Things to think about

when buying hardwood.

Today’s hardwood flooring offers you many choices in species, colour, widths, sheens and patterns. Hardwood will look beautiful for a very long time and will always be in style. Plus, it will add value to your home.

There are four hardwood finish sheens (how shiny or glossy your floor’s finish is). From the least shiny to the most they are: Matte, Satin, Semi-Gloss and Glossy. The glossier the floor, the more dust and dirt will show. The less sheen on the hardwood, the less you will notice dings and scratches. All sheens offer the same protection on your floor, it is just a matter of which look you prefer. Glossy and semi-gloss can show footprints when walking on the floor in bare feet. Satin finish has some sheen but does not look too glossy and is one of the more popular finishes.

Moisture levels in a concrete floor must be within industry standards of manufacturer’s recommendations. Moisture content on your subfloor/concrete floor will need to be evaluated before a hardwood floor can be installed.

Hardwood floors will scratch. Place rugs at all entrances to minimize the amount of dirt getting tracked into your home. Ensure you DO NOT use a rubber backed rug as this can discolour your wood floor. If you have medium to large sized dogs, ensure you keep their nails trimmed regularly. Always use floor protector pads on the bottom of the legs of your furniture.

As wood is photosensitive and reacts to sunlight, UV light has the most impact on colour change of a hardwood floor. If using an area rug on your hardwood floor, try moving the rugs and furniture from time to time. Do this to allow sunlight to hit the previously covered areas of your floors. This will help even out the fading process so a consistent colour will be achieved within the entire room.

Expect colour variations as hardwood is a natural material.

Wood is a cellular product. It will retain and give off moisture. Temperature, moisture and humidity will affect wood. Ideally your home should always be between 33% to 55% humidity.

We recommend that you use our professional installation services for your new hardwood floor. Installing wood floors is complicated and requires special tools and skills.

Extra materials: A waste factor ranging from 5% to 15% is typically used when calculating waste for your job. Species, width, direction, layout and grading of the wood can all affect your job as well as the fact that the wood will need to be cut to fit around a fireplace, bay window, stairs or closet. We will leave the left over material with you. Please keep the material in a flat, dry area for any future repairs. Left over material is not returnable.