UNIVERSAL Carpet & Flooring

December 23, 2008 - February 8, 2009

Hardwood floors offer the unmistakable rich character and timeless beauty only found in authentic real wood. It is never out of fashion and adds real value to the home. Many interior decorators today choose hardwood floors as the base layer and use area rugs to enhance the room's overall color scheme. Universal Carpet and Flooring carries many types of styles and colors of hardwood flooring.

Through advancements in hardwood construction techniques, flooring manufacturers are able to produce wood floors that are more durable and adaptable to many different environments. Engineered and longstrip hardwood floors allow homeowners to use hardwood floors in areas of the home that they would never have considered in the past.

Today's hardwood floors come in a wide variety of wood species, colors and widths. Besides the classic North American hardwoods (like oak, maple and ash), exotic hardwood species from all over the World are available. Exotic hardwoods give homeowners the chance to better express their own personal decorating tastes with a more unique visual appearance.

The Character of Hardwood Flooring
Many factors define the look of natural hardwood flooring. Species of the tree, where it grew, rate of growth, part of the tree used--they all determine your flooring's unique "character marks."

The closer a plank is cut to the center of the tree, the darker its overall tone. Lighter boards came from closer to the bark.
Knots indicate that a limb grew from that spot.
Growth rings, determined by climate trends and mineral/nutrient absorption, determine grain pattern.

While all these "character marks" impact the appearance of finished boards, they do not affect their strength.

Types of Hardwood Flooring
Homeowners looking to use hardwood floors have the option of purchasing different types of wood flooring. Although the end results may look the same there are distinct advantages for using each type under different applications.

Solid Hardwood Floors - are a solid piece of hardwood cut into wood planks that are generally ¾” thick. Solid wood planks are one complete piece of solid wood from top to bottom. They are available in strips, planks and parquet squares. Wood strips are anywhere from 1 ½” to about 2 ¼” wide. Planks are wider than 2¼”. Generally, a solid hardwood floor is a ¾” thick plank that is in narrow 2 ¼” strips. However, they can be manufactured in a variety of widths and thicknesses. Solid wood products react to the presence of moisture. A proper installation is required to minimize the affects of moisture conditions. Solid strip or plank floors are installed with the nail down procedure on a secure wooden sub-floor in above ground level areas. Solid flooring gives you a great opportunity for customization. Your choice of species, stains, and finishes all contribute to the personalization of a solid floor. You can get your wood floor either unfinished or prefinished. Unfinished flooring offers unlimited color stain options. Prefinished wood flooring features a factory-applied finish.

Engineered Hardwood Floors - are several layers of wood stacked and glued together under heat and pressure to form a wood plank. They range in thickness from 5/16” to 9/16” and from 2 ¼” to 7” in width. Engineered planks are usually made from 3 to 7 layers (plies) stacked with grains running perpendicular to each other then laminated together to become one board. The top finish layer can be cut from a variety of domestic or exotic hardwood species and are generally factory prefinished with a polyurethane or an aluminum oxide finish. The cross-graining lamination process results in a flooring product that is dimensionally stable and not greatly affected by moisture, compared to solid wood floors. These floors do not expand and contract like solid wood products. Engineered wood is more dimensionally stable than solid hardwood because the layers keep the movement in balance. Because it is less inclined to swell and shrink, engineered wood can be installed in areas where solid wood cannot, such as over concrete or in high-moisture areas. It can easily be used in kitchens, powder rooms and utility rooms. Engineered floors can be installed on any grade level of the home; below grade, on grade or above grade. Installation options are nail down, staple down, glue down, or floating.

Longstrip Hardwood Floors - are really an engineered construction but with a long and wider plank. This allows the top layer to splice 2-3 rows of thin hardwood strips into one plank. Longstrip planks can be glued-down, stapled or floated over a wide variety of sub-floors and used almost anywhere in the home, including dry basements.

Exotic Hardwood Floors - are used to describe hardwood species from around the World. These hardwoods are not found in North America and come from Australia, Africa, Brazil and the Far East. Exotic hardwoods offer unique wood graining and colorations. Most exotic floors are available in engineered wood construction but some are in solid hardwood planks as well. Bamboo, Amendoim and Jatoba are examples of exotic hardwood.

Parquet Floors – come in many unique patterns, but are generally thought of as custom-crafted wood tiles or 12" x 12" squares that fit together to create a specific pattern. Parquets are a glue down installation, either on grade or above grade.

Another choice you have to make is whether you want a pre-finished or an unfinished hardwood floor. The pre-finished floors offer a wider variety of wood species and saves hours of labor and cleanup. While the unfinished wood floors allow you to have a really custom, job-site finish and a completely smooth, uniform surface.

Installation is very important to get the best performance and look. Universal Carpet and Flooring's professional staff of installers will use the best techniques to fit your home and wood type.