So you want to choose what kind of flooring to choose? Maybe we can assist you to with just a little primer on some character differences of reclaimed hardwood flooring from the perspective of a manufacturer like ourselves who specializes to make solid wood flooring from reclaimed lumber.
Did you see a picture that you like and now you possess the bug that you want that special ground? The good news is that it could oftimes be designed for you, but prior to going a long ways down the road of choosing which ground you wish and requesting a screen room filled with samples, ask about some price ranges. There exists a common misconception that since reclaimed real wood is usually supposedly salvaged it should be cheaper than virgin real wood floors. If you are buying a quality kiln dried and accuracy milled product, generally that's not the case. The only cost savings would be if you discovered some scraps or did some salvage work yourself, you may save some costs. For instance you might look for a gym flooring or planks out of a barn hay loft that you would like to nail down on your own floor. The material might have been next to free, but just how much time are you going to have in which makes it usable and pulling fingernails? Are the results what you want?
In this article we will be discussing several different types of wood flooring. Solid wood flooring is one table without glued up laminations; it really is basically wood panel that is sized and profiled to a certain dimension. Engineered flooring includes a on the top whatever species and texture you want, which is glued to a plywood backer on underneath. Engineered is still all hardwood but is made with multiple layers that are laminated for better stability and dimensional accuracy. Floors that we will not cover here are laminates or any composite items which are often not wood completely through the plank or could be made with a photo printed surface. We will not cover vinyl, carpeting, stone, or tile.
Hardwood flooring is often a generic term that could connect with any type of wood flooring. Hardwood trees (oak, maple, cherry, walnut, elm, chestnut) are usually trees that experienced leaves which fall off in the wintertime. Softwood trees (pine, fir) have needles that may stay on all year and generally they produce cones. Hardwoods are often more dense and stronger than softwoods. Of program, there are exceptions to these generalities. In our product line the hardwoods cost more than the softwoods.
As a reoccurring theme in this post you will see that you frequently get what you pay out for. Admittedly, the bigger end price point products ($11+/sf) from more rare woods aren't necessarily better quality but we find that up compared to that point quality increases with price. Our wood floors range in cost from $4-9 per square foot and our constructed ranges from $7-15 per square feet. We will discuss applications below, but our stage is that you should have a realistic budget when shopping. Occasionally a nice alternative when you have your heart set on an expensive floor is by using much less of it and put it just in key areas. Don't do the complete house. Maybe simply do the primary high traffic areas and make use of a cheaper option in bedrooms..
If your price-point isn't even in the same zip code, maybe it really is in a different state, start shopping other choices. For example https://en.search.wordpress.com/?src=organic&q=waterproof vinyl plank flooring if you are in the $1-2/sf range look at the deep discounters or laminate options. The FSC certified 12mm exterior birch plywood that people use to manufacturer the manufactured flooring costs us that very much alone, not counting all the other labor and materials.
Also when pricing a floor make certain to factor in the complete installed price and the lifetime cost. Here are examples of some variables that could alter the full total costs:
With reclaimed material waste factor is a huge variable. Just how much effort does the manufacturer take to provide you with a 100% usable product? Poorly milled with very little defecting and culling completed on a solid wood floor that costs $6/sf and has a 15% waste aspect actually costs more than a similar item that is milled better costing $7/sf with a 2% waste aspect. That extra wastes costs more in shipping and delivery and labor to defect. This is among the hardest issues to demonstrate to a client that the facial skin value costs doesn't necessarily represent the actual natural material cost unless one is truly comparing similar quality and specified items.
For the second variable this is a controversial opinion: we do not end match our flooring this means there is no tongue and groove on the ends of the planks. Since we recommend our ground become glued down we say this is an unnecessary expense for the customer. End matching decreases the yield in creation and raises labor costs. Many end match profiles are milled so loosely that they really do not hold the floor set up anyway. The biggest advantage to the installer is definitely that the plank could be cut in half in any place and reused anywhere without need to mate up to complementary tongue or groove because the end is just square cut. This means all end trim items or any waste can be reused. As a result on our engineered flooring item the waste aspect is virtually nothing unless there are angles or radiuses to work around. We also help with waste materials factor by usually supplying a random width item therefore when one gets close to the end of a room they are able to plan the width combination patterns out never to have to rip much off the last row.
The third variable is installation costs. Our engineered item has labor cost savings over our wood product because it is certainly pre-sanded and milled to tighter tolerances. It is also prefilled in the holes and offers next to zero waste. However you may have a little more in expense of gluing it down in addition to nails, but this is just a part of path of better quality and satisfaction during the install.
Fourth, aspect in the price of refinishing the ground later or doing touchups. That is a whole another article. Some finishes could be place touched up like some of the oils while others need a complete sand over the whole floor. Some finishes require a professional installer and could have extreme odor through the cure. If you live with the ground for lengthy, factor these decisions set for the kind of finish to choose for lifetime toughness and the price & effort to refinish.
Fifth, compare general thickness and the height from the top of the tongue or nail groove to the top of the face on the floor. On an engineered floor this is generally the thickness of a wear layer. Most wood floors are 3/4" overall before sanding (however, many are less) with 1/4" above the nail groove. Our engineered ground is manufactured to comparative measurements but most engineered flooring have a thinner wear layer. This comes down to how many times the floor can be sanded. The type of finish and texture you want on to the floor factors into how deep you will re-sand the ground during refinishing. A number of our reclaimed wood floors are sold with an original texture that shows the previous saw marks and personality in the floor, so most most likely you won't desire to sand this out. Generally of thumb, the thicker the use layer then your longer the floor will last.
Sixth, compare the expense of a character grade virgin flooring to reclaimed. The reclaimed might cost more up front, but the additional variability, texture and personality in it may hide or mask the misuse better. It might therefore last longer due to the forgiving nature in the inherent appear of the reclaimed material. What's resale value to presenting a distinctive product installed? You might alienate some customers by firmly taking a risk or impress others with the customization.
Seventh, are you a do-it-yourselfer? Consider every stage of the procedure to be sure that can be done it yourself. Usually the install can be achieved with relatively moderate skills and simple tools such as a chop saw and rented flooring nailer. The finishing procedure is a complete different matter. The sanders and buffers take some special skills to use. A normal price range for labor and components to set up a wood ground can be $4-5 per square foot. You'll be able to build your very own sweat equity into a flooring install. Maybe this is where you choose to use our engineered product for example because it is usually presanded to even more accurate tolerances than a solid wood product. It could be touched up with a handheld orbital sander instead of commercial floor sanders. Then if you are doing the final yourself, you will need to consider using a finish that may not require as much buffing between coats.
Here is a word on prefinished product if they factor into your decision. If you come up short on your order, the next lot that you buy might not match your previous batch. This is especially a issue on the lower end price floors and import floors. Good luck trying to mix it in together with your previous flooring. So if you go this path, become extra accurate on your own measurements. At this time the rage is life time warranties on flooring. We stop to think is that really even possible? First will that importer or manufacturer really be around an eternity? A lot of products are made oversees; the warranty is only good when there is someone still around for the life of the warranty. Are you going to have the ability to enforce the guarantee? Also, you don't think that a finish can last an eternity? For example take a nail and try scraping it over the surface. Sure it is a long lasting, well applied finish, nonetheless it is impossible to produce a product that won't get abused at some point in its lifetime. Do you think that the only severe trial your floor will ever see is usually a stinky sock? Browse the fine print on the guarantee and regardless of what it says consider the real replacement cost on to the floor. It most likely only covers the cost of material of the specific damaged product under regular deterioration. Your product might not be made exactly the same later (developments and product lines change) to displace the section that's warrantied, so you may have to replace the whole floor years afterwards. You will have labor cost along with displacement of trim, cabinets, and home appliances. Also most of these lifetime finishes can't be repaired or sanded due to a micro bevel put on the advantage of prefinished flooring. Our advice is rather to buy a quality product which can be refinished and repaired because something will fail in the duration of the floor; flooring store Augusta GA don't get a false feeling of security.
We personally do not look after prefinished flooring due to installation problems connected with it, so our product requires site applied finish. This implies that your floor end if site applied will be easier to sand and refinish than a prefinished floor. Also you do not have to deal with that micro bevel groove between each board that tends to fill up with dirt and crumbs. Most prefinished hardwood floors really can't be refinished very easily. To sand it off means that the wear layer has to be thicker than the height of the fingernails and have space to sand off the micro bevel between boards; that amounts to a lot of sanding. You also will not be able to place sand or contact up parts of the floor.
In a reclaimed product the engineered flooring really shines. Since the character of reclaimed material can be rustic with splits, various height, warps etc by doing an designed product we can remove those issues. We match the texture and color that you want in the floor nevertheless, you don't possess to endure the inherent problems that include installing and coping with a reclaimed timber floor. A number of solid wood reclaimed floors have warped and twisted boards, gaps between rows, elevation difference between rows, holes, and other "nostalgia and romance" that may become unwelcome after living with the floor for some time. Because of our precise sanding during the lamination procedure for the engineered product and after, pieces are more consistent in height, more uniform in consistency, fit collectively tighter, no waste, holes and cracks currently filled, no sanding necessary after install if you don't want to do a light display screen or buff.
