offer a great variety of appearances with the options of colour, styles, stains, and species of wood. Once installed, they are low maintenance and very easy to clean, maintaining it’s high quality look for a long period of time. High quality materials combined with high quality installation will ensure that your hard wood floors last for generations and thus, increasing the value of your property as a great long term investment.
Some other benefits to having hard wood floors are the great acoustic properties and better indoor air quality. A well installed hard wood floor will not vibrate and have a hollow sound. With no fibres, embossing, or grout lines to trap dust, particles, dander and other allergens, hard wood floors offer clean air for allergy sufferers and everyone in general.
Whether it’s high foot traffic areas, or a personal office space inside your house, hard wood floors are a great option in terms of quality, durability, looks, and ease of mind.
What types of hardwood flooring are good for pets?
Many of my customers have pets, so naturally I get this question often - which type of hardwood should I use for pets? It's a difficult question to answer because truthfully all hardwood will dent and scratch over time - it's just a matter of how much and how much you can see it. But I do not think this is a reason to avoid getting hardwood for your home. Tons of homeowners have hardwood and pets and they can easily co-exist together.
Usually, this question is less of an issue for cats and more of a concern with dogs, especially active dogs. And, while there are things you can do w/ your pets (e.g. clip or file nails), I'm going to focus on hardwoods that can take a better beating and/or not show it as much.
1. First, avoid all softer woods:
- American Cherry
- American Walnut
- Pine
2. Take your shoes off. A lot of customers blame their pets for scratches, but often the we are the worst culprit. While high heels are often not wonderful for hardwood floor, the biggest culprit is not the shoes themselves, but rather what gets caught in the shoes. It's those pebbles and dirt that get caught in our shoes that cause most of the scratches. Or, sometimes w/ high heels that have been word a while, the rubber wears off and their is a nail at the bottom. So before blaming your lovelu pets, look at your own habits. For my customers that take their shoes off, their hardwood floors are in way better condition and it's a much longer time before they need to be refinished.
3. Consider distressed or handscraped hardwoods. This is a stylized look that some customers love and some hate. It tends to be in style in the South, certain areas in the west, and more rustic homes in the Northeast. This look is not for everyone. But, here's why it's good for pets...it shows the scratches and dents less because that's how the wood is designed - it dent looks like it fits right in. Likewise, hardwood that has more knots and character marks will hide the dent and scratches more.
4. All things being equal, harder hardwoods are better. This is tricky because not all things are equal - see the next point. But, Hickory is great choice (1820 on the Janka scale). There are many other hardwoods that are harder...see the janka scale of hardness...but you can't just look at hardness by itself.
5. Woods with stronger graining are better for hiding the scratches. Oak is a great example of this, especially red oak which has stronger graining than white oak. While Red Oak is only 1290 on the janka hardness scale (which is still hard and is hard enough), it does an excellent job of hiding the dents and scratches due to the strong graining. In fact, it usually hides them better than Brazilian Cherry (2,350) and Brazilian Walnut (3684) which have less and smoother graining.
6. Less glossy finishes. Satin finishes are usually best. The glossier the finish, the more it will show the scratches from the light reflecting off of it.
7. Usually, lighter colors are better for pets. First, darker colors seem to show the scratches more. I'm not sure why, but they just do. Second, oak is the most common type of hardwood and oak is naturally light. So, if you have a scratch that penetrates the stain color, it will show less on lighter colors since what is revealed beneath is simiar in color.
8. Solid hardwood or high quality engineered hardwood that can be refinished. It's always good to have an insurance plan so that you can refinish the hardwood floors when you need to.
9. Bamboo is "iffy" with pets - can vary greatly - some are good; most are not. Bamboo's resilience can vary widely pending the type and the brand, and what follows are some generalizations. a) stay away from stained bamboo - these scratch very easily and bamboo does not accept stains as well as oak does, b) carmelized bamboo is weaker than natural as the process of heating it weakens the grass, c) strand bamboo can be very strong - so if you have pets and want bamboo, this is a GREAT option - more expensive, but will hold up better, d) buying bamboo from big box stores and/or cheap bamboo results in a lot of dents, e) even though natural bamboo is technically stronger than oak, it shows dents more easily (and carmelized bamboo is usually softer than oak).
10. Use felt pads underneath furniture and area rugs/entrance mats. This is especially important for chairs that are used a lot. Oh, and stay away from chairs with wheels - often thing get caught in the wheels and cause scratches. If you do have chairs with wheels, put an area rug underneath. And, make sure you have area rugs/entrance mats at all your main entries. You can even have one outside, too. These are the areas that get worn down the fastest due to rain, snow, salt, dirt, so protecting these areas will go a long way towards preserving your floors.
SOME OF HARDWOOD SERVICES WE OFFER:
Hardwood Floor Installation Services
Wood Floor Refinishing
Restoration of Hardwood Floors
and much more
Additional Services
Installation of hardwood & laminate on stairs
Remove existing flooring (haul away)
Remove, reinstall appliances (fridge, stove,etc.)
Remove, reinstall existing base boards
Installation of new baseboards
Delivery of product
Custom borders
Hardwood Floor Installation Services
Wood Floor Refinishing
Restoration of Hardwood Floors
and much more
Additional Services
Installation of hardwood & laminate on stairs
Remove existing flooring (haul away)
Remove, reinstall appliances (fridge, stove,etc.)
Remove, reinstall existing base boards
Installation of new baseboards
Delivery of product
Custom borders
