Dramatic and tough

Tigerwood Flooring is extremely tough

Tigerwood flooring is a true hardwood and very dense. Although the Janka rating on any kind of hardwood can vary according to where the wood is harvested, Tigerwood has a rating that hovers around 2000, which is quite hard.

Installing Tigerwood flooring can present some challenges. The fact that it is so hard makes it kind of a bear to cut. Carbide tipped power tools are required for Tigerwood installation. Tigerwood is 170% stronger than red oak.

Origins of Tigerwood flooring

Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay are the leading producers of Tigerwood flooring, with smaller quantities coming from other Latin American nations. Sometimes the wood is referred to as Brazilian Tigerwood regardless of origin. Because the wood is imported, this exotic hardwood can fetch a fairly handsome price. But due to the unusual nature of the wood, it can impart a real feel of luxury to any room in which it is installed.

Other names for tigerwood are goncal alves, muiracatiara, astronium and cuta tigre as well as the aforementioned ‘zebrawood’. Because it is such a very hard wood, it is long-lasting and will be an enduring feature of your home.

Caring for Tigerwood Floors

Once the Tigerwood flooring is installed, caring for it isn’t much different from other types of hardwood floors. As with our care articles it is worth repeating that you should use mats at all outside entries, sweep before you mop, avoid harsh chemicals, vacuum with proper attachments and care and use as little water as possible when cleaning your floors.

Tigerwood flooring, like any hardwood floor will darken in tone with age and more so if it is exposed to a great deal of natural light. The contrast that Tigerwood is prized for can fade slightly as the contrast between the light and dark hues in the wood lessens. Therefore, as we have advised in our care articles about other types of flooring, care should be taken to draw the curtains when the sun is bearing down directly on your Tigerwood floor.

As far as exotic hardwood species go, dramatic Tigerwood is really an eye catcher. It has a base color of golden yellow to golden brown with highly contrasting streaks throughout. Deep black or chocolate brown stripes serve to create a truly unique. A wonderful living material, Tigerwood will mature with time and the colors will become mellower and a bit more subtle.

In searching for the perfect flooring material for your home, you have most likely considered laminate wood flooring If you’re anything like me, when you first heard the term “laminate” in reference to wood floors, there was a certain ‘yuck’ factor associated with memories of really bad furniture with “plastic wood” peeling from the fiberboard base. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s look at some of the main advantages of this choice in flooring materials.

Laminate Floors are Economical

Naturally the statement that laminate flooring is always less expensive than solid wood flooring is not true. As with all products, there are ranges of prices across any single type of manufactured goods. The very top of the line laminate floor will usually still be pricier than the bottom priced solid hardwood floor. But, if you compare the highest price of one floor to the highest price of the other floor, a laminate wood floor will usually be the better value.

Laminated Flooring is Versatile

It used to be that laminate wood flooring didn’t offer as great a choice of styles, colors and finishes as could be obtained with solid wood floors but that is certainly no longer the case. Laminate floors can be found in all colors and all styles matching nearly every available style of hardwood floor on the market. These floors are also available in stone patterns, brick, bamboo and more. In terms of versatility, laminate floors are hard to beat.

A Laminate Wood Floor is Durable

Because these floors are coated with a substance called melamine, they present a very tough finish. This synthetic material is used in many applications including the institutional dishes you’d find in hospitals and cafeterias. Melamine is tough, and scratch, heat and moisture resistant. Routine wear and tear is much less than you would find with solid wood flooring (whatever type of wood) and quite dent resistant as well. Because of the tough coating, laminate flooring is also highly moisture resistant as well making it a great choice for kitchens and bathrooms. In fact, any room that gets a lot of traffic is a good choice for laminate floors.

Laminate Wood Flooring is Easy to Clean

Because it is so water resistant, this flooring is not as ‘fussy’ as solid hardwood flooring when it comes to cleaning. Most ordinary floor cleaning products will work just fine on these floors. Soap and water will not dull them. Moisture will not warp or stain them. They don’t need regular waxing, staining or oiling like solid wood floors do.

Laminate floors can’t be ‘refinished’ in the same manner as traditional hardwood floors. However, as with any floor, you can expect that over time your laminate flooring may become dulled or occasionally have some damage done to it by way of scratches or stains. In most cases, it is a very simple matter to give your laminate floor a new lease on life. Home improvement centers will all carry products designed for just this purpose and you’ll easily be able to bring your laminate wood flooring back to ‘new’.

Maple wood flooring is one of the premium kinds of hardwood flooring available. Maple imparts a wonderful warmth to any room and is extremely durable. Like any quality wood flooring, this wood will increase not just the beauty, but also the value of your home. Maple wood flooring has a naturally light hue that blends into and complements all kinds of decorating styles and architectural designs. From a rustic cabin to an elegant and modern traditional style home, this is a flooring choice worth consideration.

Maple Wood Flooring is Green

Northern hard maple is an excellent choice if you are looking for a flooring material that is renewable. As a living tree, this wood is managed and maintained to continue to provide consumers with the material. Maple wood flooring is recyclable in that the boards can be re-used. And, of course, as with all wood flooring products, maple wood is biodegradable.

Maple Wood Flooring means Quality

This magnificent hardwood comes from forest above the 35th parallel. This climate zone’s brief growing season and hard winters makes for wood with very dense graining with a gloriously deep golden color. There are very few flaws in the planking. As with other hardwood varieties, maple wood flooring comes in grades. The highest, or first grade will be selected with the least natural variations while second grade has more variations and third even more. All grades will have the same quality of strength and hardness, however.

Installation of Maple Wood Flooring

The standard advice on all hardwood flooring installation holds true for maple as well. Materials should be held for around 72 hours in the room where it will be installed. The temperature and moisture in the air of the room should be stablized at around 75 degrees and there should be no more than 50% moisture present. For this reason, your heating and air-condtioning systems should be fully functional before your floors are installed.

After your floor is installed, it will take up to two years for the floor to completely adapt to the conditions of your home. Remember, as a living material, wood will continue to react to environmental changes. Dry conditions will cause the wood to shrink and high humidity will cause the boards to swell.

During winter months when your heat is on and the house is dry, you may notice some small separations between the hardwood planks. When the floor is once again exposed to moister air in the warm months these small cracks from shrinkage will disappear.

Maple wood flooring doesn’t require any particularly difficult care. Simple gentle cleaning is really all that your floor will require for many, many years. See our articles on for advice on how to maintain your maple wood floor in prime condition.

Maple wood flooring is an enduring feature of your home that adds great value not only in dollar terms, but in quality of life terms. Your maple floor will last for generations with proper care and can easily be brought back to new condition whenever heavy wear occurs. Among all types of hardwood flooring, maple wood flooring is a star.

So, you’ve made the decision to install oak floors in your home. You still have to choose among the types of oak flooring available. There are a number of choices still left to consider, each of which has practical and aesthetic considerations. As with all home construction and/or decorating decisions, your choices are going to be unique to you. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to hardwood flooring. Oak floors come in several types and styles, as do all types of hardwood floors.

Three Types of Oak Flooring and Their Characteristics

1. Solid – As the name implies, this product is made of solid wood. The thickness of the planking can range from a quarter inch to one inch. As the thickness increases, the price goes up. Thicker products are going to be more durable, allow for more refinish jobs and feel more ‘solid under your feet. There is a wide variety of wood species used to make this type of hardwood floor with types of oak flooring being among the the most popular. Solid oak flooring can literally last for generations in your home. In general, solid hardwood flooring will make the most lasting contribution to the value of your home.

2. Engineered – These products are constructed in layers. The way the planks are constructed, the grain of the wood is laid in opposing directions and this makes the floor more stable. Most engineered floor products are between three and twelve layers with the more expensive products having more layers. The advantage to engineered wood floors is due to their greater moisture resistance they can be installed in places not suited to solid wood flooring, like basements or in climates with high levels of humidity. These floors have nearly the same variety of species to choose from as solid hardwood floors. The top layer of the floor is the one that imparts the ‘look’ to the floor so you could choose oak veneer if you are looking for oak flooring and get essentially the same result. There are many types of oak flooring available as engineered products. High quality engineered floors can be refinished up to five times, however the cheaper brands may have as little as .6mm of veneer and can only be recoated once they become worn. Engineered oak flooring is popular because it can give a very pleasing appearance for a more budget friendly price than solid oak flooring.

3. Acrylic Impregnated – This type of wood floor is very hard and stands up to a lot of wear and tear. The wood grain is injected with acrylic resins. This type of floor can be obtained in most of the hardwoods as the other floors and it is ideal for very high traffic areas, even commercial installations in restaurants and stores. It also makes a very durable choice for homeowners. It is one of the types of oak flooring that can handle nearly any situation.

The way you assess each of these various types of hardwood flooring is to first consider where the flooring is to be installed. Solid hardwood flooring is not appropriate for some installations. In places where high moisture is going to be an issue you should consider other choices. Budget considerations will also come into play. Remember that you can get the same look as solid oak flooring at a more attractive price if you choose engineered oak flooring. So you can see that there are many types of oak flooring that fit your unique circumstances.

We’re going to talk about installing a laminate wood floor because installing this kind of floor is the easiest one for beginners to tackle as the panels in laminate flooring snap together and are tapped into place using a mallet and wood block. Laminate wood floors also require no glue and that can be a difficult aspect of solid hardwood flooring installation.

Laminate Wood Floor Installation — Prepare the room

Think of this as wood floor installation 101. Preparation is always key. Make sure that your sub-floor is level and even. Even the most beautiful and carefully installed wood floor can’t compensate for a bumpy sub-floor underneath. You’ll need to remove old carpeting, if any. A light sanding to take off any residual glue will leave you with a ready sub-floor for your laminate floor installation. Whatever sub-floor you have, make sure you have swept up any debris or dirt before you begin your installation. You don’t need to remove other types of flooring like vinyl tiles or old wood flooring.

Remove all the baseboards, moldings and doors in preparation for the installation.

Prepare the wood floor for installation by acclimatizing it to where it will be installed for at least two days. This will give the flooring a chance to adjust to the particular levels of temperature and humidity in your home. Obviously, you will want to have the laminate floor materials inside the house for those two days. Take a few moments to inspect all the boards and make sure none are damaged. Once you install your laminate floor, you won’t be able to get a refund.

Here is a tool check list:
Carpenter’s square
Circular saw
Measuring tape
Utility knife
Hammer
Rubber mallet
Pry bar
Vacuum
Wood block
Protection for your eyes and ears
Pencil

Remove all the furniture from the room.

Laminate Wood Floor Installation — The underlayment

Lay the moisture barrier (sometimes called underlayment). This thin foam pad serves several purposes. It prevents moisture from the sub-floor from seeping into your new floor, it creates a sound barrier so that you have quiet floors and it also evens out little imperfections in the sub-floor. Your flooring manufacturer will be able to recommend the best type for your particular situation.

Make sure that you don’t overlap the underlayment as this will cause bumps that will make your floor uneven. Tape the edges of the foam together to keep them in place. Use spacers to make an expansion gap between the underlayment and the walls. For large rooms, use half-inch spacers. For small areas, a quarter inch will do.

Laminate Wood Floor Installation — Laying the boards

Aesthetically speaking, flooring planks are best installed so that the sunlight coming into the room is parallel to the way the boards are placed. Begin your installation in the corner of the room that is going to be most visible. For boards that will be up against the walls, you will need to cut off the ‘tongue’ part of the boards and use the same spacers as you used when you put in the underlayment.

Lay an entire row along the wall. It will be easy to put the planks in place as you simply insert one end of the board into the other at a slight angle and then push the board into place. For the most ‘genuine’ look, it is best to mix your planking from several boxes in each row. That way, you get the most natural look overall when you have finished your laminate installation.

When you reach the end of this first row, you will need to cut the last plank so that it fits up to the spacer. Remember, measure twice, cut once!

Beginning at the starting point of your first row, use a piece of board that is a different length than the one you laid first. Put the second row of planking into position and use your rubber mallet to tap the pieces together. Continue with this process until the entire room is done.

The final step in your flooring installation project is to put your baseboards back into place and trim your doors to accommodate the height of the new floor. Clean up and put your furniture back in the room. Sit back and congratulate yourself on your new laminate wood floor installation.

Wood Flooring Choices Have Grown

Wood Flooring Choices Offer Dazzling Array

Wood Flooring Choices in Solid Wood

Prefinished flooring is usually manufactured with a V-groove at the joined edges so that these slight variations will not be noticeable because the edges are not flush. The downside of this is that those grooves collect dirt over time and can result in dark lines between the planks. Although a factory finish is usually much more durable than a finish applied on site, the choices you have when you install traditional tongue and groove flooring are much broader.

Factory finished flooring may limit your color choices somewhat. A traditional solid wood floor does not always have to be made of the usual hardwoods like oak, cherry or mahogany. Pine and fir, although soft woods, can be used to great effect. Yes, these floors will nick and become weathered over time, but that is part of their charm. These softer woods work especially well in rustic decor schemes where the interior design focuses on a ‘county’ or farmhouse type of theme.

Wood Flooring Choices — Engineered Floors

This type of floor is almost always prefinished.  A veneer of your choice is layered on top of several other sub-layers. The advantage of this kind of floor is that it can be used anywhere as it can be laid directly over concrete, unlike traditional wood flooring that requires nailing to a wooden sub-floor. This kind of floor is also more suitable for below-grade and high moisture areas such as basements, bathrooms and kitchens as the layers provide some protection against warping due to humidity.

Engineered floors are sometimes called ‘floating floors’ as they are glued together over the existing sub-floor and can actually move with changing conditions. As with solid wood floors, engineered flooring comes in a variety of plank sizes and finishes. An engineered floor can be sanded and refinished, up to a point. It depends on the thickness of the veneer of wood applied to the substrate. One advantage is that you may find that exotic woods that would be out of your price range if bought in solid form may be affordable if used in this way as a veneer.

Wood Flooring Choices –Laminate Floors

Laminate floors are an economical alternative to ‘real’ wood floors. These durable surfaces are actually made by sandwiching a picture of wood between a durable plastic upper layer and usually fiberboard lower layer. While solid or engineered wood flooring will cost anywhere from eight to ten dollars (for common varieties) up to twenty-five dollars (for exotics) per square foot, a laminate floor can be had for around a dollar-fifty a square foot.

About ten percent of ‘wood’ floors sold are laminate floors. They are easy to install and many do-it-your-selfers find them convenient. There are, as with all products, variances in quality. Look for “high pressure laminate” or HPL not “direct pressure laminate” or DPL.  HDL will hold up much better with time.  Look for a guarantee with your laminate flooring as these floors cannot be refinished.  Another nice feature to look for is a technique that embosses a ‘grain’ in the top layer that follows the grain in the wood picture. This goes a long way toward making the floor look more authentic. The term for this is “embossed in register”.

Lastly, when you are shopping for laminate flooring, you should take note of the pattern repeat. There should be at least six different patterns of wood and they should appear in different plank lengths so that your floor doesn’t look like the same piece of wood over and over again. Real wood floors show quite a bit of variation so your laminate floor’s quality depends in some measure on mimicking this natural variety.

Your wood flooring choices are determined, in the end, by a combination of your personal decorating style, your family’s living characteristics and, of course, your budget.

Oxalic Acid for Wood Floor Bleaching

Oxalic acid is the bleach of choice when you are confronted with water stains. The reason is this: hardwoods such as cherry, mahogany and oak contain a high amount of tannic acid. This is the substance that imparts the characteristic rich color we love in hardwood floors. Unfortunately, tannic acid reacts with iron and results in a dark stain. Most tap water contains enough iron in it to precipitate this chemical reaction.
Oxalic acid is also sold as a treatment for outdoor wood floors such as decking . A solution of the acid is applied to graying wood and can be helpful in restoring the original brightness of the wood.

Peroxide Bleach for Wood Floors

This type of bleach is sometimes sold as A/B bleach and it is also called “two-part” bleach. The two parts are a strong solution of hydrogen peroxide and a solution of sodium hydroxide. These substances won’t do much on their own, but combined will generate an oxidizing reaction that can lighten pigment stains.

Chlorine Bleach for Wood Floors

Chlorine is very useful in removing or lightening dye stains. While Clorox is a weak solution of chlorine bleach, it takes multiple applications of this household cleaner to have any real effect. A better solution is to purchase calcium hypochlorite from your local pool supply store. Pool chlorine is much stronger than household bleach and makes a very thrifty tool for lightening stained wood floors.

Shopping on line for wood flooring — Know what you are searching for!

Oak flooring, laminate flooring, bamboo flooring, walnut flooring and all the exotic woods you can name are just a click away and it’s so easy to compare prices when you can select a feature that lets you put your selections in ascending or descending price order. You can sort by brand names like Armstrong, Anderson or Mohawk Industries. Or if you know you want solid wood flooring, you can filter for that choice. There are a number of different engineered wood flooring options as well. There are nearly two dozen installation types to choose from with every imaginable combination of glue, staples, nails and snap in place tongue and groove.

I may be stating the obvious, but when you shop on line, you should make your searches count so that you can get the most out of them. By putting your search term in quotes in the search engine’s query box, you will get results returned that are an exact match to what you have typed. For example, if you type in “white oak laminate flooring” you will get results for that type of flooring.

Sort by length, width or thickness if you know specifically what dimensions your planking needs to be. By far the  largest choice is in materials.  And species!  I counted over 168 different kinds of wood on one amazing site.  I know a lot about hardwood floors, but I was astonished at the number of woods I had never even heard of. Nogal , orosi  and sakura woods are three I didn’t recognize. The scary part about these was the ‘call for prices’ part of the description.

Showroom versus Shopping on line for wood flooring

I don’t know about you, but I get a bit nervous when I have a salesperson shadowing me ready to pounce when I pause at this or that display. I appreciate being able to see and feel the flooring materials, but many times I have had to ask the price of each and every option I take a peek at.  Or, if I go to some of the big box home improvement stores, I wind up getting no help at all in spite of advertising to the contrary!  Sometimes, I find the best approach is to spend some time in a showroom where I can establish the look and feel of what I want and then return home and shop on line for wood flooring at the best price and quality I can find.

Cleaning Wood Floors

Cleaning Wood Floors — Different tasks to manage

Cleaning wood floors can be roughly broken down into three types of jobs: everyday maintenance, quarterly cleaning and, depending on wear and tear, periodic re-finishing.

Everyday cleaning for wood floors

Every day, your family brings sand, grit and dirt into your home and this is distributed through your house by the day-to-day activities of your family. Obviously, the larger the family, the more dirt is going to come in on the bottoms of your shoes. Pets are a big source as well and cannot be taught to wipe their feet! High traffic areas such as your entrance way and the kitchen are probably the most affected by the dulling power of tracked in dirt. All of this activity and all of the resulting grit acts like sandpaper on your wood floors, dulling their finish over time. So, the first rule of cleaning wood floors is to remove the dirt as often as it is practical. Soft brooms and vacuum cleaners with a soft bristled hose attachment work best for this job. Even if your upright vacuum has a setting for hardwood floors it is best to avoid using it as those spinning bristles can also damage your floors. Gentle is always best.

Preventive measures you can take to keep the dirt outside are to put mats on the outside of doors and area rugs on the inside. That way, the shoes get a double whammy before they hit your floors. If you get in the habit of wiping your dog’s paws after he has been outside, you eliminate one more big source of grit.

It can’t be emphasized enough that water is not a friend to your wood floors. Be vigilant in wiping up wet spills and, if you have a mud room, encourage everyone to use it in the winter time when snow and melting salts (ouch!) can wreak havoc on your floor’s finish. Even sturdy oak floors can be warped if liquid seeps in between the floorboards. When you do mop your floors as regular maintenance, use a well-wrung mop. Mop only after thorough sweeping. For weekly cleaning, a very weak solution of white vinegar or just plain water is sufficient to keep your hardwood flooring clean. Regular detergents and especially ammonia based cleansers can strip or dull the finish of your floor.

Periodic Deep Cleaning Wood Floors

Deeper cleaning is appropriate about every three months. For this task, it is best to invest in a good neutral pH cleaner. Follow the directions carefully as many products you can buy at home improvement stores and specialty stores will be highly concentrated. These products usually cost quite a bit more than run-of-the-mill grocery store cleaners so it should be easy for you to be stingy with their use. You should be. Use a soft mop and as little of the solution as you can. Wring your mop completely after dipping it in the solution. And, always have a mop that is only used on your wood floors so that you can keep it as clean as possible. Dragging dirt around with a wet mop is not something that will enhance the look of your wood floors.

Preventive maintenance is also necessary to keep your oak floors in great shape. Take care when moving furniture as you can really put some major scratches in your hardwood flooring by dragging a heavy object over it. Clever placement of area rugs and runners also goes a long way toward keeping your wood floors in good condition. It is possible for sunlight to discolor wood floors, so try to keep blinds or drapes closed when the sun is shining directly on your floors.

If you follow simple steps, you will not have to face the daunting task of refinishing your hardwood flooring for many, many years. Regular light maintenance and periodic deep cleaning with the proper product will keep oak floors and other woods looking fresh. Cleaning wood floors can actually be a pleasure as you lavish attention on something that brings such rich beauty to your home.

Cleaning wood floors Image Flickr: brooklyn

Water and other liquids are public enemy number one when it comes to keeping your floors looking new. They can leave dark stains by penetrating deep into the grain of the wood floorboards and resist even sanding. The solution to this problem may be to bleach the hardwood with oxalic acid. This chemical can be purchased from paint stores and home improvement centers. Here are the steps to take in using oxalic acid to bleach the stain from your wood flooring:

1.      Sand the stained area so that any finish is removed.  Using a disposable vessel, dissolve the oxalic acid according to the package directions as to the proportion of water to acid crystals. Carefully pour the liquid onto the stain, taking care to saturate only the affected area. You should also wear protective gloves and eye shields when you work with the acid to avoid injury.

2.      Allow the acid solution to work for an hour and if the dark stain has not been eliminated, repeat the treatment. When you can no longer detect a stain, wash the area with two tablespoons of borax dissolved in sixteen ounces of water to neutralize the acid. Rinse the affected part of the floor with clean water and allow it to dry.

3.      Sand the area smooth with fine sandpaper and apply several coats of wood restorer appropriate to your floor finish. You will have to continue application until your treated area matches the surrounding floor.

Using this method will go a long way to getting your wood flooring back to original quality. To prevent further stains, make sure that you attend to all spills immediately and use the proper method for cleaning wood floors.