Hardwood Quick Facts

1. Wood floors have more character: Wood flooring is not as free of knots, mineral streaks, and variability of grain as it used to be. The trend right now is more natural character-grade floors that emphasize a fresh from the forest look.
   
   
2. Going exotic: Exotic hardwood flooring has been very popular for over 10 years. Think Tigerwood, Santos mahogany, Pangali ironwood and Kempas. As consumers become more aware of some of the downsides to exotics (illegally harvested
   exotic woods, and the severe impact on the environment, greater fading issues, etc) there is an increasing demand for sustainable wood choices  like domestic oak, maple, walnut, eucalyptus, etc.
   
   
3. Going wild: Mixing and matching light-colored woods with rich colors, such as chocolate browns, blacks and smoky looks is becoming more popular.
   
   
4. Going wide: Wide-plank floors — defined as wood floors that are at least 3 inches wide, but can measure up to a foot wide — are popular and lend themselves to a variety of decorating styles, from elegant and formal living rooms and dining rooms, to comfortable and casual family rooms and eat-in kitchens. Be careful when selecting widths more than 5”. Cupping due to moisture can become an issue for some people unless you take special precaution.
   
   
5. Being thin: Ah, the preoccupation with thinness has even seeped into flooring. Engineered flooring is thin pieces of wood glued together. Quality, Lower prices, and flexible installation options, such as staple, glue-down and floating techniques, on virtually any level of the home have made engineered flooring grow in popularity.

There are so many ways to fabricate hardwood ... and so many finishes to choose from.  But at Flooring Xpress we take the hassle out of selecting a hardwood floor.

Stop in to see our variety of hardwood species and styles.  From simple oak flooring to exotic flooring made out of Brazilian Cherry.  Our buyers strive to offer you the latest trends in hardwood floors so you don't have to shop anywhere else.


understanding Hardwood


At Flooring Xpress, we developed and use an internal rating system for every product we purchase. Many manufacturers put their own ratings on their products, but they often use different criteria which makes it hard to get an apples-to-apples comparison as a consumer.

All hardwoods we carry are considered pre-finished hardwoods. Most factory finished hardwood floors have several coats of finish applied to the wood's surface. As an example, many wood floor companies apply 6-10 coats of an ultra-violet (UV) cured urethane. The smoothness and appearance of this finish would be extremely difficult for someone to duplicate on a job site finish (where raw wood is installed first and then a finish is applied by the craftsman). Additionally, it would take a craftsman many days to achieve this same result instead of having a pre-finished hardwood floor that is generally done in one day.

When we rate hardwood, there are 4 basic product characteristics that we look at: Construction, Thickness, Finish, and Wood Species. Additional or unique characteristics are also taken into consideration and may increase a product's rating. It must be understood that just because we give a Platinum rating (highest level) to a particular product, it doesn't necessarily mean that it scores highest in all 4 of these base characteristics. We balance all of these factors, add our experience, and then give a rating that reflects the overall makeup of the hardwood.

CONSTRUCTION:
There are two basic types of pre-finished hardwoods. Solid and Engineered. As the name implies, a solid hardwood is one solid strip of wood that is then manufactured to have tongue and groove sides for smooth installation. Engineered woods are usually 2, 3 or 5 thin sheets of wood that are laminated together to form one plank (similar to plywood construction). While each has its purpose and advantages, solid woods are more desirable and carry a higher rating. Solid wood floors may be sanded and re-finished many times which makes your investment last many years longer, plus they have a more natural sound and feel. Engineered woods may not always have the same wood type all the way through the plank. For example, a maple wood may be used for the top layer, but have less expensive pine wood used for the underside sheets. This construction can add to the resistance to moisture, but it doesn't allow for too many re-finishes since the top layer is only so deep.

THICKNESS:
All pre-finished floors range from 3/4" thick down to 3/8" thick. In general terms, the thicker the wood, the more durability and natural feel the floor will have. The most popular and higher-rated installations are 3/4" solid woods.

FINISH:
Manufacturers have developed sophisticated techniques to quickly apply hard, durable, urethane based finishes right at the factory. By using ultra violet lights, the pre-finished wood planks can have several coats of urethane applied within a matter of a few minutes. This helps to make hardwood floors both more affordable and much easier to maintain. The most recent advance has been the addition of small chips of Aluminum Oxide directly to the floor's finish which dramatically increases the life of the urethane finish.

WOOD SPECIES:
The most common and affordable wood species used today are red oak, white oak and maple. However, the last few years has seen the increase in popularity of more exotic woods like cherry, walnut and bamboo to name a few. All woods have different hardness ratings and quality that affect their performance, price and rating.