Q: How do I care for and
prevent damage to my hardwood flooring?
A: To maintain your new flooring sweep regularly especially in high
traffic areas. If your vacuum cleaner has a hardwood setting, this is more effective at removing dirt from your floors than
sweeping. To maintain the appearance of your hardwood, use a neutral pH cleaner made specifically for hardwood flooring.
Q: How do hardwood floors compare to other flooring materials?
A:
Hardwood outperforms and outlasts almost any other flooring, and no other material can compare to its natural beauty.
Q: Can hardwood flooring increase the value of my home?
A: Yes.
Like all other home improvements hardwood can increase the value of your home. Research shows that 90% of real estate agents
believe that homes with hardwood sell faster, and at a higher price, than comparable homes without hardwood flooring.
Q: Is hardwood a good environmental choice?
A: Yes. Hardwood floors
are recyclable, require less energy to manufacture, and are a better insulator than other materials. All of our hardwoods
are made exclusively from renewable tree sources. Highway Flooring Inc. is committed to protecting the environment and recommends
hardwood as an environmentally friendly alternative to other flooring materials.
Q: What is a single most important factor for a successful wood flooring installation?
Q: What is a single most important factor for successful wood flooring
installation?
A: Are you surprised? It is not pneumatic or manual nail-gun,
not cleat or staple, and not how to flip a chalk line.
The single most important
factor is the moisture content of your floors, because most wood flooring related problems are related to moisture, such as
gapping, warping and bulkling up.
Moisture problem could be disastrous.
When wood floor is too wet, the gaps will show up after dry winter season. The gaps could be more than 4mm throughout entire
floor, and will never go back any more. Then your "brand-new" floor becomes ugly ever since. There is no known cure
for this type of problem, unless rip-up and start it from scratch.
To avoid
this happening, customer must buy quality floors from big manufacturers. Most big brand name factories have more consistent
quality control system, better distribution channels and storage. When customers buy floors from small names, liquidating
stores or small importers, chances are they shed all the responsibilities to customers and installers. Acclimation will not
completely solve the problem, when wood floor is too wet. If we acclimate the floor for a month, after that the most of the
wood floors are crooked after the drying process, putting them together will be quite a challenge.
The opposite situation is installing decent wood floors in humid environments, such as the
places by water or ocean, or in southern states. These places have high humidity level year around. An acclimation is required.
Otherwise, the floor will buckle up later on. Again it will not flatten back any more.
Again, purchasing reputable
and time-tested brands is single most important factor for a successful wood flooring installation.
