Now that we understand the basics of hardness, durability, and movement,

We are now ready to examine the different types of hardwood that are available. There are pros and cons to each of the different types, let's look at them right now.

Parquet Floors

Parquet is made up of strips of wood assembled in a square or in a rectangle called a 'mosaic'. Parquet is quite inexpensive and must be glued directly to the sub floor using a special adhesive. It is available in both a prefinished and a sand-on-site style. Parquet was really popular in the 70's, but not much in use today. Since they are typically only 3/8" in thickness, they cannot be refinished more than 2-3 times.

Unfinished Hardwood

Unfinished hardwood refers to the manner in which you purchase the product, which is of course - unfinished. The rough wood is bought and nailed down to the sub floor, which is then sanded, sealed, stained and then finished. The hardwood is available in MANY different sizes and thickness. The widths range anywhere from 1" to pretty much as wide as you can imagine. We usually recommend that you remain at or below 3+1/4 (remember the movement due to moisture?). Unfinished hardwood is very much in use today, but is giving away to the Prefinished. This is due to the new Aluminum Oxide finishes, as well as the prefinished floors have a lot less dust and take less time to complete.

Prefinished Hardwood

The prefinished hardwood comes in strips which are already sanded, stained and covered with several coats of polyurethane which are applied in the factory. A great variety of species, grades, colors, finishes and strip widths are offered. Quick and easy to install without the dust and odors associated with unfinished hardwood. Right now, most of the industry is gearing towards the prefinished. With the new Aluminum-Oxide finishes and even some of the prefinished lines are using Nanotechnology in their finishes! With all this going for it, quality prefinished floors are tough to beat.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered flooring is a hardwood wear layer overtop of a base of plywood. The plywood is used it's for dimensional stability (again - movement) although, it can be a little bit more expensive. The plywood base acts as a stabilizer for the wear layer, so that the floor will move less. Also, the engineered can be nailed OR glued, which does allow it to be used overtop of radiant (in floor) heating systems without problems. There are some down sides to this product; please look in our catalogue about the differences within engineered flooring.

Laminated Flooring

Now this is a little different. According to the National Wood Flooring Association, and the National Oak Manufactures Association this is not to be considered hardwood flooring. Since it is viewed by most people to be one of the options when choosing wood flooring, we will address it as such.

Laminate is a base of Fiberboard (mashed up wood - sort of) with a computer generated image (picture) of wood flooring on top. Now, the nice aspect to laminate is that it can be used anywhere, and everywhere - most of them are guaranteed against water, and many other dangers that affect wood. It is usually inexpensive (though, of course it does range), and is bought in planks, typically 7" x 36" approximate. It is floated over a foam or cork underlayment, which allows the floor to move easily. The floors are 'floated' which means that they are not attached to the sub floor, just to each other (some with glue, others with a tension system that holds them together). Laminated floors definitely have their uses, but unfortunately, they are being pushed by the big, powerful players in the industry as being 'the next best thing since sliced bread' which is of course untrue. They don't last, they don't look right, and they don't feel right.

Is Aluminum Oxide a hard finish?

Everywhere you look, someone will be pushing a prefinished hardwood with Aluminum Oxide, or Titanium, or Ceramics in the finish - 25 year warranties, or 50 year warranties. Wow. If we listened to what the manufactures are saying, we'd have floors that were made of metal and would last forever - that is not the case. It is true, Aluminum Oxide is the 4th hardest substance known to mankind, but it is also a crystal - therefore to put it in the finish, it must be powdered beyond recognition and suspended in the molecules of the polyurethane. It does add to the scratch resistance of the product, but it is NOT FOR HARDNESS. The finishes are MADE TO DENT.

The idea behind the softness of these finishes is that, the point of the finish is to protect the wood. By placing a softer finish on the board, when something is dropped on the floor (which always happens) the finish will move with the floor instead of cracking. If the finish was hard and cracked, the floor would forever-after be exposed in that one area where the glass was dropped, which would severely decrease the life span of the floor. That is the point that most manufactures 'forget' to point out in their literature, the fact that durability is not hardness of finish, but the ability of the finish to move with the wood. Don't get me wrong, the aluminum oxide does help the scratch resistance, and is the whole reason that we can offer the warranties that the finish will not wear through for 25 years, but please remember - it is not for hardness!

NEW!

NANOTECHNOLOGY BEING USED IN HARDWOOD FLOORING. Please see Mirage for details