by Ken Lund

Wood Flooring – Everything You Need To Know

The elegant look of a hardwood floor can add warmth and character to any room in a home. The natural characteristics of wood add depth and a visual appearance that many other types of floors try to duplicate. With the demand for hardwood flooring growing manufacturer’s are enhancing their ranges to meet this demand, with better quality finishes and superior construction techniques.

Hardwood floors come in a wide variety of wood species, colours and widths. Besides the classic hardwoods (like red oak, white oak, maple and ash) many manufacturers now offer exotic hardwood species from all over the World. Exotic hardwoods give homeowners the chance to better express their own personal decorating tastes with a more unique looking floor. With so many different types of hardwood flooring now available it is sometime hard to choice which is best suited to you.

Different Types of Wood Flooring

Solid wooden floors are one solid piece of wood that have tongue and groove sides and come in either pre-finished or unfinished styles. Solid wood floors are sensitive to moisture and it is not recommended to install these floors below ground level, or directly over a concrete slab. These floors are for nail-down installations only. You can refinish, or recoat solid wood floors several times, which adds to their appeal and to their long life. There are solid floors that are over 100 years old and are still in good condition.

All solid wood floors will react to the presence of moisture. In the winter heating months, moisture leaves the wood causing the floor to contract which leaves unsightly gaps between each plank. In the summer months when the humidity is higher the wood will expand and the gaps will disappear. If there is too much moisture it may cause the wood planks to cup, or buckle. This is why it is important when installing a solid strip floor to leave the proper expansion area around the perimeter and to acclimatize the wood prior to installation.

Engineered wood floors – These floors are constructed from several wood plies that are glued together. The centre core is generally a softer wood material and is used to make the tongue and groove. A hardwood finish layer is glued on top of the centre core and another softer wood ply is attached underneath the core. This top ply is also called the finish layer and can be constructed of almost any wood specie.

Wood always wants to expand in a certain direction. In the presence of moisture solid wood planks will always expand across the width of the planks, rather than down the length of the boards. To avoid this problem, manufacturers of engineered planks place each ply in the opposite direction of each other. This is called cross-ply construction. Once the wood layers are glued together the plies will counteract each other which will stop the plank from growing or shrinking with changes in the humidity. Engineered wood floors are designed for the floating installation and can be glued together or some now come with a click system.

Veneer wood floors are very similar to laminate floors. The only difference is that with a veneer flooring to top wear layer is a thin piece or real hardwood instead of a photographic image as in laminates. Veneer flooring is usually around 8mm in thickness with the top hardwood layer being around 0.7mm. Advantages of a veneer floors are that they are fast and easy to install and you have a real hardwood floor.

Factory Pre-finished Wood Flooring

Most factory finished hardwood floors have several coats of finish applied to the wood’s surface. As example, many wood floor companies are applying 6-10 coats of a ultra-violet (UV) cured urethane. This would be extremely difficult for someone to duplicate on a job site finish, not to mention how many days it would take. This is one of the reasons why many flooring mechanics, flooring retailers, and builders are pushing pre-finished hardwood floors. Instead of taking several days to install and finish a new hardwood floor a pre-finished hardwood floor is generally done in one day.

The most common finishes are:

UV-cured – Factory finishes that are cured with Ultra Violet lights versus heat.

Polyurethane – A clear, tough and durable finish that is applied as a wear layer.

Acrylic-urethane – A slightly different chemical make up than Polyurethane with the same benefits.

Aluminium Oxide – Added to the urethane finish for increased abrasion resistance of the wear layer, which is becoming extremely popular on the better grade wood floors.

Acrylic Impregnated – Acrylic monomers are injected into the cell structure of the wood to give increased hardness and then finished with a wear layer over the wood.

Unfinished Wood Flooring

If you want a custom stained hardwood floor, or a wood floor to match existing trim than a unfinished hardwood floor is your answer. Unfinished means you start with a bare hardwood floor and than the floor is sanded, stained, and finished in the home. This can be quite a mess and the process does take several days, but your floor will have a finish to you requirements.

Installation Options

Nail Down – Secret nails are used with a wood flooring nailer and mallet to attach the flooring to the sub floor. Solid Strip floors or Plank floors can only be installed on wooden sub-floors or on batons.

Glue Down – Engineered wood floors and parquets can be glued down. This is when you spread the recommended glue all over the sub floor and lay the flooring into the glue.

Floating – This is when a thin underlay is placed between the wood flooring and the sub floor. A recommended wood glue is then applied in the tongue and groove of each plank to hold the planks together. Engineered

What is So Good About Amtico Flooring

Amtico flooring is just about the most hardwearing and practical alternative to real wood.

Have a look at the comprehensive selection of Amtico flooring in the latest natural wood designs. These range from the softest colours such as white maple, to the mid toned classic oaks, and on to the darkest colour in our range Wenge Wood. All Amtico woods are genuine British made commercial grade {not the Asian made Spacia} and are available in ‘tick’ finish in the 114mm x 915mm standard size. They are all available from stock for next day delivery so you can avoid the frustrating long delivery times quoted by supposed Amtico stockists. You can even check out our real time stockholding online so that you cab book your installer in advance.

Choosing Amtico flooring means you don’t’ have to worry about long tem maintenance- your floor will never need sanding or re-finishing. The tough abrasion resistant surface will repel stains and moisture making it an ideal choice for wet areas such as bathrooms and shower rooms, and heavy wear areas such as hallways and entrance lobbies.

Amtico wood authentically replicates the natural product and it’s true characteristics. The Stripwood is highly variable in grain, shade and decoration. Please consider this in your product selection, as our online images only display a small section of the material.

Installing Amtico wood flooring can be undertaken by any reasonably competent DIYer with little in the way of equipment. If you are installing onto an existing wood floorboard, chipboard, or MDF sub-floor, it is always good practice to install a new plywood base first. Not only will this ensure long term wear, it will prevent undulations showing through your new flooring. If your sub-floor is reasonably flat, 6mm exterior grade moisture resistant plywood is adequate. This should be fixed at 15-20cm centers with screw nails.

If your sub-floor is old and extremely uneven, a heavier grade plywood 9mm or 12mm should be used. However before installing this, level off any hollows with a latex screed compound. Otherwise the plywood will never be completely flat.

After installing the plywood, spend as much time as possible filling any gaps in the joints, and knocking down nails flat. Then take down any high spots with a medium grade sand paper. Time taken on preparing the sub-floor will produce huge dividends when you have installed you new Amtico, so do not be tempted to cut any corners.

Depending on how flat and smooth you have managed to make the plywood base, it may be necessary to apply a further leveler such as Ardex Feather Finish which can be applied thinly without the risk of delaminating.

If you are installing over a solid floor e.g. concrete, asphalt, quarry tiles, stone flags etc. it is imperative that your do a thorough check of the moisture content of the sub-floor. Even a slight amount of moisture in a sub-floor will cause Amtico flooring to start lifting within a very short period of time. Your investment will then be wasted, as the floor will be beyond repair. Check first for the presence of a dpm, which should be visible on your outside, walls maybe the first or second line of brick or stone. If there is nothing evident, and your house was build before 1960, then it is safe to assume that there is no damp proof membrane in the sub-floor.

Your only option then is to apply a surface dpm to the sub-floor. These are a 2-part epoxy resin coating. These are easy to apply, but can take up to 48 hours to cure. The most widely used product is ES3000 made by Treetabond.

Once you have a dry clean solid sub-floor, a leveling screed should be laid. Always follow the screed manufacturers instructions with regard to the use of priming or bonding agents. Remember that if the screed de-bonds from the sub-floor, your new Amtico floor will also fail. The screed should be rubbed down as smooth as possible before installing your Amtico flooring. Any trowel marks, high or low spots will soon become evident once you have a new shiny floor over the screed. Therefore more time and effort spent on the preparations will be rewarded with a superior final floor finish.

The Amtico flooring in Stripwood should always be installed using the approved Amtico adhesives For wet areas the Amtico ‘Universal’ adhesive should always be used. Amtico flooring can be laid onto underfloor heating, provided that Amtico HT (high temperature) adhesive is used. For all other areas the standard Amtico SF (solvent free) adhesive can be used without problems.

As with all flooring, Amtico flooring will benefit from regular maintenance. The Amtico floor dressing will give enhanced protection from moisture and abrasion. The Amtico Cleaner will effectively clean your floor without stripping off the Dressing. However, when the time comes to renew the dressing, Amtico Dressing Remover is a powerful and aggressive stripper, which makes light work of removing heavy build-ups of old layers of floor dressing. Guidance on maintenance is available from the Amtico flooring web-site

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