Floor Talk!

Question: (comment from earlier Bamboo post)

“This is about the third time I have been told bamboo flooring is NOT the best for flooring, and we were considering it for our downstairs. What is the BEST flooring for heavy traffic areas? My husband doesn’t wipe his feet, my mother drags her feet, and our carpeting of one year looks bad. I don’t want to put more tile downstairs…”

Answer:

I understand your dilemma! In my experience (10 years of floor covering sales) bamboo has been a great product IF a quality product was purchased. Also, the carbonized bamboo is softer than the non-carbonized. However, I understand your hesitation after hearing stories of it not being the best choice! The good news is, you have several great choices since it’s easier to get new floors than a new mom and husband! J

Cork :

• There are many many patterns other than the bulletin board look

• Very resilient

• Hides dirt very well (the more movement in a pattern, the more it will hide dirt, unless of course you choose a white floor)

• Very quiet

• Easy to clean

Laminate:

• Scratch resistant (not scratch proof) if mom drags her feet with dirt and grit on them

• Great for high traffic areas

• New technology (if you haven’t looked at it in a while) that looks just like hardwood and is not hollow sounding like it used to be

• Easy to clean when husband doesn’t wipe his feet

Hardwood:

• Choosing a wood with lots of grain will help hide dirt and minor scratches

• Prefinished hardwood will have an extremely durable coating

• Bamboo’s hardness is about the same as black walnut. There is a hardwood scale that measures hardness and a few woods that are harder than both bamboo and black walnut are: white oak, hard maple, hickory, Jarrah and Merbau. (this site is helpful - http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/bamboo_hardness.htm )

• Hardwood, like bamboo will scratch and dent, but the harder the wood, the better your chances are of minimizing this.

This seems to be a popular topic - if you have experiences, please share them with us!

Question:

Does Brazilian Cherry get darker with age? If I have a dark cherry floor and need to refinish a large area, should I stain the newly refinished area the original color and let it darken over time to blend with the existing floor

Response:

Brazilian Cherry definitely gets darker with age. In my experience, it is not good to try to “match” the portion of the floor that has already aged because it will age, too. (and it rarely works out where it is a good match – it usually looks like you tried to match it and you missed by a shade) Eventually, the new stained floor will be darker than the original and the original can never “catch up” because it doesn’t have stain on it. It does take time, but if there is no stain on the original floor, it is best to wait for the natural aging process to take place. The only consideration I would make for staining to match is if the new area gets NO sunlight and you have an extremely experienced refinisher.

Have you had a similar experience? Tell us your story!

FAQ’s about Brazilian Cherry

• Brazilian Cherry is the most popular hardwood flooring import from Brazil
• Known in South America as Jatoba
• It’s known for it’s hardness and durability
• Opened grained like oak flooring
• Harder than oak flooring
• It’s a great choice for homes and commercial applications
• Sold in solid form as well as engineered
• Sold in multiple widths including 3″ and 5″
• Ranges in color are expected and are considered part of the beauty of the product
• Features dark brown and black stripes with an orange or redish body
• Brazilian cherry floors that are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified are available

Question: Can I get a laminate wood in the kitchen or will urine from my senior pet absorb into the seams? Also, if put at entrances, will the laminate scratch?

Answer: Although laminate flooring has a tough finish coating, it is still primarily made up of wood so it may absorb pet urine which can ruin the floor. If you do choose laminate, your best bet is to clean up any spills or urine immediately, preventing penetration into the floor. You need to be very careful, though about the places where you might miss accidents.

For the scratching problem, laminate is scratch “resistant”, but is not scratch “proof”. Most laminate products are abrasion resistant, impact resistant, stain resistant and even resistant to cigarette burns. If you choose laminate, you may want to choose a product like Quick-Step’s or Pergo’s distressed products to hide any scratches. Also, most laminate companies have touch up kits for scratches. If the scratch or damage is really bad, a professional installer may be able to replace individual boards. (be sure to save leftover material)

You can see some examples of Quick Step or Pergo here. If you have questions, feel free to ask us and help others with answers to your same questions!

“I am getting differing opinions regarding the design of floor coverings and its effects on the perception of room size. What is often taught sometimes runs counter to actual experience and so on.” Reader- you ask some good questions and we hope that you will find our advice helpful as it relates to the size of patterns and the size of different floor coverings and how they affect the overall visual appearance of a space. Be sure to visit the Virtual Room Designer on our site to experiment with different sizes! (more…)