Solid or engineered
Solid wood flooring
One piece of wood from the top of the plank to the bottom. Solid floors usually have about 6 to 8 sanding cycles in their wear layer, so a well-maintained floor can last 100 years or more. They also behave more predictably, since each board is a single material.
Engineered flooring
A real wood layer laminated to a plywood core or another material. That makes it more stable in moist conditions and uses less hardwood per floor. It comes prefinished or unfinished.
- Sanding cycles, solid wood
- About 6 to 8
- Service life, well maintained
- 100+ years
- Ideal humidity for wood floors
- 30 to 50% RH
- Front Range homes, yearly average
- 15 to 20% RH
The subfloor comes first
Most squeaks in a wood floor don't come from the flooring. They come from the subfloor flexing underneath it. Just as a good foundation makes a sturdy house, the surface under your new floor needs to be flattened and the squeaks taken out. That goes for prefinished boards, bamboo and traditional site-finished floors alike.
Some contractors leave this step out to keep an estimate low, and it turns into a change order once the job starts. We talk about it at the estimate so it's part of the plan from day one.
Acclimation in a dry climate
Wood takes on and gives off moisture with the air around it. Wood floors do best at about 30 to 50 percent relative humidity, while Front Range homes without humidity control average about 15 to 20 percent over the year. That gap is why acclimation takes longer here, and why rushed installs open up large gaps later.
During the estimate we look at the moisture conditions in your home and build the installation schedule around them, so the floor stays trouble-free for the long run.
How we run an install
We supply, install and finish wood floors ourselves because it makes communication much better.
- You deal directly with us, from the estimate to the final coat.
- No subcontractors and no absentee owner managing from a distance.
- Planning, installation and finishing handled by the same crew.
- We measure quality over years, not the day after the last coat.