What is hardwood flooring acclimation?

Acclimation is the process by which the moisture content (MC) of the hardwood flooring is brought to an equilibrium with moisture content of the space it will be installed in.  This process requires that the wood flooring materials sit in the space where they will be installed, while the building or home is kept at it’s normal temperature and humidity level.  For example, if the location will normally be kept at 70 degrees with a whole house humidifier running, then the house should be heated (or cooled) to about 70 degrees and the humidifier should be running while the wood is acclimating.

Why is hardwood flooring acclimation important?

Hardwood flooring shrinks and contracts based on humidity levels.  When temperature and humidity changes, wood moves. In general, wood is most dimensionally stable at around 30% MC.  When it’s below or above that, it can fail, causing gaps between boards, or buckling and cracking of the boards.  Movement of the boards during expansion and contraction can also cause fasteners to loosen, resulting in squeaks

Essential tools for hardwood flooring acclimation.

The only real way to tell if a wood is properly acclimated is to use a moisture meter. Delmhorst makes a nice digital wood moisture meter, and you can find many other digital and analog moisure meter options on Amazon.

Overall, the main things that affect the cost of solid hardwood floors are species, grade, width and finish.

How does the species of a hardwood floor affect the price?

Species of hardwood is the largest factor in determining the cost of a hardwood floor.  All things being equal, oak flooring is about the cheapest hardwood you can get.  As you go to less common species such as maple, hickory or cherry, the price will go up.  Moving into exotic flooring like wenge, zebrawood or ipe will drive up the cost of flooring materials even more.

How is does the grade of flooring affect the price?

Wood flooring comes in a variety of grades, which determine the overall character and variation between the planks.  For example, oak hardwood flooring is graded accordingly:

• Clear – wood is free of defects, with a uniform appearance and few character marks
• Select – wood has a relatively uniform appearance, but has more natural character marks like knots and color variation than clear wood
• Common No. 1 – wood has more natural variation including color, mineral streaking and knots
• Common No. 2 – wood has a rustic appearance with larger knots and natural markings, or marks from machining.

In any particular tree, there is less wood that meets the criteria for a grade of “clear” than “common”.  As a result, higher grades of wood within a species are more expensive than lower grades.

How does the width of hardwood flooring affect the price?

The wider the width of hardwood flooring, the more expensive it is going to be. The width may not seem like an obvious cost factor, but it is important.  When you cut trees into wider  boards, you will get less yield from a given tree.  Wider boards are also more likely to have defects that will throw the entire piece out of grade, so a high grade, wide plank floor can be particularly costly.

How does the hardwood floor finish affect price?

When you are choosing the finish for your hardwood floor, your basic options are oil based polyurethane, water based polyurethane, or a more durable commercial grade finish.  Prices vary due to the time involved in applying different types of finish, different drying times and the cost of the finish materials themselves.

In general, oil based finishes are the least expensive, followed by water based.  Two part commercial finishes like Bona Traffic are most expensive because of the cost of the products themselves, and the fact that left over materials harden and cannot be saved and used for later coats or other projects.

We recently replaced our old dance floor.  And I’m wondering how to maintain it on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.  Since it is a dance floor there is a certain amount of wear and tear.  I would like to know what you would recommend to use for cleaning and polishing.  I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

-Nikole

Dear Nikole:

It’s great to know that you are looking to maintain your new dance floor.  A hardwood floor, especially a commercial hardwood floor, is a great investment.  Being a commercial dance floor, there are a lot of hazards and abuse that your floor will be subjected to.  There are several ways that you can keep that floor looking and performing great for years to come.

Here are some tips for protecting your commercial dance floor:

1. Clean up liquid spills immediately.  Moisture and can damage a hardwood floors by seeping into cracks and gaps and swell the hardwood floor.
2. Dust, dirt, and debris can grind into the hardwood floor when walked on, thus wearing and dulling the finish, so sweep the floor nightly, using a microfiber dust mop, such as the
   Bona Kemi Commercial Cleaning Pad.
3. Damp mop the floor with a spray on hardwood floor cleaner such as Bona Hardwood Spray Mop and cleaner at least weekly, or when needed.
4. Screen and coat your floor every 6 months with a commercial grade hardwood floor finish, such as Bona Traffic.  This requires a professional hardwood floor refinishing company to come in and lightly buff the floor with a screen, and then apply a maintenance coat.

Because the experiences and preferences of flooring companies vary, it’s important to keep in mind that when you choose a professional to refinish the floors, they may recommend a different brand that is of equal quality that they are more comfortable working with. Be sure to discuss this with your flooring professional so they know what your needs and concerns are.

-Rob

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Bruce produces high quality pre-finished oak flooring, but when it comes to oak hardwood flooring, there are a lot of options out there. We actually have a traditional site finished oak floor on the main level of our home. But, when it came time extend our wood flooring into the rest of our home, a site finished product just wasn’t practical for our lifestyle. With two small kids and a home office, we just couldn’t stay off our floors for long enough to have them sanded and finished in place. With that in mind, we selected Bruce hardwood flooring by Armstrong to complete the floors in our home.  We wet with a Bruce pre-finished solid oak product like the Bruce Bristol Low Gloss Butter Rum White Oak Hardwood Flooring because we were confident that a floor from Bruce would give us the level of quality and finish durability we wanted, while still being beautiful and coordinating nicely with our existing floors

Oak Flooring Facts

• Varieties: Red Oak (Quercus rubra), White Oak (Quercus alba)
• Native Habitat: North America, Central America
• Janka Hardness Rating: Red Oak – 1290, White Oak – 1360
• Grades: No. 1 Common, No. 2 Common, Clear, Select

Finish Quality of Bruce Hardwood Floors

The finish on our Bruce floors has proven to be more durable than the oil based finish on our site-finished floors.  It has a beautiful gloss that has held up very well against our three kids, a dog, and ongoing home improvements.  While any hardwood floor can scratch or dent, we’ve been impressed with how resilient the Bruce finish has been.  After almost three years, we haven’t had any problems with the finish like peeling, flaking or discoloration.  For the most part, it looks just as good as the day we installed it.

Installation of Bruce Pre-Finished Floors

The quality and consistent milling on the individual boards of our Bruce solid oak flooring made installation simple.  Boards fit together quickly and easily, and didn’t need to be forced into place, which can sometimes be a problem with poorly milled products whose tongues and grooves don’t match up well.

Overall Appearance of Bruce Hardwood Floors

Our Bruce pre-finished floors have a warm look that blends nicely with our oak site-finished floors.  While we can definitely tell a difference between the two, most visitors to our home who aren’t in the flooring industry don’t even notice that we have two different types of wood flooring.  While we specifically chose a floor that would look as close as possible to our existing floors, Bruce also carries a variety of different styles, colors and species to accent or coordinate with your current interior design style.  In addition to solid wood products, they also carry engineered flooring like Bruce Balance Red Oak Plank Flooring. Overall, we’ve been extremely pleased with the Bruce floors we installed in our own home, and we also have many satisfied flooring customers that also love their Bruce pre-finished floors. Get free shipping on qualifying Bruce pre-finished flooring purchases.

I’ve been searching for the perfect eco-friendly flooring for my new condo. I’ve seen some cork flooring products on the market, but I’m not sure if it’s for me.  Can you tell me more?

-Joe in Atlanta

Dear Joe:

Cork is a flooring product that is as unique as it is beautiful.  Cork is available in a wide variety or styles and patterns that can suit a variety of interior design styles. The beauty of cork is “more than skin deep.”  Cork, which comes from the cork oak tree, is an environmentally friendly and sustainable flooring product.  This is because cork is harvested approximately every ten years without actually chopping down the tree that produces it.  Cork is the bark of the cork oak, and it is made up of air filled dead cells, cellulose and waxy substance called suberin.  When the cork is removed, the tree naturally produces more bark which can be harvested again and again.

If you think of a cork board when someone says cork flooring, the picture in your head couldn’t be further from the truth.  Cork varies from light colored and simple, like the creamy white APC Cork Cremes Apollo White Cork Flooring to multi-colored and playful like APC Cork Kids Collection Building Blocks Cork Flooring.  Cork flooring can be purchased in both glue down and click together tile styles.

Cork has some unique benefits as a flooring material.  Cork absorbs sound, which makes it the perfect choice for your condo installation.  It also provides some thermal insulation, and is impact absorbing while still being tough and durable.  This makes cork floors like the one shown to the left a unique choice playrooms.  In addition, cork is hypoallergenic, making it an excellent flooring choice for allergy sufferers.

Overall, cork is a flooring choice that is both unique, beautiful and environmentally friendly. Click here to buy cork flooring and save up to $100 using coupon code ZLS564201. -Rob

I’ve been shopping for floors lately, and I’m very intrigued by the bamboo flooring products I’ve seen.  Can you tell me a little bit about bamboo flooring and the differences between different bamboo flooring products?

-Jeff in Wisconsin

Dear Jeff:

Bamboo flooring’s popularity has not decreased since it was introduced into the flooring market. Its versatile style and consistent look have made it a very popular flooring choice.

Bamboo is technically a grass and not a hardwood. However, it is made from processed strips of cane and compressed to be as hard and durable as a regular hardwood floor.  It’s gaining popularity daily because of its “green” qualities. Bamboo is a rapidly renewing resource that matures in three years. Other green qualities include the fact that it regenerates without replanting and does not need pesticides or fertilization to grow.

There are three main styles of bamboo planks: horizontal, vertical or strand woven. With vertical bamboo flooring, the grain looks more linear and narrow where as with horizontal bamboo flooring the grain is wider and the knots of the bamboo are seen more prevalently. Strand woven bamboo, which consists of compressed strands of bamboo fiber, is the hardest and most durable bamboo flooring choice.  Within the different bamboo styles there are two main colors: carbonized and non-carbonized. Non-carbonized bamboo has a yellowish natural coloring where carbonized has a warmer, rich and brownish tint to it. Because of the growing demand of bamboo, other stain colors are available such as reds, blacks, browns, turquoise and even orange, but carbonized and non-carbonized are the two main colors you will see. One thing to keep in mind is that the carbonized product is softer than the non-carbonized.

Once seen as a contemporary and modern product, bamboo is now being seen in more and more residential homes as well as commercial applications. New products include laminate with bamboo patterns for busier lifestyles and handscraped floors for more rustic and traditional looks. Mosaic tiles and parquet patterns have even been created from bamboo as an alternative to the plank style. Bamboo is not just for floors anymore! Bamboo is also being used to make cabinets and counter tops.

When shopping for a bamboo floor or bamboo laminate floor, you want a floor that has a finish with a high UV protection content. You also want to support a company that lets the product reach full maturity before being harvested. If possible, try to select a FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified bamboo floor. This ensures that your floor was harvested properly.

Like hardwood, bamboo requires minimal maintenance. Door mats should be placed at every entrance to keep dirt from scratching the finish of the floors. Regular sweeping or vacuuming should be performed as well. Spills should be cleaned up immediately and not allowed to sit and penetrate the floor. If pre-finished, the manufacturers recommended cleaner should be used. If not, a hardwood specific cleaning solution should be used rather than a generic household cleaner. Using the wrong type of cleaner can permanently damage the finish on the floor.

To protect the floors, chair protectors should be placed on the bottoms of all chairs to prevent gouging. Rubber backed mats should be avoided because the backing can cause discoloration in the floor. Furniture and other heavy objects should not be dragged across the floor. These simple steps will keep your floor beautiful and long lasting.

-Rob

I love the look of hardwood floors, but my design tastes are very modern, and I can’t help but wonder if hardwood is too traditional to work with everything else in my home.  What do you think?  Are there hardwood flooring choices that tend to work best in a modern home?

-Kim in Ohio

Dear Kim:

Different hardwoods can help define different design styles. Most people think that all hardwood is for traditional lifestyles. This is no longer the case! Design styles include Traditional, Contemporary, Modern, Rustic and Transitional. Other styles include Arts and Crafts, Asian, Cottage, Country, Eclectic, English Country, Mediterranean, Old World, Romantic, Southwestern, Tropical and Tuscan.

When thinking about a contemporary species of hardwood, the most popular is a natural maple with a clear finish coat. The more narrow the board, the more modern the look. Other contemporary hardwood species include teak, yellow birch and beech. This type of wood contributes to the clean lines and crisp look that contemporary design styles offer.

The most traditional hardwood species is oak. Red oak or white oak, it makes no difference. 2 ¼” wide hardwood is the most traditional, but other widths are also considered traditional. Other traditional hardwood species include: walnut, hickory, pecan, pine, Santos mahogany and Brazilian cherry. These woods are popular because they blend so well with woods used to make traditional furniture.

Handscraped hardwoods, no matter what the species can be labeled as traditional, rustic, cottage, country, English Country, Old World or Tuscan. Some could argue that a handscraped look would fit in with a contemporary look if found in an old loft. Heart Pine flooring falls into many of the same categories: traditional, rustic, cottage and country.

Exotic hardwood species like African Wenge, Merbau, Padauk and Jarrah do not fall into the same category just because they are all exotic woods. Typically, woods with less grain are considered more modern or contemporary. Woods with mild to medium grain are more traditional. On the same note, woods that are lighter in color are usually more contemporary and woods that are warmer, darker and richer are usually more traditional.

For those people that have eclectic homes, there are definitely no rules. Some rooms may even have different hardwood species under the same roof! That’s the beauty of it being eclectic. (The new term for this is often referred to as “evolved”).

If you have a traditional home, there is no reason why you can’t use a natural finished maple in your home. If you have a modern home, there is no rule that says that you can’t use a hickory floor. These suggestions are just what are typically selected.

Ultimately, the hardwood that appeals to you is the one that is right for your design style. You get to enjoy your selection every day so the choice should be what makes you happy.

-Rob

I’ve finally settled on the wood floors I’m going to be installing in my living room, and now I’m struggling with paint colors.  The floors, being wood, are a neutral earthy color, but I’d like a vibrant color on my walls.  Can this work, or should I stick with earth tones?  Help!

-Nikki in Vermont

Dear Nikki:

Choosing the right wall color with your floor choice can provide harmony and balance to a room. There is more than one correct option for wall and floor combinations, but there are some general guidelines that can be followed to make a good decision.

If your room has dark, warm floors such as a mahogany it is best to use a warm paint color. If you want the room to feel dark and cozy, then a darker warm paint color should be used. Without the right amount of light in the room the room can feel like study or a cave. If you want the room to feel cozy, but not dark then a lighter shade of a warm color should be used.

For a room with light floors such as a light beige tile, dark or light walls can be used, depending on the look you are going for. If you want the room to feel open, light and airy a lighter color should be used. If you want the color of the wall to stand out, a darker color should be used.

Cooler colored walls should be used with cooler colored floors such as natural finished maple or hickory rather than a walnut or mahogany.

Basically, warmer colored floors should be paired with warmer wall colors and cooler colored floors should be paired with cooler wall colors. The shade or depth of color used determines the feel of the room.

When choosing a color from a floor covering that has multiple colors or shades it is not necessary to match the exact color of the floor. Choose a color that blends with the floor or is one of the minority colors in the tile. One easy way to do this is to match the floor to a paint color on a paint chart and then choose a color that is lighter or darker on the paint chart. This will ensure that the color blends, but does not match exactly. This will also allow you to use many more colors in your design scheme by opening up the pallet of colors used.

Another consideration is whether or not an area rug will be used. This opens up the choice for many more wall color choices. Again, when choosing a wall color with an area rug in mind, the color does not have to match exactly. You are looking for a color that blends or is a minority color in the rug. Again, this will allow you to use many more colors as a part of your overall design scheme.

Choosing the right wall and floor color combination can bring a room to life. If possible, be sure to test the paint swatches on the wall after the floors are installed. This will help you see if the color of the wall and the color of the floors compliment each other.

-Rob

We really need to replace the carpeting our new house, but we aren’t sure what to choose.  We like the durability of tile, but aren’t sure if it is really the right choice for our family.  We have young kids, and some time in the next few years, we expect my elderly grandmother to move in with us.  Can you help?

-Rita in Washington

Dear Rita:

Different lifestyles call for different flooring needs. Homes with children, the elderly and pets will benefit more with the right flooring choice. Below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of hardwood, carpet and tile for your lifestyle.

Flooring advantages for homes with children include:

Hardwood:

• Durable against rough playing, most toys and heavy traffic
• Long lasting
• Hardwood does not have to be replaced like carpet after years of spills and stains
• Excellent choice for households with allergies
• Can be refinished in the event of excess wear and tear

Tile:

• Durable against rough playing, toys and heavy traffic
• Tile floors are water resistant against spills
• Tile floors are stain resistant against spills

Carpet:

• After the children are grown and have finished extreme wear on the product, it can be replaced
• Soft to play on
• Keeps the room quiet

Flooring disadvantages for homes with children:

Hardwood:

• Slips and falls can happen when children are in socks
• Extreme use of certain toys can permanently scratch wood floors
• Certain toys or misuse can dent soft woods like pine flooring
• Kids tend to not be as careful with hardwood’s enemy: water
• Falls can hurt a little more on hardwood than floors such as carpet

Tile:

• Slips and falls can hurt a little more on tile than floors such as carpet
• Tile is not as comfortable to lie on and play

Carpet:

• Carpet shows spills and stains more if not caught and cleaned up on time
• Carpet needs to be replaced before other flooring types such as tile or hardwood

Flooring advantages for homes with elderly persons:

Hardwood:

• Wheelchairs can roll easily without damaging floors

Tile:

• Wheelchairs can roll easily without damaging floors

Carpet:

• Falls are softer on carpet than other flooring surfaces such as hardwood or tile
• Carpet is softer on the joints than other flooring surfaces such as hardwood or tile

Flooring disadvantages for homes with elderly persons:

Hardwood:

• Slips and falls can hurt a little more on hardwood than floors such as carpet

Tile:

• Slips and falls can hurt a little more on tile floors than floors such as carpet
• Tile is harder on the joints than floors such as carpet when standing for long periods of time

Carpet:

• Wheelchairs and walkers do not roll as well on carpet
• Wheelchairs can leave wheel marks indented in carpet

Flooring advantages for homes with pets include:

Hardwood:

• Hair is easy to keep swept up
• Pet accidents are easy to clean up
• Spills caused by pets are easy to clean up

Tile:

• Hair is easy to keep swept up
• Pet accidents are easy to clean up
• Spills caused by pets are easy to clean up
• Nails do not damage the floors like with hardwood or carpet

Carpet:

• Carpet is soft and warm to lie on

Flooring disadvantages for homes with pets include:

Hardwood:

• Heavier dogs with sharp nails can scratch hardwood

Tile:

• Tile can be uncomfortable to lie on

Carpet:

• Accidents can be harder to clean up if not caught in time

General flooring advantages for homes:

Hardwood:

• Lasting beauty
• Hardwood adds resale value to homes
• Warm feel to the home
• Easy to maintain

Tile:

• Tile adds resale value to homes
• There is no need to refinish tile floors
• Easy to maintain

Carpet:

• Carpet is soft and warm

General flooring disadvantages for homes:

Hardwood:

• High heels can leave permanent dents in  the floor
• Dirt and dust can gather in the corners of the room if not cleaned frequently
• Homes with frequent water spills are not the best candidates for hardwood

Tile:

• Tile can be noisy
• Glassware and fragile items can break when dropped

Carpet:

• Has to be replaced before hard surface items such as hardwood or tile

I hope this breakdown helps you with your flooring decisions!

-Rob

While browsing through flooring showrooms, we’ve seen a lot of unique tile patterns that we really like.  We’d prefer hardwood though, so I’m wondering if some of these patterns can be achieved with wood instead.

-Joan in Indiana

Dear Joan:

Hardwood flooring is a more versatile product than it’s given credit for. It doesn’t have to be laid in one direction only. In fact, it has many design options that can create a truly one of a kind look.

Design Options:

• Borders – borders are typically used to outline a room or the entire area that receives hardwood. Decorative borders are available for purchase or can be custom designed.
• Feature Strips – can be used to outline a room or to outline an area. For example, you can have an oak floor and create the look of a permanent area rug by outlining an area in a different, contrasting wood like mahogany or an exotic species. This allows you to use an exotic species without the cost associated with using it for the entire floor.
• Medallions – are often used to highlight a focal point of a room or an area. A medallion in the foyer or in the center of a room can be breathtaking. The good news is, there are plenty of patterns out there already created so all you have to do is choose one that inspires you rather than starting from scratch trying to design your own. A note of caution: keep furniture placement in mind when planning to use decorative medallions. You don’t want the medallion to end up being covered up with furniture or covered with an area rug where you can’t enjoy it.
• Diagonal – a simple hardwood pattern is to install the wood on the diagonal. A professional installer should be consulted first when considering this pattern to make sure that the pattern will not be “choppy” in any angled areas of the room.
• Inlays – hardwood inlays are a place to really get creative. Inlays can be murals, panorama or scenes of beautiful landscapes. If you do not grow tired of looking at a piece of art for years, a hardwood inlay may be for you.
• Herringbone – A herringbone pattern is an elegant, classic hardwood pattern this is a little more complicated than a diagonal pattern. It can be subtle or it can become the focal point of a room.
• Parquet –parquet flooring is a wood floor laid in a geometric pattern. Most people thing of gym floors when they think of a parquet floor, but there are some beautiful, updated designs available in parquet flooring.
• Custom Designs – if you have an artistic eye or want something unique that no one else has, you can create a custom designed border, feature strip pattern, installation pattern or medallion. With today’s technology, you can have almost any image you want integrated into your hardwood flooring.

Hardwood patterns are not for everyone, but if you are looking for a little something different, ask your retailer or installer about options for your space. There is a higher cost associated with patterns, but it can be well worth it in the end when you have a floor that stops traffic!

-Rob

I’m considering hardwood floors, but considering how they will cost, I’m worried that I’m going to have “buyer’s remorse” when everything is said and done. Can you please tell me more about the benefits of using hardwood flooring?

-Suzan in Colorado

Dear Suzan:

There are many benefits of hardwood flooring, and to many, its advantages far out weigh the few disadvantages. Hardwood is a financially a significant investment, but one that is often well worth it.

Hardwood is a long lasting and durable floor covering. You know when you purchase a hardwood floor that it will last as long as you live in the home and probably as last as long as the home does! Because they are so long lasting, hardwood floors can set the stage for the whole design scheme. It can be a great place to start the decorating process because it is a piece of the puzzle that will probably not change, unlike furniture and paint colors.

Despite their longevity, hardwood floors remain fairly versatile. When hardwood floors are sanded and refinished, you can take the opportunity to change the look of the floor by using a stain or changing your stain color to suite new decorating tastes. This option can change the whole look of your home. It is not an easy or inexpensive process, but it can give your floor a whole new look.

It doesn’t seem to matter what type of wood species you choose or what stain you choose to use, a hardwood floor always seems to make an area warm, rich and inviting. Even a light maple with a clear stain can make a contemporary setting warm and inviting.

Hardwood floors are one of the easiest floor coverings to maintain. As long as there are mats at each entrance to trap dirt before it reaches your floors, the floors are swept regularly and the right cleaners are used for stains and spills, maintaining a hardwood floor is a breeze.

There are many, many design choices when choosing hardwood flooring. You can get hardwood in a plank or a strip (narrow or wide), handscraped or traditional, pre-finished or site finished, beveled edges or non beveled, dark stains or light stains, warm stains or clear stains, species with a lot of grain or species with very little grain, character marks or smooth floors without character marks, etc. There is a hardwood floor choice for any design scheme.

Best of all, hardwood floors can also increase your homes value. Now that’s a real benefit!

If you are considering hardwood floors, keep these benefits in mind when comparing other types of floor covering. While these benefits may not suit your budget or your lifestyle and you may want to choose something else, those that do choose hardwood floors, are almost can guaranteed a long lasting, beautiful investment in their home.

-Rob

I want a floor that is really going to stand out – something unusual or exotic.  Can you help me out with some information about hardwood flooring beyond the normal oak?

-Ron in Arizona

Dear Ron:

These days, people don’t want to have what their neighbors have in their homes; they want something better, more unique, more original. This applies to choosing a hardwood floor. The question used to be, “What kind of oak floor do you want?  2 1/4 wide natural or 2 1/4 wide stained?” Now there are many more choices of species, stains and widths than ever before.

Exotic floors are constructed like domestic hardwoods and you have the choice of engineered, solid or acrylic impregnated. Style choices include strip, plank and parquet. Installation methods include gluing, nailing or stapling and floating. Multiple widths are available to help you get the look that you want.

When exotics were first introduced, you typically heard names like: Brazilian Cherry, African Wenge, Santos Mahogany, Sapele, Merbau, Bamboo, Australian Cypress, etc. Then, many others became available such as:

Cocobolo

Brazilian Olivewood

Brazilian Ebony

When choosing an exotic hardwood floor keep the following points in mind:

• It is best to ask questions to make sure that the species you choose is best for your living conditions.
• Some choices may have considerable range of color where no two boards look alike. This is part of the beauty of exotic flooring.
• A floor with a lot of range can easily become the focal point of a room or the whole area. Know this in advance before planning your design scheme.
• Sunlight can change the color of the wood so area rugs need to be rotated.
• When shopping, ask to take a sample home to view it in your surroundings, especially your lighting conditions.

There are choices of exotic hardwoods for every design style. Some woods look very traditional, some very contemporary and some live up to the image you think of when you hear the word exotic. Some are even purple in color!

If you want something different and unique, an exotic hardwood may be for you. If you appreciate true natural beauty, unique color ranges, the character of each board possible looking different, then ask your local flooring retailer for some samples today!

-Rob

P.S.  If you’re interested in checking out other types of exotic hardwood flooring, other species include:

Acacia”Koa”, Afrormosia, Afzelia, Amarettowood, AmberWood , Andiroba, Angelique, Angelim Pedra, Victorian, Bangkirai, Beech, European, Blackwood, Bloodwood, Bocote , Boire, Brushbox, Northern Bubinga, Cameron, Cherry (Caribbean, Mayan/Aztec, Patagonian), Chestnut (Brazilian and Southern), Cocobolo, Curupixa, Doussie, Ebony (Blackheart and Brazilian), Eucalyptus, Brazilian Gingerwood, Goncalo Alves, Green Ironwood, Ivory maple, Kambala, Karri , Kempas , Lacewood, Leopardwood, Makore, Maple (Brazilian and Patagonian), Mindi, Movingui, Tasmanian Oak, Brazilian Olivewood, Paraju, Peroba, Pradoo, Purpleheart, Ribbon Gum, Rosewood (Bolivian, Caribbean, Honduran, Patagonian, Tiete), Rubberwood, Satinwood, Shedu Mutenye, Spotted Gum, Sydney Blue, Tabaccowood, Tamarind, Teak (Brazilian, Brown, Ruby, True), Tigerwood, Walnut (Brazilian [Ipe], Caribbean, Mayan/Aztec, Patagonian, Peruvian) and Zebrawood.

The rooms in my home are small, so I’d like to choose a flooring that will help them feel bigger. Any tips?

-Rita in Texas

Dear Rita:

Floor coverings are an important part of your home. Its main purpose is obviously functional, but there are decorative aspects that can help determine the way a room feels. Depending on the type of flooring you choose, a room can feel intimate, spacious, cold, warm, inviting, large or small.

For example, darker or warm color schemes will make a room feel more intimate. Lighter and cooler colors will make a room feel less intimate.

People often think that dark floors will make a room feel smaller, but this is not necessarily true. Dark floors will only make a room feel smaller if there is insufficient lighting either from windows or overhead lighting sources or the walls are painted a darker color in combination with the dark floors. The opposite is also false. Light floors will not make your room feel larger if the walls are painted a darker color and there is insufficient lighting.

The size of the flooring you use can help determine how large or small a room feels. You might not think that a wide width hardwood or large format tile (12×12 or larger) belongs in a powder room, but they actually can help visually increase the size of the room. The fewer lines there are for your eyes to intercept, the larger the space will feel. As long as the tile or piece of hardwood can be repeated more than twice, the larger format will look great!

A larger tile in a larger area also helps maintain the spaciousness of a room. Using a small tile (smaller than 12×12) in a larger room will break up the room with so many lines that in can, in fact feel smaller.

Flooring patterns can also have an effect on the way a room feels. More complicated patterns are better suited for larger rooms where more restful patterns are better suited for smaller rooms. As an example, if you have a large room a modular pattern with large format tiles (18×18 or 20×20) can increase the size of the room more than if a 12×12 tile was laid straight. Generally speaking, turning the tile on the diagonal or laying the tile at a 45 degree angle will make a room appear larger.

To determine how a flooring pattern will make a room feel, you can start with a simple drawing on graph paper. Lay your room out to scale and draw the pattern in. Seeing a pattern laid out on paper can help you visualize the pattern and determine if it will be too busy or too simple for the space. You may find that you can save money by eliminating pieces, or you may find that adding a pattern will help the overall look of the room.

If you are not sure about a selection you have made or you are not a person that can visualize, the easiest thing to do is to pick up some home decorating magazines and look at the pictures. All of these examples will become clear! Look at wall color combinations, flooring patterns and tile or hardwood sizes in relation to the size of the room.

-Rob

I’m in the planning stages of a complete home remodel, and I’m feeling hopelessly overwhelmed.  I need to pick flooring finishes, paint colors, tile . . . everything.  As I move from store to store, and back to my home, I’m having a terrible time matching materials and deciding how they will “go together” from a design standpoint.  Please help!

-Janet in Kentucky

Dear Janet:

Flooring samples can help make the selection process for flooring much easier. Since flooring is such a major purchase in the home most products are available where you can take the samples with you in order to look at them with other selections. It is important to look at the samples in the light where they will be installed as well as with other selections such as paint, cabinetry and furniture.

However, the samples are just that – samples. They are not the exact final product that you will receive. They are made at a different time under different conditions and may not be exactly the same color as what you saw in the retail store.  You can expect them to be very close, but not exact.

When looking at samples in your home, ask for the largest size sample you can get. When shopping for hardwood and tile, ask for samples with multiple pieces or multiple loose pieces. This will give you an idea if you can expect the product to have a range of color. This will also help you imagine what more of the product will look like.

Once you get the samples and bring them home, set them on the floor in the area they will be installed. Place the samples in different parts of the room and look at them at different times of the day (to view them in different light). When looking at the samples, back away from them a few feet and look at the samples standing up. People often have a tendency to examine samples for color several inches from the sample. This is not how you look at the floor everyday!

It is also a good idea to designate a bag for samples if you are working on a project with multiple finishes. That way, you will always have all of the elements of the room together when you are shopping for more pieces of the project. Your mind can never quite remember the exact shade of something and you don’t want to make a mistake buying something that you cannot use or worse, something you cannot return.

Another tool that can help you envision what your floor will look like once installed is the Virtual Room Designer, which lets you choose different types of flooring and view it in different room applications.  You can click here to take a look.

Remember if you check out a sample from a retail store to return the sample when you have finished. There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to see or check out a sample and not being able to because someone hasn’t returned it when they were finished. Some retailers will order samples for you to keep. When you finish with carpet samples, you can reuse them or return them to the store. Some uses for old carpet samples are mats for the trunk of your car, great seats for little ones in school or comfortable places for pets to rest.

-Rob

Is it acceptable to mix flooring types in the same home?

-Brenda in New Hampshire

Dear Brenda:

In short, absolutely!

Below are some guidelines to help you plan your flooring project. Keep in mind that these are guidelines and not set rules because each house and personal taste varies so much.

Mixing Hardwood

As a general rule, it is best to keep the hardwood on one floor of your home the same species and color. However, certain circumstances make it acceptable to change the species and color if the room is completely separated by a door.  It is also best to keep the hardwood in a home running the same direction unless a different room is completely separated by a door.

Keep in mind that if you use multiple woods on multiple levels or multiple woods on the same level you may lose some flow and continuity as well as any bulk purchasing discounts offered from the retailer.

Mixing Tile

Tile is the easiest product to mix in a home. You can have a common area tile that is the same while changing the tile in each bathroom. You can use the same tile in a common area and change sizes, styles or colors within that common area. You can also use one common tile throughout the areas with tile in the home mixing in different accents within those areas to define each room. With floor plans being more open and hard surfaces being used more throughout the home, more opportunities are available to mix tiles. All you need is a transition point or door to change tiles (style, direction or color).

Using different tiles in each area can give each room its own personality. If the tiles are intended to be more restful or a serve as a background than a focal point that is perfectly acceptable as well! A circumstance where you may want to consider using all of the same tile is if you have rooms with patterned wallpaper.

Mixing Carpet

Let’s say you have hardwood or tile in the common areas of your home. A great place to break up and change the flooring is by using carpet in the bedrooms. Because each bedroom has a door, you can choose different styles and colors for each bedroom to suit the décor of that room.

Another reason to mix carpet in a home is if the main carpet color chosen does not coordinate well with all of the other wall colors in the home.

Tile, carpet and hardwood all mix well with each other as well. From room to room each of these products can transition well to each other.

An idea to help you determine if you are mixing the right amount of floor coverings is to go back to kindergarten – and color. Create a drawing or make a copy of your floor plan and use different colors to outline each type of flooring. When coloring rooms with hardwood, draw lines indicating the direction the hardwood will be installed. When drawing tile, draw squares indicating the direction the tile will be installed. Also, use different colors for each different tile used. For carpet, color the rooms solid. This will help you determine the degree that your floors are either being used for a background or if they are going to be more of a focal point.

-Rob

My wife and I are trying to pick out a stain color for our new hardwood floor, and we just can’t seem to agree. I’d like to pick a color that matches our cabinets, but my wife would like to pick a color that compliments some of our other design choices. What do you think?

-John in Omaha

Dear John:

When considering the use of hardwood flooring, it is important to consider the other finishes in the home that will surround the hardwood. Some of these finishes include: base board, chair rail, crown molding, window coverings, cabinets, furniture and more. Often, people tend to think that all of the other wood finishes in the home need to have exact matching hardwood species and stain finish colors.

Think of when you go into your closet and look at a collection of sweaters or pants that are all the same color, black for example. It is virtually impossible for all blacks to be the exact same shade. This is the same with hardwood. Even if you chose the same species of hardwood for your floors and the exact same species and stain for the molding, cabinets or doors in your home it would be virtually impossible for those woods to match. It is impossible to match because of different elements such as the area that the hardwood is grown, the conditions it is grown in, the species and type of stain as well as other variables.

Again, even if you could get everything to match, from a design standpoint, you don’t want all of the woods in your home to match; you want them to coordinate or blend, but not to match exactly. If you could get everything to match, it would look like you went to the wood store and picked everything in your home off the same shelf. That’s no fun! A home looks more balanced and well planned if each different type of wood blends rather than matches. When everything matches, it takes away from the natural beauty of the product as well as its natural characteristics.

Taking it one step further than floors, molding, cabinets and doors coordinating the same “rules” apply to furniture and accessories. It is perfectly acceptable to have a stained cherry piece of furniture in the same room with stained oak floors and doors. It is also perfectly acceptable to have more than one stained species or color of furniture in the same room as a different stained floor or molding.

This advice does not mean that you should mix oak trim with cherry doors with maple cabinets just so that everything does not match – it means that it is ok and expected for all wood finishes in a home not to match exactly.

Be creative, but most importantly, have your expectations set to where you understand that even the same species of hardwood stained the same color will not match exactly.

-Rob

I am refinishing the hardwood floors in an older home. I’m looking for a natural/eco friendly stain and gloss that is non-toxic. Do you have any suggestions?

-Bridgette

Dear Bridgette:

It’s great to know that you are looking to use an eco-friendly and non-toxic floor finish. Choosing a finish is important, because the right finish will protect your floor for years to come.  When considering environmentally friendly finish choices, you want to choose a water based or water borne finish. These finishes have a low VOC (Volatile Organic Components or Compounds) because they use water instead of solvents to carry the urethane molecules.

Off the bat, my first recommendation would be to go with a water based finish made by BonaKemi.  Their floor finishing systems are GREENGUARD-certified for indoor air quality.  They offer a variety of finish choices, ranging from the very low VOC Eon 70 to the more durable Bona Traffic.   BonaKemi finishes are high quality, and I have had excellent results with their products.

Other environmentally friendly finishes and stains include products produced by Bioshield, Safecoat and Ecoprocote.  I don’t have any personal experience working with these products, so I can’t vouch for the results or durability you’ll get with them.

Because the experiences and preferences of flooring companies vary, it’s important to keep in mind that when you choose a professional to refinish the floors, they may recommend a different brand that is of equal quality that they are more comfortable working with. Be sure to discuss this with your flooring professional so they know what your needs and concerns are.

-Rob

I love my wood floors, but I have a couple of really annoying squeaky spots that I’d really like to get rid of.  What should I do if I have squeaky hardwood floors?

Shannon from Colorado

Dear Shannon:

Squeaks in wood floors can be very irritating.  While there is no miracle cure for floor squeaks, there are a couple of things you can do to try to eliminate them.

If your squeaks are coming from the hardwood flooring itself, the cause is rubbing between the tongue and groove of the wood planks.  If this is the case, one easy solution to try is using graphite powder to lubricate the rubbing boards.  Just sprinkle a little bit of the graphite powder in the grooves between the boards, and then walk across them to cause the boards to flex and squeak.  This will allow the graphite to settle down in the cracks.  Then vaccuum up the excess powder.

If graphite powder doesn’t do the trick after a couple of applications, and there is a a lot of movement in the boards, you can drive flooring nails or screws at a slight angle through the boards into the subfloor to reduce movement.  You can then fill the nail holes with a wood putty that matches your floor.  This isn’t an idela solution, but it’s a lot easier than ripping up the entire floor if you are happy with the rest of it.

If you have access to the underside of your floor, you can drive screws at an angle, up through the floor joists into the subfloor to reduce up and down movement in the subfloor itself.  This will help eliminate squeaks caused by the subfloor moving up and down on the nails originally used to install it.

I hope these tips help solve your squeaky floor problems!

-Rob

I touched up a scratch on my red oak hardwood floor using the same finish that the floor contractor used and it looks duller then the rest…… it was a oil based finish called Fabulon.

-Kim From Alabama

Dear Kim:

I am sorry to hear about your scratched hardwood floor problem. Dull finish or mismatched finish is very common when blending scratch repairs on hardwood floors, and there could be several reasons for this:

1. You may not have stirred the polyurethane well enough before applying it.  If you only dipped your brush into the top of the finish, without stirring well, that may have led to your finish not being shiny.
2. You may have used the right material, but the wrong sheen.  If you didn’t use a can of polyurethane that was left over from your project, call whoever applied the finish to double check what sheen they used.
3. If you sanded the area around the scratch, you may not have applied enough polyurethane in the sanded area, resulting in a dull area because the finish is thinner in that area.

It’s tough to know for sure which of these possibilities applies to your situation, but hopefully they will get you started with solving your problem.

I recommend that you carefully outline with tape the adjacent boards along their edges and then gently scrape the area that you originally touched up with a hand held floor scraper that you can get from any big box home retailer.  That will take the finish back down to nearly bare wood, but do not go all they way down.

I would properly stir, not shake, the polyurethane.  Then carefully apply a thin coat of finish.  Let that coat dry and repeat. If all went well, your floor should be as good as new.

-Rob

I recently had my floors refinished and the poly came out very uneven. Some places it’s really shiny and others, its very dull. Any ideas on a quick fix to even it out? I have to move furniture into these rooms this weekend.

-Lacey G. from Merrimack, New Hampshire.

Dear Lacey:

I assume that you have a polyurethane floor, so I will base my answer on that. The dull and shiny spots in your hardwood floor indicate that your installers did not apply the finish correctly.

Dull spots in polyurethane floors usually indicate that the finish was not applied carefully, the applicator had a dry spot on it, or the finish was thinned out with a solvent such as mineral spirits. The latter is a big mistake, but a common shortcut in the industry among people trying to save money on materials.

Shiny spots in polyurethane floors can be caused by the finish not flowing out properly and pooling in areas, or inconsistent screening between coats of finish.

There is no quick fix for this, what I recommend is that you have the refinishers come back and screen and coat the floor. A screen and coat is a procedure where the floor is lightly sanded (or screened) with a floor maintainer or buffer, instead of a floor sander. This light sanding evens out the finished, cleans away debris, and roughens the surface, so another coat of finish will be able to properly adhere to the existing finish.

There is no other way to even out the finish.

-Rob