We’re None of Us Perfect: How to Handle Width-Variation Complaints

In many ways, the rise in popularity of prefinished hardwood flooring has been a godsend for the wholesale hardwood flooring industry — the ease of installation and reduced labor costs associated with prefinished products have allowed thousands, if not millions, of cost-conscious homeowners to enjoy the great look and durability of solid hardwood flooring without breaking the bank.

That said, there are a few downsides that are unique to prefinished hardwood flooring, and width complaints are near the top of the list. Customers used to seeing hardwood floors that were finished on site — where the natural gaps between the planks can be filled in the finishing process — may flip when they see the unavoidable small gaps in a prefinished installation: “Surely these planks are defective! They must be all different widths!”

As with most customer-service challenges, managing the customer’s expectations is key. Make sure the client is educated about the special characteristics of prefinished hardwood flooring before the job starts. Explain that that natural expansion and contraction of the wood will make some small gaps unavoidable. If this is a problem, recommend a solid hardwood flooring product with a beveled edge, which will make the gaps less noticeable.

Finally, if the presence of small gaps (typically no more than 1/16”) is really a deal breaker, gently suggest that the customer might be happier with an unfinished wholesale hardwood flooring product that can be finished on site to whatever level of glassy smoothness the customer might desire.

Contact Wood Monsters today to learn more about solid hardwood flooring’s expansion and contraction abd further ways to minimize it.

Purchasing Hardwood Floors: 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Floor

Purchasing hardwood flooring can be the first step toward bringing a whole new look and feel to your home. That said, you’ll want to choose hardwood flooring that meets your needs — there’s a bit more to the process than just calling up a wholesale hardwood flooring company and saying, “One, please!” Here are a few tips to help you make the right choice:

1. Understanding texture.
You can choose hardwood flooring with a glassy-smooth finish, a more textured brushed look, or a deeply grooved hand-scraped look. The smooth finish gives an elegant, formal look, while the more textured varieties give a rustic feel that also helps hide day-to-day dings and scrapes.

2. Master the cut.
Not only are there different species of hardwoods you can choose, within each species there are different ways of cutting the planks relative to the wood’s grain. Flatsawn, riftsawn, and quartersawn planks will all reveal the wood’s grain in different ways, so be sure to see all available products within a species before making a final decision.

3. The subtleties of plank width.
You might think that the width of each individual plank wouldn’t make a difference, but there’s a reason wholesale hardwood flooring distributors stock their planks in differing widths. Most designers agree that narrower planks convey a more formal feel, while wide ones give a more down-home effect.

4. Thickness matters.
The thickness of your hardwood flooring boards might seem like it shouldn’t matter much at all — after all, you can only see the top surface once it’s installed! However, thickness makes a difference when it comes time to refinish your floor — thicker planks can take more sandings. If you ever sell, potential buyers will want to know how much hardwood flooring they’ve got left to work with.

5. The ranging of color.
You can’t reach a reliable understanding of what the installed floor will look like based on a one-board sample. All species vary in color from plank to plank, and some vary quite considerably! When purchasing hardwood flooring, make sure you understand the full color range for whatever product you choose.

Contact Wood Monsters today to talk with our hardwood flooring professionals about choosing the perfect flooring for your specific needs. We look forward to hearing from you!

How to Stain Hardwood Flooring and Avoid a Mess

Once you’ve made the decision that you want the great look and durability of hardwood flooring in your home, the most common solution is probably to find a hardwood flooring contractor and let that firm handle all the details. But if you’ve got a moderate amount of skill working with wood, you may elect to go the DIY route — finding a good price on some wholesale hardwood flooring and doing the work yourself.

Once the floor is installed, it’s time to stain and seal the floor. Here are three tips from the pros to make that process neat and trouble-free.

Keep it clean.
Probably the single most common rookie mistake in floor finishing is staining and sealing hardwood flooring that’s not perfectly clean. More than likely, the floor will have just been sanded, and any fine particles of dust that get trapped under the finish will be there for good! Vacuum, vacuum again, and then use a tack cloth to pick up the last of the grit.

Stain carefully.
You’ll want to use a rag or roller to apply the stain, but before you do, map out the job in your mind. Don’t stain yourself into a corner! Always work with the grain, using long, even strokes. Finally, make sure you’re not using a stain product that will raise the grain, or you’ll need to sand again.

Seal, sand, seal.
Once your stain has dried thoroughly, apply a polyurethane sealant. Again, work with the grain of the wood. Once the poly is thoroughly dry, you’ll want to sand it lightly, but don’t rush the job — sanding when the sealer is still wet will turn your wholesale hardwood flooring into a scene of wholesale destruction! After sanding, apply the final coat of polyurethane for a glass-smooth finish.

Contact your Wood Monsters sales representative today to learn more about applying a stain to hardwood flooring.

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.

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.

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!