SVB Wood Floors Blog

Monthly Archives: May 2015

Eye-Popping Wood Floor Designs

Wood floor installation
Posted by Steve Brattin on May 26, 2015

If you are going to invest in wood floors, why not make them really stand out? How, you ask? By making them unique, special and one-of-a-kind. Don’t think of your wood floor as one solid entity. Think of it as a canvas made up of separate pieces – a place where you can express yourself and your style. It helps to break it down into areas and think of ways you can make those areas stand out. Here are some ways to take your floor from ordinary to amazing.

Entryways Can Set the Tone

The entryway is where visitors get their first impression of your home. This is the perfect place to add a little pizzazz. Medallions are a great choice for foyers and entryways. They are available pre-designed, or if you want to design your own version, the wood floor experts at SVB can make any design you come up with. Imagine the reactions of guests when they see this beautiful design as soon as they walk into your home.

SVB-Foyer Directional Symbol SVB-Foyer Round with Medallion Wood Floor Foyer Squares Picture

SVB-Foyer OctagonalSVB-Foyer Diamond

Wood Floors Can Add Elegance to Your Dining Room

Another wonderful place for a little personality is your dining room. One design element we really like is a border. Simply adding a border of a different color or type of wood creates a cozy space creating the illusion of an area rug in the center.

SVB-Dining Room BorderWood Floor Dining Room Border Picture SVB-Dining Room Border 3

 

 

 

 

Related Read: 5 Hardwood Floor Trends for 2015

Simply Install Planks on an Angle

Sometimes, just changing the angle of the planks can add an originality and freshness to an otherwise ordinary floor as in the first photo. Or you can angle your planks in a pattern for even more interest. This effect even works in small spaces like bathrooms as in the last two photos.

SVB-Angled PlanksSVB-Angled Planks KitchenSVB-Angled Planks Herringbone

 

 

 

 

 

 

SVB-Angle Planks BathroomWood Floor Angled Planks Bathroom Photo

Mix and Match

Mix types of wood for a dramatic contrast. Mixing a lighter wood with a darker wood creates very interesting floors. This unexpected combination is unique and elegant. Or mix wide planks with narrow planks or short and long planks for an original and fresh look. Your imagination really is the limit. No matter what kind of wood floor you want installed, SVB Wood Floors can do it. You just let us know and we’ll make it happen.

 

 

Mixed Wood Hardwood Floor Picture SVB-Dark & Light 3 SVB-Dark & Light SVB-Wide & Narrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions about wood floor refinishing, repair, or installation, feel free to call SVB Wood Floors at (816) 965-8655.

 

Yours Aren’t the Only Feet on the Floor – Make Your Furniture Wear Socks

Tips for Homeowners
Posted by Steve Brattin on May 12, 2015

Felt Pads for Chairs PictureSure there are a lot of feet that touch your wood floor, family, friends, neighbors, guests, dogs, cats – they all have feet. But the feet you aren’t thinking about may do the most damage. Your furniture has feet too. Couches, tables, chairs – each of these usually has at least four feet. So how do you protect your hardwood floors from furniture feet? The hardwood floor experts at SVB Wood Floors have two words for you – felt pads.

 

Keep Your Socks on

Felt pads are just like socks for your furniture. They are the best protection against furniture feet scratching your wood floors. And here’s the good news…they’re cheap! Yep, dirt cheap. Just trot on down to the local Target, Walmart, Lowe’s or Home Depot and you’ll find a wide variety of furniture felt pads in a wide array of sizes for just a couple of bucks. If you have wood floors and furniture, you probably already have felt pads. They do a great job of protecting your floors…as long as they stay attached. So how do you keep the little buggers from falling off?

 

Related Read: 9 Simple Secrets to Keeping Your Hardwood Floors Looking Good

 

Felt Pad Adhesion 101

For those chairs (usually around the kitchen or dining room table) that get a lot of use, keeping the felt pads on the chair legs can be a challenge. If you find random felt pads on your floor, follow these tips to secure them in place.

Get a bottle of two-part epoxy glue. (It has two parts that mix together to form an extra strong bond.)

Clean the bottoms of your chair feet with rubbing alcohol and give them a few seconds to dry.

Mix the two parts of glue on a paper plate and apply them to the bottom of the chairs with a toothpick.

Place the felt pad on the bottom of the feet and let dry. (You may have to prop your chairs upside down until the glue is dry so the pads don’t slide off.)

Let the glue dry according to the directions on the package and you’re all set.

 

Hardwood floors are beautiful and we’d like to help you keep them that way. If you need any help with hardwood floor cleaning, refinishing or installation, give us a call at (816) 965-8655.

How to Avoid Summer Moisture Issues with Wood Floors

Tips for Homeowners, Wood Floor Maintenance
Posted by Steve Brattin on May 7, 2015

Hygrometer PictureDuring the summer, all wood floors tend to expand because wood reacts to moisture. Air with a high moisture content (MC) or high relative humidity (RH) causes wood to gain moisture. Extreme moisture can cause cupping (when the edges raise higher than the middle of the wood planks) or even buckling. There are some things you can do to lessen the effect humidity has on your wood floor. The wood floor experts at SVB Wood Floors have come up with some ways to help you avoid this unwanted reaction.

 

The Kind of Wood Floor You Install Will Affect How It Reacts to Moisture

There are some things you can control from the get-go that will lessen your wood floor’s reaction to moisture.

 

Acclimation – Obviously, the wood must be properly acclimated to the environment before it is installed. Any professional wood floor installation company will know this. When having your hardwood floors installed, make sure to ask how they ensure acclimation.

 

Plank Width – Another way to lessen the shrinking and swelling due to moisture is to choose narrower vs. wider planks. Because wood planks shrink more from side to side than end to end, narrower boards will shrink less than wide ones. There will still be some shrinking and swelling, but the gaps will be less noticeable between planks.

 

Wood Species – The species of wood you choose can also affect how drastically it will react to moisture. Certain species will fare better. Just ask us and we can guide you to the species of wood that are more stable.

 

Sawing Technique – How the wood is sawn will also affect how it reacts to its environment. Quarter sawn wood has a very straight grain pattern that lends itself to design and dimensional stability. It is a bit more expensive than regular straight-sawn planks.

 

Engineered Wood – Finally, engineered wood floors also offer more stability. Engineered wood is made up of a core of hardwood, plywood or HDF and a top layer of hardwood veneer that is glued on the top surface of the core. They are more stable because the multiple-ply plank counteracts twisting and remains flat and intact.

 

Ways to Control Moisture

If your wood floors are already installed, controlling the environment in your home is your best move. You want your home’s humidity to be between 35 and 55. In your home, you have warm, humid summer air and cool indoor surfaces. Moisture also sneaks in through crawl spaces and basement foundation walls, or from activities in your home (cooking, showering, etc.). Combine that with the fact that cooling the air raises its Relative Humidity, and the environment is anything but ideal for hardwood floors. Moisture is removed from indoor environments by two main mechanisms, air conditioners and dehumidifiers:

 

Air Conditioner – The main option for removing moisture is to use an air conditioner. A typical air conditioner uses about 25% of its energy to remove water from the air. But, remember, an air conditioner only removes moisture when it is running. Since an air conditioner is controlled by temperature, not moisture levels, once the indoor temperature is good, the AC shuts off. If the temperature outside is cool, but there is high humidity, the AC won’t be able to remove enough moisture. That’s where option number two comes in – dehumidifiers.

 

Dehumidifiers: The best solution for real humidity control in many homes is a central, or whole-house, dehumidifier. Good systems put close to 100% of their energy into removing moisture, and can handle up to around 6.5 pints per hour, every hour, regardless of mild weather or cool mornings when an AC won’t run much. They will also shut down when an AC can handle the moisture loads. Portable dehumidifiers can also help, but they typically don’t remove much more than about 2 pints per hour, and they use more energy than a good whole-house dehumidifier. You also don’t get good humidity control anywhere other than the room it is located in.

 

We hope this helps you to understand wood floors a little better so you can get the most out of yours. If you have any questions, feel free to call the wood floor experts at SVB Wood Floors at 816-965-8655.