Today more the ever, the popularity of hardwood floors in American homes has manufacturers developing new techniques to create hardwood flooring. Besides the common 3/4" solid oak flooring there are many new options for consumers to choose from. By gluing hardwood veneers together manufacturers are able create a hardwood floor that can be installed in places that the old 3/4" solid wood floors could not. In addition, the factory finishes that are used today are extremely tough and durable. So what hardwood floor is right for you? We'll help you determine which floors are best for your particular situation and we'll also help you avoid some common homeowner mistakes when buying hardwood flooring.
Wood Floor Construction
Solid – These floors are one complete piece of solid wood from top to bottom. They generally are 3/4" thick, however new technology in milling is allowing for a 5/16" thickness as well. The most commonly recognized width is 2 1/4" but also comes in sizes from 1 1/2" strips to 7" planks. Lengths will be random from 12" – 84".
All solid products react to the presents of moisture. In the winter heating months, moisture leaves the wood causing the floor to contract or leave gaps between each board. In the summer months when humidity enters the wood, it will cause the wood to expand and if there is too much moisture it can cause it to cup.
Solid strip or plank floors can only be installed with the Nail Down procedure on a wooden subfloor.
Engineered – Refers to products that have 2,3, or 5 layers of wood laminated together to become one board. These products will arrange in thickness from 1/4" to 9/16" and widths from 2 ¼" to 7". Lengths will be random from 12" – 60".
Engineered floors have layers of wood that have a cross-graining lamination process resulting in a product that is dimensionally stable and not affected by moisture as greatly as solids. With cross-graining the plies, engineered floors become very stable so they do not expand and contact like solid products. Engineered floors can be installed on any grade level of the home; below grade, on grade or above grade. Installation options are Nail Down, Staple Down, Glue Down, or Floating.
Longstrip – Is constructed the same as Engineered products, but carries its own description because these products are "Long" planks – approximately 84" in length – and have individual sliced cut slats that are glued together to make up the face of each plank. Longstrip boards can have as few as 17 slats per board or as many as 35 slats per board.
Longstrip products are designed for a Floating installation, but certain manufacturers also recommend Glue Down, and or Staple Down.
Parquet – Comes in many unique patterns, but generally thought of as a 12"x12" square. Six 1" fillets are assembled into 6"x6" squares and then four of these are quarter-turned to make the 12"x12" square. Patterned parquets are very elegant and can add a special feature to your wood floor.
Parquets are a Glue Down installation either on grade or above grade.
A big difference between solid oak floors and engineered oak floors is how they are cut from the tree. Solid oak planks are sawn from the tree trunk, which cuts right through the tree's circular growth rings. While the engineered planks begin by cutting the wood veneers with sharp knives as the tree is spun in a circle. The wood veneers are then dried and laminated together to make wood flooring planks.
Wood always wants to grow in a certain direction. In solid wood planks the boards will always grow across the width of the planks, not the lengths. By taking each ply in an engineered plank and by changing the direction of wood graining for each ply you can drastically reduce the expansion and contraction problem. This is called cross-ply construction. To help understand this, think of it as one ply will be growing to the left, while the other ply will be growing to the right. Thus the plies counteract each other and prohibit expanding, or contracting. This is why it's not necessary to leave an expansion gap around the perimeter of a room when installing most engineered floors.
Hardwood floors come in either a beveled edge or a square edge. Today, most hardwood floor manufacturers are calling their beveled edge "eased edge" because the tapered edge is dramatically reduced from the old deeply grooved edges. The eased edge does serve a purpose. First, the manufacturer can produce these planks faster and thus lower the price per square foot without sacrificing the quality of the hardwood. Second, the eased edge is more forgiving over slightly irregular subfloors. If you are concerned with variations in plank heights than the eased edge is the style to choose.
Unfinished solid oak floors come in several different qualities. These qualities are clear, select and better, #1 common, and #2 common. The clear has no visual blemishes or knots and is extremely expensive. The select and better quality has some small knots and very little dark graining, while the #1 common and #2 common have more knots and more dark graining. When buying an unfinished solid oak floor make sure you know what quality you are buying.
Wood Finishes
UV-cured – Factory finishes that are cured with Ultra Violet lights versus heat.
Polyurethane – A clear, tough and durable finish that is applied as a wear layer.
Acrylic-urethane – A slightly different chemical make up than Polyurethane with the same benefits.
Ceramic – Advanced technology that allows the use of ceramics to increase the abrasion resistance of the wear layer.
Aluminum Oxide – Added to the urethane finish for increased abrasion resistance of the wear layer.
Acrylic Impregnated – Acrylic monomers are injected into the cell structure of the wood to give increased hardness and then finished with a wear layer over the wood.
Although the old method of stain and coat is still used on unfinished wood floors, the factory pre-finished wood floors have grown tremendously. Today the hardwood flooring manufacturers are using several coats of ultra-violet(UV) cured urethane to protect their wood floors. The UV cured urethanes can only be properly cured in the presence of UV light, which can only be done in a manufacturing facility. These UV cured urethanes create a tough, scratch resistant wear layer and help prevent moisture from penetrating the wood's surface. This does not mean you should wash your floor with a mop, but it does mean these floors won't watermark like the old waxed hardwood floors and the UV cure urethanes do make it easier to maintain the like new appearance than the old waxed hardwood floors.
Most factory finished hardwood floors have several coats of finish applied to the wood's surface. For example, on some flooring 7 coats of UV cured urethane is applied. This would be extremely difficult for someone to duplicate on a job site finish, not to mention how many days it would take. This is one of the main reasons why many flooring mechanics, retailers, as well as, builders are pushing pre-finished hardwood flooring. Instead of taking several days to install and finish a new hardwood floor, a pre-finished hardwood floor is generally done in one day.
Wood Installation Methods
Nail Down – Typically used with the 3/4" solid products, however there are adapters available for thinner products as well. 2" nailing cleats are used with a wood flooring nailer and mallet to attach the flooring to the subfloor. Solid Strip floors or Plank floors can only be installed on wooden subfloors on grade or above grade. The National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association has complete installation instructions available on their web site.
Staple Down – Staples are used versus nailing cleats to attach the wood flooring to the subfloor. A pneumatic gun is used to drive the staple into the wood flooring and subfloor. This procedure is easier than the nail down for do-it-yourself installations. Not all wood flooring manufacturers recommend the same staple gun. Read the manufacturers installation manual to assure you have the right staple gun and right size staples.
Glue Down – Mastic or adhesive is spread on with a trowel to adhere the wood flooring to the subfloor.
Engineered wood floors and parquets can be glued down. Solid strip floors and solid plank floors can only be nailed or stapled. There are many types of adhesives on the market, please use the manufacturers recommended adhesive when installing their flooring. Not using the manufacturers recommended adhesive could void any warranties you may.
Floating – Floating refers that these floors are not mechanically fastened to the subfloor. There is a thin pad that is placed between the wood flooring and the subfloor. A wood glue is applied in the tongue and groove of each plank to hold the planks together. The padding protects against moisture, reduces noise transmission, softer under foot, and provides for some additional "R" value. Some engineered floors and all Longstrip floors can be floated. This is a very fast, easy and clean method of installation. Please consult the manufacturer installation instructions to see if your flooring can be floated.
At Homecorp, we do all kind of wood flooring installation in the Dallas and Metroplex. Call us for your new home construction or remodel.
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