Author: Rooster Creatives

What Type of Hardwood Flooring is Best for Children and Pets?

pet friendly hardwood floors
A lot of us have children and pets – they bring joy to our lives in many ways. However, they both have a tendency for unpredictable, often times rambunctious behavior. For those with hardwood floors, this could be slightly problematic. Fortunately, there are plenty of hardwood floor options that are tough enough to support families who have children and pets.

Best Types/Features of Hardwood Floors for Children & Pets

Pre-finished

Pre-finished engineered wood floors are the absolute best for managing households with children and pets. Pre-finished engineered hardwood usually comes with aluminum oxide layers that give the wood a harder, more durable finish as opposed to site finished. The strong coating works very well for children and pets.

Handscraped

Handscraped floors are widely popular nowadays for a variety of reasons, but they also happen to be a great choice for the accidental damage that results from children and pets. The reason being because the imperfect beauty of handscraped floors leave a distressed look that makes it appear as if the floor has been used for a while. This helps hide scratches and dents very well. Even from large dogs that dig their nails into the floors.

If you’re not a fan of handscraped flooring, then an alternative surface texture to consider would be chiseled edge hardwood floors due to having similar features.

Light Colors

Light colors aid in hiding scratches that result from your pet’s paws or dents caused by children who drop toys on the flooring, etc. We offer a lot of different light hardwood flooring options.

Matte Finishes

Matte finishes, as opposed to glossy finishes, do not feature much shine to them. The shine of a floor has a tendency to reveal any abnormalities if present. But because matte floors do not feature that glossy shine to them, they work well for masking scratches and dents.

Janka Hardness

Floors that have a higher rating on the Janka Hardness Test will be better suited for homeowners with pets & children. The Janka Rating measures how drastic a dent is on specific types of floor, which translates into a numerical rating. Brazilian options are generally the strongest, but they not light-colored. Maple is both reasonably strong and can be offered in many lighter colors.

Urban Floor’s Best Flooring Choice for Pets & Children

urban floor best choice pets children
*Bach featured in the Composer Collection by Urban Floor.

View our guide on How to Manage Pets with Hardwood Floors!

Featured Floor of the Month – Brazilian Cherry Rio!

summer hardwood flooring
Brazilian Cherry Rio by Urban Floor.

What are a few things you think of when you hear the word “Brazil”? Soccer? Beautiful beaches? Even though Brazil celebrates its summer when we (U.S.) celebrate our winter, we’re still enjoying our summer currently and the Brazilian Cherry Rio fits the vibe quite perfectly! That is why it is our featured floor of the month this August.

The Perfect Choice for Summertime

With reddish, brown undertones and slight hints of yellow and orange – we believe there’s no better engineered hardwood floor option that fits this well for summertime. In reality however, it’s not just summertime that this floor shines… It shines all year round.

Why? Because it’s made from top quality Brazilian Cherry wood (hence the name)!

A Little Background Information

Brazilian Cherry, also known as Jatoba, has a natural golden luster to it – allowing for a lot of color character when exposed to sunlight. It would make a great floor for beach houses that are exposed to sunlight quite often!

Brazilian Cherry trees can be found in southern Mexico, the West Indies, and throughout Central America including northern Brazil with trees reaching heights up to 130 feet tall. To put that into perspective imagine around twenty 5’5” (which happens to be around the average height for people in the U.S.) people stacked on top of each other. In other words, a really tall tree!

urban floor brazilian cherry

The Real Shine

We associate Brazil mainly with soccer, beaches, and beautiful women, but in the hardwood flooring world Brazilian wood is cream of the crop when it comes to hardness and density.

On the Janka scale (the source of measurement for testing hardness of floors), Brazilian Cherry ranks in very high with a rating of 2,820 – making it the hardest product that we offer @ Urban Floor.

What does this mean? This means don’t be afraid to party! While Brazilian Cherry is a tough wood, it can still be damaged like any other hardwood floor so don’t go too crazy!

We offer a convenient guide on cleaning & care for hardwood floors.

Buying from Hardwood Flooring Stores vs. Home Improvement Stores

hardwood floor store vs home improvement store

You’ve made the decision to purchase hardwood floors, now the question is… do you purchase the hardwood floors from a hardwood flooring store or a home improvement store? We’ll give you a few convincing reasons why a hardwood flooring store is your absolute best bet.

Specialized Knowledge

Workers at a hardwood flooring store are a lot more equipped with knowledge of hardwood floors over a home improvement worker who must have knowledge of hardwood floors, refrigerators, barbecues, and many other topics. They do not specialize in the industry so their knowledge may be limited.

Hardwood flooring store workers have the ability to educate you on details such as types of wood to consider based on your home décor, attention to climate, design, and installation. They will also spend more 1-on-1 time with you and will not be in a hurry as a home improvement worker might be who may be responsible for inventory checks, cashiering, etc.

Installation

Hardwood flooring installation is very important if you want your hardwood floors to last. Hardwood flooring stores are often work with licensed and certified professional installers saving you the headache of finding a reputable source on your own.

Looking for a hardwood floor installer? Here’s what you should know.

Selection

Hardwood flooring stores will have a much wider selection of offerings to choose from. They also swap out their inventories with the latest styles and popular choices that are tailored to specific needs a lot more frequently than home improvement stores.

Home improvement stores typically carry hardwood floors they know they can sell in mass quantities, which is often lower quality flooring due to price constraints. However, the positive side to this is that you may be able to find discounted prices. The saying goes: “you get what you pay for.”

Warranty

This is a big one. Some home improvement stores may offer enticing warranties to entice you into buying. Almost every hardwood-flooring store will offer excellent warranties for several years (possibly even lifetime), repair policies, and even money back guarantees.

Remember, you’re making a decision to invest in a product you want to last for quite awhile. It’s worth investing more time and money upfront so that you do not run into common problems down the road – costing you far more than what you had to pay upfront!

American Walnut – A Prized Hardwood Flooring Option

american walnut hardwood flooring
Walnut Natural as part of our Urban Lifestyle Handscraped Series Collection.

American walnut is one of the most time-tested options in both furniture and hardwood floors. Walnut is a popular option because it is revered as a sophisticated choice that has the ability to transform any home into an elegant masterpiece.

Many consider American walnut a luxurious, distinctive option. It is the only domestic hardwood that has an ability to begin as a darker tone and then transform into a beautiful, brown hue in a short amount of time. It’s sapwood features a lighter color for contrast. This amount of color variation is some of the highest we offer at Urban Floor.

Why American Walnut is regarded as a classic hardwood flooring option?

  • Ages beautifully as described above
  • Offers unique color variation from tan/cream colors to purplish blacks and dark browns
  • Is highly sophisticated in nature
  • Used for decorative panels, gunstocks, and many other furniture options
  • Pure and fresh in nature – working well with almost any combination of traditional, interior décor
  • It’s tolerance for nailing, stapling, finishing, and sanding make it an attractive choice for hardwood floors


Fun fact: Europeans consider American walnut as a symbol of fertility, while Native American Indians consider it a symbol of clarity and focus.

An example of its prized sophistication can be found below.

american walnut sophistication
Walnut Apache as part of our Mountain Country Collection.

A Little History of American Walnut

American walnut is native to eastern North America, but has made its way west, landing in many states located in Central, U.S. American walnut trees grow very tall, sometimes up to 150 feet in length.

Aside from being used in hardwood flooring, American walnut is also widely used in natural medicine, started by Native American Indians as way to eliminate parasites from the intestine. Today it is commonly used as a natural laxative, as well as for its anti-parasitic and anti-fungal effects.

American walnut trees are one of the few tree species with an ability to naturally regenerate when planted. As a result, trees are abundant and serve as a viable source for lumber needs.

Looking to read more about “eco-friendly” hardwood floors? View our article.

Correctly Coordinating Cabinetry with Your Hardwood Floors

When’s the last time you saw an example of alliteration? Sorry, back on topic: cabinetry. It’s beginning to be a common trend: matching your hardwood floors with the cabinetry around them, or vice versa. Truth is, this actually works out to be very stylish! The trick is finding the correct ways to coordinate them.

coordinating cabinetry hardwood floors

Contrast

Contrasting is almost always a go-to option when it comes to designing anything. If you can’t think up something royal and you’ve spent many hours trying to find the right combination then it’s time to take a break, settle down, and look into the magical art of contrast. There are various ways to utilize contrasting, which we touch on below.

Color Wheel

If you have access to a color wheel (they can also be found online) you can use it to your advantage. Take the color of your hardwood floors or cabinet, find it on the color wheel, and see what colors are adjacent to the one you’ve chosen or directly across from what you have chosen. The color you see is what you should select!

Hue Got It!

Here’s a little 101 before we dive into our explanation.

Hue = basic color
Shade = basic color with black added
Tone = basic color with gray added

So here’s the deal. Start with a hue as a base color and then when it comes to your cabinets, begin looking at different shades and tones of that color to see how well they work. Pick the best combination you like! It will help complement everything.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

In other words, whichever hue, shade, or tone your hardwood floors are find the EXACT same color and then apply it to your cabinets. It’s the easiest approach that doesn’t require extensive mental work to figure out. ☺

So whether you decide to contrast, mix things up, or stay the same – we’re sure you will find a combination that meets your tastes and we hope our guide has narrowed your selection down.

We also offer a small guide on selecting the right wall color to match your hardwood floors.

Selecting the Best Wall Color for Your Hardwood Flooring

best wall color match hardwood floorFinding the right wall color to match your newly placed, beautiful hardwood floors can be a daunting task for many. We understand this, which is why we’re giving you a few interior design tips in order to help you select the best matched wall color for your hardwood floors.

Playing it Safe – The Neutral Approach

Sometimes you just want something easy that you know will work with anything and guess what – that option does in fact exist. They’re called neutral colors and aren’t meant to make any bold statements – yet still provide an appropriate style that can be appreciated.

Despite what the color or hue of your hardwood floor is, these wall colors are sure to mesh very well:

  • White
  • Ivory
  • Cream
  • Tan
  • Taupe

Bold Looks – Contrast

For those looking to make bold statements with both walls and floors that stand out, then you’ll need to find contrasting colors. The best advice is to find out what undertone your hardwood flooring is (if you don’t know, call your hardwood floor distributor/salesman and they will tell you) and then use a color wheel to find the exact opposite color.

For example, say your hardwood flooring has red orange undertones (i.e. Rochester), then a color such as blue-gray will work very well.

matching wall color example
The Rochester – Can you spot the red orange undertones?

A rule of thumb here is if it’s a warm color, then contrast it with a cool color. Simple enough, no?

Center of Attention – All Eyes on The Floor

Sometimes you want to purposefully place more eyes and attention on your floors over all other décor in the room. Contrasting could work well for this, but we have a better suggestion: selecting a color based on intensity.

What we mean is if say you have dark wood floors and want to maintain attention on the floors, then you’ll want to choose a lighter color such as light gold, pale blue, or peach. It’s not a contrast that would put emphasis on both the floors and the walls. It’s a design technique used to keep your floor center stage.

Pro tip: You should never be afraid to ask for someone’s opinion on a design idea you have as it will help you narrow your choices down by exposing you to different perspectives.

Why is Oak Popular in Hardwood Flooring?

oak popular hardwood floor species
An example of oak flooring.

If you’ve ever shopped around for hardwood floors, you may have noticed one thing: the presence of oak. It begs the question, “Exactly why is oak such a popular choice for hardwood floors?” Great question. We’ll educate you as to why oak hardwood floors are popular.

Why Oak is the Most Popular Hardwood Floor Type in the US

Character – oak is known for its character and board length, especially European oak as featured in our Chéne collection. What we mean by character are the knots, streaks, and other natural flooring features unique to the tree the floor came from.

A great example of this is our Shiraz floor as part of our Chéne collection.
european oak flooring

Versatility – what we mean by this is that oak is a very traditional, timeless look. As such, it tends to work very well with many décor styles from modern to classic. It’s difficult to find a combination or décor pattern that does not go well with oak.

Abnormalities – because oak has a natural strong grain pattern, it is able to mask abnormalities such as scratches, dents, nicks and other small flooring mishaps better than other flooring types.

Urban Floor’s Guide to Small Scratches and Dents.

Janka Rating – the Janka hardness test is used to measure the hardness of wood floors. Our white oak floors have been rated at 1360. While it isn’t the highest measurement as compared to Brazilian Cherry (2820) it certainly is strong enough to handle moderate to high foot traffic.

Added Home Value – Homebuyers enjoy properties that have features they know will sell. One of those features? Hardwood floors, specifically oak. Why oak? Because they know it’s popular!

Read more about how hardwood floors add value to your home.

Will Oak Flooring Ever Lose Its Shine?

Trends come and go all of the time, but we believe oak flooring is here to stay and will always be regarded as a go-to choice for hardwood floor consumers. However, you shouldn’t count other flooring types out. Maple, birch, and hickory options are also popular choices and offer their own set of benefits.

Trends are still being set for 2015, but if you’re curious as to what was hot in 2014, then view our post on what homebuyers preferred.

Hardwood Flooring in Restaurants

hardwood floor restaurantsTruth is, most upscale restaurants have ditched the carpet, curtains, and tablecloths. They have now moved towards hardwood floors, high ceilings, and linen-free tables. Is this the new standard? Not necessarily, it all depends on your restaurant. However, a majority of restaurants could seriously benefit from hardwood floors.

Hardwood flooring comes in many shapes and sizes. There are many modern elegant hardwood floors perfect for the restaurant scene.

Elements of an excellent restaurant hardwood floor:

  • Withstands heavy foot traffic (very important).
  • Matte finish to help prevent slips and falls.
  • Easy to maintain.

A subtle perk to hardwood floors in restaurants is the added noise volume. With hardwood floors, restaurants may experience more noise than with other selections – resulting in an environment that encourages patrons to interact more with each other.

Urban Floor’s Personal Restaurant Hardwood Floor Recommendation

Any engineered hardwood floor in our Composer Collection. Why?

Durability – all hardwood floors in our Composer Collection are wired brushed and sand blasted meaning all soft parts of the wood have been brushed away. The only part left is the hard part of the wood!

On top of this all floors in our Composer Collection come with a professional UV cured natural oil finish from Klumpp Coatings® or Osmo oils®. You will not have to worry about heavy foot traffic with either of these professional finishes.

Maintenance – All of our floors in our Composer Collection are easy to maintain.

With spot cleaning and spot re-oiling capabilities, restaurants will never have to suspend its operations for floor maintenance. A regular cleaning and periodic oiling is all that is needed to keep the floor looking brand new.

Slip and Fall Prevention – Floors in our Composer Collection are matte finish, meaning they are not glossy and prone to slip and fall accidents. This is perfect for any patrons who may dawn more formal wear including heels.

Selection Variety – Our Composer Collection also features various designs and colors to select from including light colored options, darker hued floors, filled and unfilled knots, natural splits, mineral streaks, and bowtie inlays. Simply put, there’s a floor that will meet any restaurant’s needs.

The Composer Collection offers both durability and superior craftsmanship resulting in engineered hardwood floors that are perfect for restaurants and will impress patrons.

Urban Floor – Now a Top Brand of Hardwood Flooring!

top brand hardwood flooring

Each year, the Reco marketing intelligence report is released by Wayman Group to reveal the list of top hardwood flooring companies. The results are then published in a reputable hardwood flooring publication, Floor Covering Weekly.

Last year, Urban Floor was selected as one of the top brands of hardwood flooring for both price and product availability.

This year (2015) Urban Floor was selected as one of the top brands of hardwood flooring for 5 different key attributes! The key attributes this year include:

  • Training
  • Advertising/Co-op
  • Product Availability
  • Merchandising Support
  • Service

To say we’re excited about this news would be an understatement. Like last year, we’re completely stoked over the news! It shows us objective results that we are able to measure from one year to the next helping us tweak areas that we could improve on. We take results seriously around here – as we should – to help bring quality, affordable hardwood floors to your home!

The Real Stars

In these reports, several hardwood flooring companies are brought into stardom under various categories. This year, we managed to rank in 3 additional categories from last year – a real improvement.

However, when we step back for a moment and dawn on our achievement, we begin to ask ourselves who the real stars really are.

The answer is clear: our loyal, sincere customers.

Without you, none of these achievements would be made possible. Without honest feedback from our customers, we wouldn’t know what decisions to make. We wouldn’t know what products to feature. Simply put, we wouldn’t know how to operate as a hardwood-flooring supplier.

With that said, we wanted to personally thank every single one of our fans for turning to Urban Floor for all of their hardwood flooring needs.

urban floor chuckYour support is an integral part in helping us continue to offer affordable hardwood floors (solid and engineered) that have brought smiles to many. For this, we cannot thank you enough.

We love giving away our mascot, UF Chuck. Follow us on Facebook for frequent chances to win your own as a small token of our appreciation!

Urban Floor Facebook

How To Series – Dealing With Seasonal Gapping

seasonal gapping how to hardwood floor

With summer approaching quickly, we wanted to cover an aspect of flooring that is perfectly natural – often referred to as “seasonal gapping”. Seasonal gapping involves both wintertime and summertime, where hardwood floors undergo changes that often tend to cause worry in consumers. Have no fear, Urban Floor is here.

Today we will teach you how to deal and prepare with year round seasonal gapping. But first, we’ll explain exactly what occurs during this process.

What Occurs During “Seasonal Gapping”?

To help you better understand this phenomenon, we’re going to use our skin as an example. When our own skin loses moisture, we become dried out. When we’re dried out, we’re more susceptible to cracked skin, etc. Hardwood floors are similar in this regard – however, a cracked floor due to severe lack of moisture is very rare.

What’s likely to happen in this scenario is your floors will lose moisture and then shrink in size – causing gaps. This typically occurs during winter when the weather is dry. These gaps tend to close up on their own during summertime when moisture is restored to the boards.

Wider boards will gap more than narrow boards, and some species will shrink less than others (e.g. a 5” Hickory will shrink more than a 5” oak plank). Also, Square edges will show more gaps than a beveled edge.

How To Deal With Seasonal Gapping

Now that we’ve briefly described this natural process, we’ll educate you on how to handle the situation.

In-Home Humidifiers – Humidifiers keep the relative humidity (RH) levels in your home at an acceptable range enough to minimize seasonal gapping – 30-50%. The alternative is to accept the gaps and wait until summer for them to close up. We highly recommend investing in a humidifier for your hardwood floors.

Touch-up Pens – you may spot small patches of bare wood showing as a result of the contractions taking place. A color coordinated touch up pen can fill in the color while you wait for summer. See MinWax Touch Up Pens

Fillers – if the gaps are absolutely unacceptable, then filling them with an Adhesive Caulking (i.e. COLOR-RITE) could do the trick. They’re available in many colors and will fill the gaps up to ¼”. If you do not understand what to do, then let a professional take care of this for you.

Pro Tip: If your hardwood floors are in an environment with “humid summers” and “dry winters” with lots of foot traffic/movement, then it is BEST to leave the gaps alone and let the process carry its course.