Wood Floor Install and Refinish

Hardwood guarantees a pleasing, warm, and natural living atmosphere. A wood floor incorporates the beauty of outdoor Colorado into the comfort of your own home. 

The color of the wood can be matched with the existing furnishings, but it is important to remember that the color is going to change a little as the wood matures. We would be pleased to advise you in this regard.

The Systems

• Solid nail-down only - use for above ground, or sub-floors; requires correct expansion allowances between vertical walls
• Longstrip float, and/or nail-down - used for all grade levels on wood sub-floors and/or concrete slabs
• Engineered float, or nail-down - use for any grade level on wood sub-floors and/or concrete slabs

Care Tips

• Sweep or vacuum regularly to remove debris and accumulated dirt from the floor.
• Never use a wet mop, or attempt cleaning a hardwood floor with water.
• Water can dull your floor's finish and permanently damage the wood.
• Although hardwood floors can be scratched, any scratches to the finished top layer are usually easy to repair.
• Over time, sunlight will change the color of most stained hardwood flooring to some degree.
• Hardwood floor finishes can be restored to their original luster.

As a product of nature, wood contains water in it at all times. The amount of moisture in wood changes with the environment. During colder months, indoor heating systems tend to dry out your home or office, pulling moisture out of the wood. This will cause the wood to shrink and cracks to appear. A humidifier attached to a heating system may help minimize this from occurring.

As weather and seasons warm up, cracking should remedy itself. Moisture is replaced back into the air and absorbed back into the wood. Expansion occurs and wood floors return to their original state.

It is important to recognize shrinkage caused cracks are not a flaw in the wood or installation, but a naturally occurring change with seasons.

Hardwood flooring is milled (cut) with tongue and groove connections.  There is a tongue on one side of each plank of flooring and a groove on the other.  Also, a tongue is cut on one end of each plank and groove is cut on the other end (referred to as "end-matched" flooring).

Hardwood floors consist of the "field" or main part of the floor.  A "header" is installed where a hardwood floor ends and abuts against carpet/tile or stops in a door opening.  A header is simply the last piece of hardwood flooring that transitions the hardwood to another type of flooring.  Depending upon the layout of the floor, it can be installed either parallel or perpendicular to the field.

Red Oak and other species of hardwood are graded according to appearance.  There is no difference in the integrity of the floor throughout the differing grades of wood.  Starting with the most variation free, the grades for Red Oak are as follows:  Clear, Select, Number One Common, and Number Two Common.  Clear is the most uniform in color and, as the grades descend, the variances of appearance multiply.