Hardwood Floor Articles

Another advantage of a floating wood floor is usually that, given that they are glued together as an alternative to the subfloor, they usually are placed in a bevy of areas where traditional hardwood floors weren’t a solution. First off, they are often installed over the top of other flooring choices (everything with the exception of carpet), saving you time and trouble of tearing out your original flooring before installing your floating wood floor. And because they’re glued or clicked together, instead of fastened to your floor itself, the entire floor expands united rather then as individual planks. This simply means they may be installed in areas of high humidity (i.e. basements) where hardwood flooring previously wasn’t allowed.

Why Use Floating Flooring 

A floating wood floor will be placed in almost identical way as a laminate or engineered wood floor. Made out of a core layer of plywood or hardwood, with layers of hardwood veneer as the “wear and tear” (or top) layer, these planks are designed in tongue and groove style and are usually glued together as you put them to use over the layer of foam padding. If that sounds too challenging to suit your needs, new kinds of floating wood floor are actually being manufactured that happen to be “glueless,” which enable it to be clicked together upon installation. To make a lengthy story short, a floating hardwood floor combines the simple installation of laminate flooring using the classic looks of hardwood flooring. That’s a combination that’s tough to beat.

Floating Floors May very well be Refinished

Finally, among the many big advantages of choosing a floating wood floor over laminate is certainly that they can be refinished more than once, just like a traditional hardwood floor. Consequently a floating wood floor isn’t a quick term flooring option. If installed correctly and taken care of properly, a floating hardwood floor can last 40 to eighty years, depending on the thickness with the wear layer of hardwood veneer!

A Few Items to consider When Inserting a Floating Floor

While these floors possess tremendous upside, here are a few things to be aware of to ensure that your new floor won’t disappointed you during the years to come. First, fight the temptation going cheap and don’t purchase cut-rate flooring. The cheaper the flooring the cheaper the wear layer, and the cheaper the wear layer, the shorter your new floor’s lifespan is going to be. Spending a little bit more for the thicker wear layer will be worth every penny if you’re considering increasing the life span of your new floating hardwood floor. Also, understand that one of many main important things about these floors can be their downfall. Be sure to leave room for expansion after you install your flooring. Any time you cut your new floor to fit, the complete surface will be almost certain to buckle and heave soon enough. By leaving a tiny space between your flooring as well as walls, thereafter covering that space with baseboard or other trim, you can rest easy knowing your floating floor can last you for a long time.

If you’re serious in installing a floating floor in your house, contact Unique Wood Floors today at 952.994.9696 or email us at: sales@uniquewoodfloor.com about selecting the most appropriate style, wood, and installation method for you and your home. Please be sure to visit us at www.uniquewoodfloor.com

Whether you are a Do-it-yourself home owner, an architect or a wood flooring installer, you probably have considered buying your flooring materials online.

Here at Unique Wood Floors, big part of our job is to work with local retail and online customers.

We believe we could provide a few helpful tips for successfully purchasing your new hardwood floorings online.

1. Know what the return and refund policies are.
There are some online hardwood flooring companies that can sell you flooring at a good price, but what happens if there is a problem? Often times when a website doesn't specify how you can return it, chances are that you can't. To really find out how it all works, contact that company through email or phone to get the first hand information. If you can return it, find out the condition that you can return and who is responsible for the return shipping, you or the business. It is very common for the purchaser to pay return shipping cost or at least a restocking fee. It is also a good idea to find out before your purchase about how the seller will handle the damages during the transit.

2. Find out where the company is located.
Another thing to look for about online hardwood flooring company is its physical address on their website. If there isn't one, look elsewhere.  There is a good chance that you would be dealing with a middle man who is just brokering a sale or fraud. If the website provides you with an address, look it up on Mapquest or Google maps. Just to help verify its legitimacy.

3. Request a sample.
In my opinion, the most important thing about buying wood flooring online is to know what you are buying. Looking at picture of flooring online is a great way to get a feel of the overall look of a particular wood floor. I strongly suggest you request for samples which will tell you mostly about the milling and finishing quality. If pictures and small samples still can’t help you to make your decision, you should consider ordering a whole box of the particular wood flooring. This will help you see its natural characteristics that pictures and small samples cannot always show, such as, color variations, milling quality (how well the board pieces go together), sheen level on the surface, texture, and the size of the bevels on wood. More importantly, you will have a physical reference in your home to compare to cabinetry, furniture and your home decors. 
Here at Unique Wood Floors, we will be happy to send you our hardwood flooring samples free with customer covering the shipping cost.

4. Third party reviews and referrals
Many online businesses have reviews and testimonials right on their websites. These can be very helpful way to learn about a company and their customer relationships. But don't just stop there, search for other customer comments and ratings outside of their website. For example, look them up at the Better Business Bureau and National Wood Flooring Association website. You want to feel confident in who you are buying from.

http://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews/floor-coverings/unique-wood-floors-in-hopkins-mn-96035771

http://www.woodfloors.org/consumer/findpro.aspx

5. Make Comparisons
Comparing your wood floor choices is a must. Buying hardwood floors should never an impulse buy.  So it is very important for home owners to compare the costs with the wood flooring quality in mind. There are many different quality levels, applications, required installation skill levels in the wood flooring selections. It is your job as consumer to find out what materials will best meet your need, your style, and your budget.  It also would not be a bad idea to compare online prices to your local stores. When buying online you may get a great deal on the square footage price, but don't forget to factor in the shipping cost. For most cases, you will not pay sales taxes if the online wood flooring company is not physically located in your own state. So the saving on a sales tax will usually be comparable to your shipping cost for an online order that is over 500 to 600 sqft.

Buying hardwood floors online has been sure to become more and more common. Keep these tips in mind when shopping. Feel free to contact us at sales@uniquewoodfloor.com to any questions and concerns.

To anyone interested in adding a new touch in their homes’ flooring, why not explore the world of exotic hardwood flooring from us here at Unique Wood Floors.

Here at Unique Wood Floors we stock a huge variety of prefinished exotic and domestic wood floors. In addition, we also have many different styles, finishes, and applications.

To anyone interested in adding a new touch in their homes’ flooring, why not explore the world of exotic hardwood flooring from us here at Unique Wood Floors. Here at Unique Wood Floors we stock a huge variety of prefinished exotic and domestic wood floors. In addition, we also have many different styles, finishes, and applications.

You went out and bought the discounted solid wood flooring you’ve always wanted from Unique Wood Floors. Now, comes the fun part – installation. Believe me when I tell you that you don’t have to hire an expensive contractor to install your new wood floor, you just need to follow these steps:

1. Let the pieces of your wood floor sit in your home for a couple of days to adjust to its humidity level. Remember that wood expands and contracts with moisture.

2. Remove the old flooring and base shoe.

3. Use asphalt felt to cover the sub floor to help protect your beautiful solid wood floor from moisture and to reduce noise. Nobody wants a water damaged or a squeaky wood floor.

4. Make the appropriate measurements of the room and mark out the position of the floor joists, which are the wood planks that run parallel over the sub floor, because you want to lay your wood perpendicular to the floor joists.

5. Make sure your wood strips are a minimum of 8 inches long. If not use a power miter saw or radial arm saw to cut the boards to the required length.

6. Start the first row with the longest or widest wood boards. Start at the wall and work your way to the otherside.

7. Do not drive the nail all the way into the wood, instead leave the nail head about 1/8 inch above the wood. Use another nail and lay it sideways over the nail head, then use the hammer to tap the nail in the rest of the way. Then take the nail tip and use it to tap the nail head flush with the wood. You do this to avoid any ugly markings in the wood and nail heads that are above the wood, which are unsafe.

7. If the wood floor is higher than the rest of the adjoining room’s floor or the hallway leading into the room then install a reducer strip, which is usually a rounded piece of wood that allows an easy step up.

8. Reinstall the base shoe.

Wasn’t that easy? If you’re still confused about how to properly install discounted solid wood flooring, then check out our helpful links on Unique Wood Floors.

New standards for new construction will help prevent moldy hard wood floors. Mold is not only ugly on your hard wood floors, but it can also damage them and cause health problems. The American National Standards Institute recently approved a new standard,

Mold and Moisture Management Standard for New Construction, that sets firm guidelines on mold prevention practices for new buildings. So if you live in a new apartment complex with hard wood floors and it becomes infested with mold,

you need to call the main office and tell them about these new guidelines. If you want a copy of the standard, yes, that is normal, especially if you think you need to present it to an ill-informed landlord, then you can buy an electric or hard copy for $100 at www.GreenGuard.org. One hundred dollars! Well, depending on the extent of the mold damage to your hard wood floors, it could cost you thousands of dollars to repair.

When it comes to saving your hard wood floors from mold, remember this ANSI standard. Unique Wood Floors sells pre-treated hard wood floors to further prevent mold from developing, we have a proven technology to help you save money.

Traditional tile floors contain harmful bacteria. Tile is known to spawn millions of bacteria and stain easily. Dal-Tile Corp has developed a patent-pending glaze technique for tile that provides protection against odor causing bacteria and stains.

But why bother with this new technique when you can buy discount engineered hardwood floors for your home with more benefits than just a low cost?

Tile is not only unappealing when compared to hardwood floors, but it is also prone to chips and cracks.  It’s unclear whether new tile is resistant to the wear that affects traditional tile or not. Discount engineered hardwood floors are not only economical, but are easy to maintain and can be treated to protect against stain damage. These floors can also be easily refinished when need be. Opt for discount engineered hardwood floors instead of tile. If Dal-Tile Corp is granted the patent then who knows how expensive the tiles will be for consumers. Unique Wood Floors offers discount engineered hardwood floors at affordable prices.

This Christmas you are going to have the family get together at your house, so you want your home to be sparkling, starting with your solid hardwood flooring. Here are a few tips on how to make your wood floors look like new:

• >> Use a fine broom when you sweep your solid hardwood flooring.
• >> Use a brush attachment when you vacuum to avoid causing dents.
• >> Use a damp cloth and wax to repair scratches.
• >> Use #000 steel wool and a small amount of wax to remove water stains and white spots on your solid hardwood flooring.
• >> Use fine steel wool and a small amount of wax to rub out heel marks.
• >> Use ice on chewing gum that has stuck to your solid hardwood flooring and wait until it becomes brittle to pry it off.
• >> Use a hot pressing iron and an ink blotter to remove crayon or candle wax stains by placing the ink blotter on the wax and applying the iron to the top of the blotter.

When you have successfully cleaned your solid hardwood flooring, your guests will notice because it will shine like new.

Solid hardwood flooring adds character and value to your home, so avoiding these seven ways that can destroy it should be done:

1. Not placing mats or rugs at each entryway to collect dirt and grit. Dirt and grit act as sandpaper and will scratch your wood floor.
2. Not buying a good quality broom and sweeping your wood floor regularly to pick up grains of dirt, dust and other particles.
3. Not using cleaning supplies that were recommended by your wood floor’s retailer.
4. Waxing your wood floor when it has a urethane finish.
5. Using a wet mop or excessive water to clean your wood floor. Excessive water exposure will cause your wood floor to crack or splinter.
6. Not hiring an experienced professional when extensive work needs to be done on your wood floor.
7. Not covering furniture legs that can scratch or dent your wood floor.

Solid hardwood flooring is easy to maintain if you know what to avoid. Avoiding wood floor damage will keep your home looking good and will help keep its value. Shop Unique Wood Floors online for the best prices on all types of solid wood flooring.

Choose prefinished wood flooring to save money and extend the life of your floors.

When a wood floor is over sanded it can lead to problems in your wallet. Typically, a floor should only be sanded three times during its lifetime. But some people can’t help themselves because they just don’t know when a wood floor has become too old to repair and in the back of their minds they know most real estate agents will tell them a wood floor is a valuable asset. When a wood floor’s finish is beyond repair hardwood prefinished flooring is the way to go.

But some people become stuck on the idea that repairing an old wood floor is the best way to save money, but it can lead to disaster. If an inexperienced flooring contractor is hired to do the task, they can remove more wood than the old finish; now the home owner has to pay the flooring contractor and replacement of the floor. If the homeowner had decided to just replace the old floor with hardwood prefinished flooring then there would be money still in their wallet instead of cobwebs.

Over sanding a wood floor will lead to the exposure of nail heads, which can be dangerous, especially for children and pets. Now, continued over sanding will lead to splitting and that causes a weak floor! There is no need to go through the hassle of hiring a contractor or performing hard labor when it will lead to disaster. Hardwood prefinished flooring, like the term says, is already finished so there is neither need for sanding and coating or hire a flooring contractor for repair.

Unique Wood Floors offers great deals on hardwood prefinished flooring, which will help any home keep its value.

Take a look at prefinished wood flooring options for your home.

Are you thinking about updating a room in your house? Finished basement or office space? Consider the varied options in prefinished wood flooring.

With an array of wood floor options from exotic to domestic to eco friendly, you really can’t go wrong. However, you must remember a few things before selecting any prefinished wood flooring.

First, you must consider the room’s purpose. How will you use this room? Entertain? Family activities? Recreation and entertaining in a finished basement? This will help you decide what type of wood floor to buy. If your space will be a high traffic area, then you will want to choose hardwood flooring over a softer untreated wood floor.

Second, depending on the type of wood flooring you want, you’ll also need to know what is under your current floor (unless this you have new construction). Prefinished wood flooring, floating floors, laminate and hardwood flooring all have different installation requirements.

Third, consider the design and decor of the room you want to install wood flooring. There are many wood varieties as well as prefinished wood flooring colors and textures.

Fourth, you will also want to consider your budget. Be sure you research the various types of hardwood and prefinished flooring available.

When you’re ready to buy, ask for flooring samples. Most places that sell prefinished wood flooring will have available samples, so you can match your room’s design and decor.

Easy designing with snap together wood
flooring options.

Snap together wood flooring eliminates your need for adhesives, nails, or screws of any kind. All you need to do is apply a little pressure to the planks in order to join them together, and you’re on your way to enjoying a new and beautiful wood floor in a fraction of the time it takes to install more traditional flooring options.

Snap Together Wood Flooring vs. Traditional Flooring
The most obvious benefit of snap together wood flooring is the ease of installation, but that’s not the only reason homeowners choose snap together wood flooring for their homes. It’s one of the most cost-effective residential flooring products you can buy, and it’s one of the toughest flooring materials you’ll ever find such as oak and maple.

Snap Together Wood Flooring Styles
Another advantage of snap together wood flooring is the wide range of choices you’ll have when it comes to choosing your finish.

Snap Together Wood Flooring Installation
Snap together wood flooring is really one of the simplest flooring products to install, period. Before you get started, however, be sure to read installation instructions carefully so you know what you’re doing. Also, don’t feel bad about calling in a professional to do the job for you, such as Unique Wood Floors, if you think you’re getting in over your head. Remember, easier installation isn’t just beneficial for do-it-yourselfers. It also means faster installation times and decreased labor costs for those who prefer to hire the job out.