hardwood flooring for new construction help please!!!

14 years ago

We are building a new home in wyoming. The majority of the home (excluding bathrooms/laundry) will be hardwood. My husband was dead set on brazilian cherry and I think I have finally convinced him otherwise. Now I don't know what to do instead. It has to be a real - not engineered or prefinished floor - wood floor. Although most advice seems to go with a prefinished my husband is adamant on finishing the floor himself as he claims the microbevels will drive him insane (I don't notice them so it wouldn't be an issue for me). We are doing a more contemporary style house and with 3 kids, 3 dogs, 3 cats I'd like to have a medium color flooring to hide dirt, fur etc. I like the look of wider floors. Has anyone done a non-exotic (I'm worried about keeping the humidity right in this drier climate) floor that they love and are willing to share pictures? Please help before I loose my mind!!!

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boxers

14 years ago

No offense Floor Me but a link to your retail site isn't all that useful. Since your in the industry and your advising people that a harder species somehow has a 'harder' finish you must know a lot more than most people in the industry. Its bad enough for diy'ers to give wrong advise let alone someone who should know better, unless of course you can show me a 'no scratch' warranty. Shame on you.

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Comments (10)

floor_me
14 years ago
With the kids and dogs and cats I would say go with a hickory, pre-finished. harder wood and harder finish.

Here is a link that might be useful: Floor Me!
peytonroad
14 years ago
Quartersawn red oak is gorgeous!
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Those "gaps" are mild. They are normal. They are expected. They tell the story that they are original. They are meant to be there. The new floors will eventually do that too...which means they will match (eventually). It might take a decade...but it will happen. And don't forget that once everything is sanded down, you will be VERY surprised at how those "gaps" seem to go away (visually). Why, you ask? Because some of that is dirt. Once the floor has been sanded down (1-2mm of wood is taken off with the sanding), the dark material between the planks gets shaved off as well. And voila...they look cleaner (because they are). Relax about the absolutely normal spacing between planks. Unless you have museum quality climate control, this LITTLE bit of shrinkage is normal and to be expected with every floor (especially if it is 30 years old).
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And WHY is this 'nail only'? These are 5" HICKORY planks. A wide plank floor (anything 5" or wider) must have glue assist during install. And hickory has a little bit more movement than oak...which means it needs a bit more stability (ie. glue assist) when installed. The "American Spirit" brand is sold by Floor & Decor. Their installation instructions are...limited. Which means the installer has to have quite a bit of knowledge to know all these things. A guy with a hammer (or nail gun) will have little flooring knowledge. At the price of $5.29/sf (as listed for a store in WA state) the chances of milling issues could be quite high. I think we have several issues going on here. As Oak & Broad suggests, start by CULLING all the boards that are BAD (this is what you are paying your installer to do...but he's not doing it so it falls to you to go for it) and then find out your TOTAL square footage of bad boards. Figure out if they are MORE than 5% (industry standard allows 5% waste for bad wood). If your culled footage is MORE than 5% you have a claim worthy of the paper it is written on. And while you are culling your wood, have someone that is well versed in wide plank install come in and have a look at this install. I'm PRETTY sure you need glue assist on this one. A 5" solid hickory plank (3/4" thick) for LESS than $6/sf is going to need some help. And please tell me that it was acclimated for several days/weeks. And please tell me your installer took moisture readings from random planks equal to 10% of the wood delivered to your home. And please tell me the boxes were opened and stacked PROPERLY while acclimating. And good luck with Floor & Decor. It's my understanding they take quite a bit of time to get moving if there is a claim that they have to deal with. The sooner the better is what I've heard.
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live_wire_oak
14 years ago
If you have wide variations in humidity, then an engineered flooring would be best. It IS real wood. You're confusing engineered with laminate, which is a picture of wood under plastic. As far as species goes, contemporary home screams maple flooring to me. Or bamboo.
floor_me
14 years ago
Harder finish on the "pre-finished" part of the advice. up to forty years on some brands.
glennsfc
14 years ago
SPAM

Read Terms of Service, Guidelines.
flooringbro
14 years ago
Wood is hygroscopic it will shrink in dry cimates. If micro bevels will bother your mate then gaping will too.A whole house humidifier will help control gaping .try and keep humidity controled between 35% to 55% .Wider planks will shrink more then norrow planks.Rift and quartered or just quarter saw cut is the most stable.Quarter sawn white oak stained might be a good choice!As for pre finished verses house finish the both have there pros and cons.Pre finish floor is done when installed.Sand and finish alot more work.Dont fall for warranty scams on pre finished floors ,a floor is only as good as the installation.A good example is Chelsea plank flooring one of the best pre finished on the market not much of a warranty.
woodfloorpro
14 years ago
Floor me may sell wood flooring but he's no pro.
uniquewoodfloors
14 years ago
I like this "a floor is only as good as the installation"
flooringbro commented. Hiring a qualified installer is more important than warranty. His team will get the customer,themselves and manufacturer protected from future claims. By the way how could I share pictures of Tigerwood since I can not link people to our site?
barnette84
14 years ago
livewireoak is 100% correct...engineered hardwood is real wood, and if your floor is being installed over a slab, you have to go with engineered as solid wood is too unstable. Flooringbro is also 100% correct in stating that a floor is only as good as the installation. We paid a lot of money to upgrade to an 5" wide engineered natural maple floor installed on a slab in our newly contructed home. The floor is beautiful, but just weeks after the install, planks starting coming up all over the place. The problem was that the subfloor was not made level prior to installation. So whatever you choose, please make sure you have good installers who properly prepare the subfloor. Our expensive upgraded floor is an excellent example of that. Good luck to you.

hardwood flooring for new construction help please!!!

boxers

Comments (10)

floor_me

peytonroad

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