Wood Flooring Information 

WHY WOOD FLOORS?

Solid wood floors are natural and bring warmth and beauty to a house. They are durable, and rugged, yet decorative and easy to care for. They add real value to your home. Most people will increase the equity in their homes by installing hardwood floors in their homes. Solid hardwood floors will last a lifetime, where carpet and laminates may need replacing after just a few years. Hardwoods can be cleaned more thoroughly than carpet, which can trap dust and germs and are irritating in general, and which are health hazards to those with allergic sensitivities. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING YOUR HARDWOOD FLOOR 

A few things to think about when choosing solid hardwood floors- first do you have a wood sub-floor, or concrete sub-floor?  Do you have radiant heat?  For concrete and radiant heat we recommend a product called AJunckers@ which is a solid wood that installs using a unique clip system to create a Afloating@ floor. There are other floors that will float that are engineered or thinner woods, but our first choice, and the flooring recommended by the Radiant Heat Association, is AJunckers@. For more information on AJunckers@ please click on AFloating Floors@ from our home page.

If you have a wood sub-floor, the widest variety of choices are open to you. First, you would need to decide on pre-finished or unfinished wood. Unfinished woods leave the option to create captivating borders and designs, with a palette of different stains available. Unfinished woods need to be installed and acclimated to the surroundings, then sanded and finished onsite, which takes more time than pre-finished woods, but will leave you with a very even surface, with no micro-bevels between individual boards.

Pre-finished woods are becoming more and more popular for their ease and quickness of installation, excellent warranties on the finish ranging from fifteen to twenty-five years, and with the newer varieties of square edge in products that are very comparable, in both price and look, to unfinished flooring.  They have new distressed and rustic character grades of woods that wear even better with age, and give a timeless vintage quality to the floors.

The last choice to make is the species of wood. An amazing array of domestic and exotic international hardwoods are available to you. Most of this comes down to your personal decor, preference and budgetary considerations. We invite you to browse our website, and contact us with any questions

you may have.  We are pleased to offer custom design and tailoring to work with your unique flooring goals. Our staff will be happy to help you with any of your flooring questions.

OUR COMMITMENT TO PROVIDE YOU WITH ECOLOGICALLY SOUND CHOICES

Increasingly, the quality and quantity of many of the world=s forests are being diminished. Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need to protect forests from over-cutting and mismanagement and to conserve forests for the future. All of us are aware of the problem, but it is often difficult to know what to do to make positive changes.

We at The Hardwood House are committed to the health and well-being of our planet and it=s inhabitants- beginning with you and your home, our employees, and our county landfills, as well as ensuring that native eco-systems are not further damaged by harmful timber harvest practices.  

We have taken the time to research and provide the best materials to take from our ecosystem and bring into your home. Our goal is to provide you with truly sustainable products at an affordable price, where our environment reaps the benefits you as much as the consumer. By doing this we hope to make a difference towards solving our planet=s crisis.  

Products such as bamboo flooring , which grows and re-grows without having to be felled, and utilizing  custom locally milled White Oak and Pine wood flooring are a few examples of types of flooring which highlight our commitment to providing you with the finest of wood floors available today without destructive effects to our planet=s biosphere and ecosystem. 

YOUR OPTIMAL HEALTH AND HARDWOOD FLOORS 

A hardwood floor consists of:

1.) Some type of sub-floor. (i.e. concrete or plywood.)
            2.) A moisture barrier.
            3.) Hardwood flooring
            4.) Stain (optional)
            5.) A protective finish. 

A hardwood floor is one of the cleanest and healthiest surfaces that can be installed in a home. Many of our customers have found their families health improves with removal of carpets with their inherent dust and dirt=s limitations. Further, into the issues of allergic sensitivities, some people adversely react to materials used in the production or composition of flooring materials. We do our best to provide alternatives and solutions by making available environmentally correct products in all phases of our work and are proud to share these health and ecology benefits with our customers. 

 As part of this effort, we are pleased to offer you non-toxic alternatives to polyurethane finishes typically used on hardwood floors. These products, natural in composition, are not only non-toxic to people, but also bring out and reveal the natural beauty of the wood, rather than covering it with a glossy and more artificial appearance. We can normally sand and apply this coat system in one day to two days, so you can move in the next day with no wait for drying and little smell. Our finish and European-style hardwax are

 safe to use for people who suffer from MCS (Multiple Chemically Sensitive). Please click on AEnvironmental Products@ on our home page.  

HOW TO CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION 

We do have a showroom in Santa Cruz, which you are welcome to visit, and we do travel from the Bay Area south through the Carmel Valley, meeting with customers on-site to show samples and help plan a customized hardwood flooring project with you. Consultations and estimates are always free. Please call our office to arrange an appointment.