HARDWOOD GUIDE

Because hardwood flooring manufacturers have dramatically improved the construction methods and wood finishes they use to manufacture hardwood floors, many homeowners are choosing the beauty and charm of hardwood flooring for their homes. Manufacturers have also expanded their wood species offerings which now include many types of exotic hardwoods from other countries. The hardwood floor choices of today add many exciting, new visual looks and colorations to suit anyone's decor and lifestyle.

Hardwood flooring is manufactured in solid wood planks, engineered wood planks and longstrip engineered planks. These floors are offered in a variety of different widths and styles. Choose from the classic 2-1/4" strip floor all the way to 7" or wider planks. All wood floors have some sort of precision, tongue and groove installation system and either a square edge or some degree of beveling along the plank edges.

• Solid Hardwood Floors - are a solid piece of hardwood cut into wood planks that are generally 3/4" thick. (Above ground level areas only, not recommended for concrete slabs.)
• Engineered Hardwood Floors - are several plies of wood that a glued and laminated together to form a wood plank. Range in thickness from 1/4" to just over a half inch. (Can be installed almost anywhere in the home, including over dry concrete slabs.)
• Exotic Hardwood Floors - are used to described hardwood species from around the World. these hardwoods are not found in North America and come from Australia, Africa, Brazil and the Far East. Exotic hardwoods offer unique wood graining and colorations. Most exotic floors are available in engineered wood construction but some are available in solid hardwood planks as well.

Today's hardwood flooring finishes offer a vast improvement in durability and ease of maintenance over the old waxed wood floors. The factory applied urethane finishes are UV light-cured and many have aluminum oxide chips embedded into the finish for added protection from wear. The 3/4" solid wood floors and the thicker top-veneered engineered floors can be sanded and refinished. Most hardwood flooring manufacturers also offer a urethane recoat product to touch-up dull, traffic areas. (Just be sure to apply wax on waxed floors and urethane on urethane finished floors - never substitute one for the other!)

Hardwood installation has improved and diversified over the years too, to suit all different kinds of construction. Although solid wood floors are for nail down installations over wooden subfloors, engineered hardwood floors can be floated, stapled-down or glued-down or wood subfloors and dry concrete slabs. Some of the newer engineered wood floors do not require nails, stapling or glue. Instead, these engineered wood floors clic together using a unique tongue and groove interlocking system. The entire floor floats over the subfloor held together by the unique locking system. This allows these floating engineered wood floors to be installed anywhere in the home, including over concrete slabs and in dry basements below grade. Some of the clic hardwood flooring manufacturers include: Award, Kahrs, Mohawk and Shaw.