Hardwood Floors: “The Tough Stuff”

By Crista Gala

Oh, there’s nothing quite like hardwood flooring. And you won’t believe how tough it is these days. New Homes & Ideas gives you tips for both refinishing and buying new.

Pre-finished flooring features a UV-cured aluminum oxide finish and is 100 percent customized—from color, size, type and style and can look like reclaimed, aged, sleek or modern flooring.

Remodeler Dave Mackowski can count on one hand the number of home renovations he’s done over the past few decades that didn’t include hardwood flooring. A typical scenario includes “a house where the dining room and foyer already have hardwood floors and the homeowners want to add hardwoods on the remainder of the first floor,” says Mackowski, president and owner of Quality Design & Construction in Raleigh.

The first question from homeowners: Can you make the old and new match? “We do it all the time,” he says. His wife, Peggy, agrees. “It’s pretty easy to match the wood. When we’re blending old with new, we’ll sand off the top coat of the old, so that when we put a new coat of finish down it’s continuous.”

Basically, both old and new start out as unfinished and are finished together with the same coat. Another secret to blending old and new is to forgo the thresholds. Dave Mackowski employs a technique called “toothing,” where pieces of the old floor are cut out with new floor pieces woven in to join the two.

Not a big deal…

There is often moaning and hand-wringing when the topic of hardwood refinishing surfaces. Think of the mess! Not so much anymore. Daniel Lee, owner of Lee’s Hardwood Flooring in Raleigh, was one of the first refinishers to use a dust-containment system. Recently, he upgraded to the X-Tract MAX from Industrial Air Solutions in Raleigh.

“It’s the only system that has a HEPA filter and a charcoal filtration system,” says Lee, who refinishes hardwood floors in about 15 homes each week. “It’s twice as strong as the old system, and it actually filters the old lacquers and varnishes and any type of lead that might be in any of the finishes that are on the really old hardwood floors.”

“I’ll tell you something else we’re doing a lot of,” he continues. “We’re replacing carpet on the stairs with hardwood. That way you’ve got pretty hardwood floors and pretty steps.”

Dave Mackowski finds he’s doing a lot of hardwood stairs in his business as well. For the past year he’s been using prefinished stair tread covers with great results. “We actually glue and nail the tread covers over the top of the existing stairs,” says Mackowski. “Say you have a finished closet underneath the staircase like a lot of folks do. The sheetrock that’s on the other side of that staircase is actually nailed right to the staircase. If you tear that staircase out, there goes all your drywall finishing. This probably saves us a day’s labor.” And it looks like hardwood flooring is moving up in the world—literally. “We’re starting to do a lot of master bedrooms, guest rooms and upstairs hallways,” says Lee.

Finished the old fashioned way

Photos courtesy of USFloors

A few years back, flooring manufacturers focused on showcasing different types of wood, inlays and special touches. Today, the muscle is behind performance. Paul Toma, owner of Common Ground Green Building Center in Durham, sells an American white oak floor that features a natural oil finish and never has to be sanded.

“US Floors/Natural Cork has been selling wood flooring along with their corks for many years, and they recently came out with a product called Navarre Natural Oil Finished Oak,” says Toma, noting the flooring costs between $7 and $12.50 per square foot. “The finish they use is a linseed-based natural oil, which is what people put on their floors for hundreds of years before they developed chemicals and synthetics. It’s a penetrating, conditioning sealer which hardens the top layers of the wood naturally. When it gets scuffed, scratched or worn, you can just buff out the area that needs to be refinished with a Scotch Bright™ pad, pour some oil on the spot, let it sit for a few minutes and wipe up any excess with a clean rag.”

The Navarre flooring is 100 percent FSC certified, which means it’s completely sustainably grown, harvested, and tracked through the milling and production phases. So it’s a green floor that Toma also calls “permanent.” “The floor is refinished without having to sand out the entire floor; there are no toxic chemicals, and since you do not need to grind any of the surface off the floor, you will never make it any thinner, and never need to replace it,” he says. “At the same time, it can be sanded out and completely refinished if there is any heavy damage since there is a quarter-inch of solid wood on the surface.”

Tough Stuff

What would you say to hardwood flooring with a 25-year finish warranty? It’s out there. Ecologic-Studio, LLC in Chapel Hill is one of just a few distributors in the state that

Hardwood flooring can be customized to meet your individual needs. Such styles include Hand Scraped textures, Wire Brushed, French Bleed Distressing, Barnboard Recreation, and Hand Chiseled Square Pegs.

carries custom samples from Burchette & Burchette Flooring, a small family-owned company in Elkin, NC that got its start doing research and development for other flooring companies. “They quit giving away their secrets and started selling their own flooring,” says Ryan Edwards, principal designer of Ecologic-Studio, a sister company of Magnum Fine Home Builders.

The pre-finished flooring features a UV-cured aluminum oxide finish and is 100 percent customized—from color, size, type and style. The company can make flooring look reclaimed, aged, sleek or modern. “Pretty much anything you can imagine for your floor, we’ll make, because we work directly with the manufacturer,” says Edwards. In his showroom, he’s got gray maple and sun-bleached walnut to give customers an idea of “custom.”

The company makes both solid wood and engineered wood flooring. What’s the difference? The engineered version is made of real wood, but cut so it’s just a quarter-inch thick; the rest of the thickness is the engineered formaldehyde-free backing, designed for better wear and tear. “It keeps everything from moving around and expanding and contracting which is something you have an issue with in a solid wood floor,” says Edwards. “When you engineer the bottom, you don’t have that problem. The backing is engineered for stability, moisture control and movement control.”

The engineered wood floor also provides greater flexibility and can be installed directly over concrete. “It’s more expensive up front but you do less work in the end,” says Edwards. Prices start at $8 to $9 a square foot and go up from there with reclaimed wood costing between $18 and $20 per square foot. The flooring is so durable it’s often used commercially in high-end restaurants and shops. “It’s a really amazing resource and company,” says Edwards. “There are not many people in the residential market who know about it.”

Your Perfect Cover-up

Photo provided by Eatmans Carpets & Interiors

Rugs add style, warmth and protection to hardwood flooring. Eatmans Carpet & Interiors, in business for 53 years, knows rugs. The retail shop carries one-of-a-kind rugs, designer rugs and carpeting. The store also employs a master rug maker who can bind, serge and border custom pieces on site. Below, vice president Betty Eatman Nelson answers the most frequently asked questions:

If I want a rug for my entire room, how big should it be? We suggest one foot off the wall all the way around the room.

What about accent rugs? Bring your plans into our showroom and we can give you ideas, depending on the room and furniture placement. We can also measure at no charge for you and make suggestions.

What should I keep in mind when purchasing a rug? Consider not only the design, style and color, but also the yarn type (what it’s made of: wool, nylon, silk, polypropylene) as well as the construction. The best wearing products are wool axminsters, wool hand-knotted, and wool machine-tufted. It also depends on your lifestyle. How many people live in the home? How many pets and what kind? How much sunlight does the home receive? Tell your salesperson these things when you’re shopping.

How do I clean my new rug? Vacuum it regularly. If you have a synthetic rug, you can use any vacuum. If you have a wool rug, we recommend a basic upright vacuum with suction only (or the beater bar set on high) to prevent fuzzing. A Dyson vacuum is not recommended for wool rugs, but it can be used on synthetics. As far as cleaning, I would recommend having your wool and synthetic rugs professionally cleaned at least once a year and spot clean in between. If you have a sisal or natural fiber rug, you need to spot clean only.

What do people mean when they say a rug is “natural?” Wool is natural, of course, but most people refer to sisal, seagrass, coir and jute as natural rugs. They come from different plants from all over the world. The sisal and seagrass "natural" look has been here for a while and is not going anywhere. It’s beautiful and simple. It can be elegant as well as casual. There are so many designs and textures. Some of the newer designs are basically adding textures, weaves, and contemporary patterns. Designers love these looks because they give them a way to soften rooms without being stuck on one color. Everything goes with natural fibers. You can also layer small area rugs on top of sisals to create a great look.

CHRISTA GALA IS A FREELANCE WRITER