You may be considering hardwood floors for their beauty, their low maintenance, their allergy-friendliness or the value they add to your home. Whatever the reason, at SVB Wood Floors, we’ve been installing beautiful hardwood floors for decades and we’ve got it down to a science. We have found that when homeowners are familiar with the process, everything goes a little more smoothly, and we end up with happier customers, so here’s what you can expect when we install wood floors in your home.

Step 1: Free Wood Floor Consultation

You’ll notice our entire process starts with the most important thing – a free, in-home consultation. It’s important because we want to make sure we are on the same page with our customers to ensure that we deliver exactly what they want. Because there are so many choices when it comes to hardwood floors, we want to make sure you know all of your options so you can make an informed decision down to the smallest detail.

We Create Custom Colors and Designs for Your Wood Floor

We offer many different types of wood floors – different species, plank widths, stain colors, patterns, etc. You can check out flooring samples from our showroom so you can see them in your home with your cabinets, other flooring, etc. to make sure that it will blend with your home. We can even custom mix stain to give you exactly the shade you want. If you’d like to make your floors unique to your home, our expert installers can create any kind of custom wood floor design you can dream up. We can add beautiful inlays, intricate medallions, decorative borders, and more.

Step 2: Room Preparation

The only thing you need to do before the installation is to prepare the room(s) getting new floors by removing as much as possible. To minimize the risk of any of your furnishings getting bumped or broken during the installation process, we require that you remove the furniture, drapery, and anything hanging on the walls. We will let you know when to expect us so you’ll have time to get ready.

Step 3: Hardwood Floor Installation

This is the most disruptive part of the process. Expect some noise and traffic in your home as our crew installs the planks. We make sure the wood planks we are installing have been acclimated in our temperature controlled warehouse so they fit perfectly.

Once the planks are in place, they are sanded for smoothness. Our BONA dustless sanding system removes the dust while we sand. With dustless sanding, the dust is whisked away to an outside container before it has a chance to spread all over your home. The great thing about our dustless sanding process is that it is very convenient and leaves virtually no mess in your home.

Step 4: Staining and Finishing Your Hardwood Floors

Our multi-step staining & refinishing process ensures a fabulous final product. We carefully apply the stain which really brings out your floor’s personality. When the stain is dry, we finish the floor with several coats of an environmentally safe, durable, and quick-drying topcoat. You can choose from low luster to high gloss or anywhere in between. We screen, buff, and vacuum between refinishing coats for the absolute best results possible. You can walk on your new floor (with stocking feet) two to three hours after the finish is applied. No pets for 48 hours or furniture for 7-10 days (until the floor is fully cured).

2 Other Things to Consider before Having Wood Floors Installed

If you’re thinking of enhancing your home with wood floors, some options you may not have even thought about yet:

Solid or Engineered Hardwood Floors?

Solid:

Hardwood floors are made from a solid piece of wood from top to bottom and end to end. Engineered hardwood floors are created by stacking multiple layers of wood together in various directions and binding them into a solid form with heat and pressure. A thinner hardwood veneer is glued on top. Both wear evenly (since both are solid hardwood on top) and some of today’s engineered planks have a deep enough wear layer to allow them to be sanded and refinished like a solid hardwood floor.

Engineered:

The main advantage of engineered hardwood is its strength and stability, especially when exposed to moisture. Solid wood will warp along natural grain lines when exposed to excessive moisture. Engineered wood does not contain natural lines and therefore won’t be be as prone to warping or bending. Engineered hardwood floors (both unfinished and prefinished) are best used in lower levels and areas where moisture or humidity might be present.

Prefinished or Unfinished Wood Floors?

Both have advantages. It depends on what you’re looking for.

Prefinished:

Prefinished has a more durable finish because it is created in a controlled environment in a factory. You will also know exactly what color and finish your floors will have before the installation. With prefinished planks, you have no fumes, less mess, and a shorter wait time to walk on your new floor. Prefinished floors are more tolerant to humidity changes.

Unfinished:

Unfinished may work best if you are repairing or expanding an existing wood floor and want to “lace-in” or seamlessly match the existing floor or if you want to match cabinets or trim because the color isn’t pre-determined. Also, if you are looking for an unusual wood species or width, it may not be available in prefinished. Lastly, you may not like the beveled edges that accompany prefinished planks, so unfinished would be best for you.

Our wood floor installers are experts in the industry. In fact, we’ve won many local and even a national award for our wood floor designs and installations. For our installers, it’s not just a job, it’s an art form.

If you’re thinking of installing hardwood floors in your Kansas City area home, call us for a free in-home consultation. We’ll help you choose the wood floor with the perfect color, style, and price range for you. Don’t wait. A beautiful new hardwood floor can be yours usually within a couple of weeks. Call us today at (816) 944-3150.

All wood floors start with a tree. The pattern of your hardwood floor depends on the species of tree the wood comes from. You may think that’s all there is to it, but there’s another factor that affects the look of the wood grain as well – the way it’s sawn. The way the logs are sawn will have a striking impact on the look of the boards that are harvested.

Related Read: Wood Floor Trends to Watch for in 2017

Cutting Methods for Creating Wood Planks

There are basically three common methods of sawing boards from a log:

Plain Sawn

This is the most common sawing method. The pith is the center or core of the log. Plain sawn boards are cut parallel to the pith on four sides.

Every board sawn this way will have a unique appearance with various color and pattern designs than boards sawn using other methods. The wood grain is the star of plain sawn boards.

Quarter Sawn

Quarter sawn boards start by sawing the log into equal quarters (picture an X in the center of the end of the log.) Then each quarter is sawn along the flat sides, cutting through the growth rings at about a 90 degree angle. This method produces fairly uniform boards with similar grain patterns.

Rift Sawn

Rift sawn boards are created when the last part of the quarter sawn boards are cut. Rift sawn boards are differentiated by the fact that the growth rings on the outer edge of the log are different from those nearer the pith. The grain on the top of the board will be linear, but if you look at it from the end, the grain will be more slanted.

Cutting Methods for Creating Veneers for Engineered Wood Floors

Engineered wood floors are popular as well. There are basically two types of hardwood floors – solid and engineered. Solid hardwood planks are one solid piece of wood from top to bottom and end to end. Engineered hardwood planks are made by stacking multiple layers of wood together in various directions and binding them into a solid form with heat and pressure.

A thinner hardwood veneer is glued on top and that is the part of the floor that is seen. Engineered hardwood floors are very popular in lower levels and areas where moisture or humidity might be a factor as they don’t warp like solid wood will.

Related Read: Avoid the Pitfalls of Installing a Wood Floors in a Finished Basement

Dry Sawn vs. Rotary Peeled

Two different sawing methods are used to create the veneer on top of engineered wood planks – dry sawn and rotary peeled.

Dry Sawn Veneers

Dry sawn veneers are hardwood planks sawn in the desired thickness of the veneer. They retain the natural grain look of solid hardwood flooring. Each board is unique with no repeating patterns. Depending on the thickness, it can be resanded three to five times.

Rotary Peeled Veneers

With rotary peeled veneers, the log is boiled and then peeled in ultra thin layers using a rotary cut. This is the same method used to make plywood and it creates a repetitive pattern similar to plywood. Because it is so thin, usually only one sanding, if any, can be performed over its lifetime.

If you’re planning on adding wood floors to your home or business, give the experts at SVB Wood Floors a call and we can help walk you through every decision to give you the wood floors of your dreams. Call us at (816) 965-8655.