Monday, April 23, 2012

Wood Monsters Featured Item: African Walnut

Welcome once again to our continuing blog series, Wood Monsters Featured Items. Last time, we told you about a great engineered hardwood flooring product, Hand-scraped Pacific Walnut. This time we’ve got a solid walnut product to share with you; African Walnut Hardwood Flooring.

african walnut hardwood flooring

Like all hardwood flooring, African walnut has a warmth and feel that carpet and tile can’t match. African Walnut hardwood flooring has an additional advantage: its remarkable, dark heartwood.

African Walnut hardwood flooring has a natural deep brown, almost black color coupled with an extraordinarily even and subtle grain pattern. This gives it a luxuriant, but very neutral appearance that will fit well with almost any design scheme or color palette.

African Walnut’s darkness, density and uniform texture mean that it’s able to take a high luster, for an elegant, piano-like finish that will complement any library, study, formal dining room or any room where a smooth, even shine is desired. And its durability and resistance to decay mean that it will continue to impress for a lifetime if properly maintained.

African Walnut hardwood flooring from Wood Monsters is one of the highest-quality flooring products you can find. Contact Wood Monsters today to learn more.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Click Flooring: What Are the Benefits?

If you’re currently going through the process of making a decision about what type of hardwood flooring product to use in your upcoming project, you can be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed. Engineered or solid? Flat or hand-scraped? Float, glue or staple?

We understand, and that’s why this blog will always be here to guide you through the bewildering array of wholesale hardwood flooring options out there. In that spirit, we’d like to tell you a little bit about HDF click hardwood flooring.

HDF click hardwood flooring is an engineered hardwood flooring product that offers significant advantages. The most prominent is that click flooring is designed to “click” into place as it’s installed. This is a particular plus for the do-it-yourselfer who may not be a hardwood flooring installation expert: the planks align automatically, making errors nearly impossible.

Another advantage of click hardwood flooring: many homeowners see it as a more sustainable option. The product is engineered in such a way that more of the tree is used, meaning it takes fewer trees to make a floor. Many of our wholesale hardwood flooring customers cite this as a factor in their decision to use click flooring.

Additionally, click flooring is suitable for damp, “below grade” installations such as basements, where a solid hardwood flooring product wouldn’t be appropriate.

Finally, the engineered product can be easier on the home improvement budget than a comparable solid-wood installation. That doesn’t mean it’s not remarkably handsome, however. Click flooring is available in most species and finishes, to fit any design concept. Contact Wood Monsters today to learn more about this marvel of hardwood flooring technology!

Monday, April 09, 2012

Installers and Designers: How to See Eye-to-Eye

In the construction business — especially in residential new home construction and remodeling — it’s well-known that there’s a tension between the designers who create the vision for a home or room and the contractors whose job it is to make that vision a reality. The hardwood flooring business is no exception to this rule.

Whether you’re an installer or the homeowner caught in the middle, it’s helpful to understand some of the most common ways in which communication between designers and hardwood flooring contractors can break down. Here are a few tips for working with designers.

Learn the vocabulary.
Designers tend to discuss things in terms that sound vague to folks with a construction background — “classical,” “modern,” “busy.” Spend some time with some design magazines to learn how these terms have specific meanings in the design vocabulary. When a term doesn’t mean much to you, ask! Most designers are happy to bend your ear about their trade.

Be clear and firm.
It’s a designer’s job to dream up things that no one’s seen before. It’s not necessarily their job to know whether such things can be built within the budget — or even if they exist! If you’re the wholesale hardwood flooring supplier, don’t be shy about appointing yourself as project expert: “This is what’s available, this is what can be done — and this is what can’t.”

Go with the flow—up to a point.
Hardwood flooring contractors need to understand that interior designers aren’t architects; they work in a more seat-of-the-pants fashion, building their vision as they go. The hardwood flooring people should be prepared to execute a vision that continues to develop as the project unfolds — but one that changes completely every few days may be the sign of an inexperienced designer, and could be one of those rare projects it’s best to walk away from.

hardwood flooring contractors

If you are a hardwood flooring contractor and are having communication problems with another member of a construction project, contact WoodMonsters today to speak with your representative about the best way to work with designers so everyone ends up satisfied.

Monday, April 02, 2012

Floor Grades: What Are They, and Why Are They Important?

Whether you’re in the market for wholesale hardwood flooring to redo the floors in an entire house, or just looking to patch an existing installation, it helps to have a good command of the terminology of the hardwood flooring industry. Knowing the basic concepts will make your experience go more smoothly, and understanding your own hardwood flooring needs will avoid mistakes and misunderstandings that could necessitate costly repairs later.

One of the terms you’re likely to hear your wholesale hardwood flooring representative use is “grade.” Some folks may be confused by this, since in other contexts, “grade” can refer to the angle of a slope—and you’re probably hoping your floor will be flat! But in the hardwood flooring industry, “grade” refers to the level of the floor relative to the level of the ground outside.

There are three types of grade. The first is “on grade.” This means simply that the floor is at ground level—typically the main floor of a residence. On grade hardwood flooring installations can be solid hardwood, engineered flooring, or floating hardwood floors.

The second usage is “above grade,” which means, as you might imagine, installations on the upper floors of the residence. Here also, one can employ solid, engineered or floating hardwood flooring.

Finally, some installations are “below grade,” meaning they’re below ground level — basements or sunken room levels. This is important, since most wholesale hardwood flooring suppliers recommend that you avoid solid hardwood flooring in below-grade situations, due the danger of moisture- related damage to hardwood floors installed below ground level.

On grade installations support most all types of hardwood flooring materials.

We hope this makes things a bit clearer. Of course, there’s no substitute for a conversation with a real expert. Contact Wood Monsters today to learn more about the best choices for hardwood flooring on any level of the house.