Install Wood Floor...

...One Time.

Let's start the install wood floor conversation by eliminating the noise. Shall we?

You are among old floor guys who tend to repeat themselves, anyway, so don't worry if you miss something the first time.

Also, we don't review any product that hasn't been on the market for at least five years, so that also keeps the noise down. Many products come and go that we don't even know about. We hardly look up.

When we stop repeating ourselves about this or that, we know we have reached consensus and it's time to write it down. The one thing nobody wants to repeat, I think you can agree, is the installation of your floor.

Have you ever seen the TV commercial with the little cartoon man in safety glasses and blue jeans who pulls a wood floor out of the left side of your screen, then rolls carpeting out the other? I, the director, say there are two things wrong with that picture,
(NOT THIS ONE):

First, the best wood floor installers in your town install one thing and that's wood floors.

How else did they get to be the best?

Second, when you or a professional install a wood floor, that new hardwood, (or softwood, or bamboo, or cork, for that matter,) needs to acclimate. Get used to its new home.

This goes for any wood flooring, or wood tile, or cork, for that matter. From the kitchen to the basement, flooring must acclimate.

Acclimation is absolutely the key to successful installs over radiant heat, as well.

And is just one of the essential, never-to-be-ignored

guidelines “…for the longest life™” of your new wood floor. The flooring market is noisy and driven by folks who need to sell, (literally,) a boatload of it to make a living.

So keep in mind this is The Conservancy. We are fine with selling wood floors by the boatload, just as long as the flooring isn't compromised and the consumer isn't ripped off.

When you read a sign that says, "We Install Same Day" or even "Install Wood Floor, Next Day" walk the other way, please.

And find an affiliated, referral-only Floorwright who not only owns a moisture meter and hygrometer, but knows how to use them AND DOES!

You know what else is missing in that little cartoon commercial? A level and underlayment.

Carpeting covers a multitude of sins. If you've ever pulled carpeting you're familiar with the hidden treasures that abound.

Wood floors are more like the rest of the house. What you see isn't everything. Not even close.

In fact, it's everything you can't see that matters most, right? The framing, the mechanicals, the wiring, the foundation...

And for a wood floor it's subfloor prep, underlayments, fasteners, adhesives, vapor barriers...

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