“TRUTHINESS” DELIVERED WITH FERVOR
Buckeye Hardwood feels that it is their duty to educate the consumer on why unfinished hardwood flooring makes sense. Informed buyers want the best. Therefore anyone may receive the truth about hardwood floors (from a man known to some as “The Woodbitch”) via the internet, as a guest speaker, or by attending any of our exhibits at central Ohio home shows. I will rant, preach, lecture, chide, and/or argue the benefits of site-finished hardwood floors to any civic group or professional organization at no charge. LOOK OUT ARCHITECTS, INTERIOR DECORATORS, AND BUILDERS
You’re on my list. Your self-serving flooring decisions are centered on your bottom line; the Woodbitch is on a mission to educate the masses. I have installed – in my 30 year career as a carpenter – one “pre-finished” floor. Never have I done, nor will I ever do another again. Living on a “pre-finished” or “factory-finished” floor (of which there is no difference) is not far removed from living on painted crates; they are about as porous. Within the cracks and crevices of a micro-beveled edge lies ground-in trafficked dirt, moisture, bacteria, and mold. This is unhealthy for the occupant and the home. If these imitation floors are so good, why are they always compared to ours? ie “Looks and wears almost as well as a “real hardwood floor.” Bullshit. We have yet to meet a mother-in-law or - more importantly - a real estate appraiser who couldn’t spot a fake. The tell-tale signs are everywhere. A HARDWOOD FLOOR SHOULD BE JUDGED BY HOW FAR ONE CAN SLIDE ACROSS IT IN HIS STOCKING FEET (ala TOM CRUISE IN “RISKY BUSINESS”)
Along with this service of free education, Buckeye Hardwood does install and restore hardwood flooring. Site-finished hardwood floors are, indeed, site-finished. That statement may seem redundant, but invariably we get that client that is amazed by the equipment necessary to install, sand, and finish their floor. Two vans - one with a wheelchair lift for our 275lb floor sander, the other full of enough carpentry tools to start a wood shop. Site-finished hardwood flooring is major construction. Most projects require a substantial amount of prep-work to ready the sub floor for ¾” thick tongue-and-groove flooring. All furniture must be removed and stored for the duration. Pianos and other items that cannot be removed must be worked around. Appliances must be shut-off, toilets must be removed, and then all of that stuff has to be put back without scratching your new floors. Air sleds, wax rings, and dollies are all overlooked when factoring in the cost of installing a site-finished hardwood floor. Other hidden costs include masking, removing and disposing of all debris, cutting the bottoms of doors, transition moldings to other living areas, and all of the meals you will eat out while we have your home torn apart. THE ACTUAL NAILING OF THE FLOOR IS LOUD
The fastener, called a cleat, is specially designed to allow flooring to properly expand and contract without cupping or buckling. A hardwood floor is an organic (passive solar) product that changes with the season. Improper fasteners result in squeaky floors. This cacophony of pneumatic cleat nail guns, table saws, air compressors, sanders, miter boxes, and men yelling measurements is enough to make cats retreat to the far corners of the basement, dogs weep, and babies bark. Yep, bark. We take up half of the driveway with our vans. Hoses and extension cords are everywhere – but the floor is going down. It is at this stage where the homeowner gets their first glimpse of the most beautiful floors in the world. We tell them, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” YOU CAN’T BUILD A WHOREHOUSE OUT OF VIRGIN LUMBER
There is no such thing as a perfect sub-floor. Your home is a collection of imperfect lumber, placed on an imperfect foundation, by imperfect carpenters. By site-finishing ¾” tongue-and-groove, end-matched hardwood flooring, Buckeye Hardwood can give you a truly sealed floor. YOU CAN URINATE ON MY HARDWOOD FLOORS AND IT WILL PUDDLE
I don’t recommend it, but even the Woodbitch has missed a toilet or two in his day. We install 15” felt or flooring rosin paper as a moisture retardant, and then pneumatically blind nail every 8” to 10” of the flooring. The flooring nailer ensures that each fastener is nailed at the proper angle and the correct depth. Immediately after the flooring is installed we start sanding. This stage is what puts a site-finished floor a head above the rest. Think of it more as grinding down the floor (60 grit) to remove any high spots. After the first sanding, any voids and cracks wider than the thickness of a dollar bill are filled with a wood-fill that matches the floor species. This is the step that separates site-finished floors from pre-finished floors; it assures you will have a truly sealed floor. After the floor is filled it is again sanded with the next grit (80) then screened with 100. These subsequent sandings take out any sandpaper marks left over from the coarser grits and prepares the wood for the finish. SEALER + BUILD COAT + FINISH COAT = 3 COATS
When the sealer is applied to the wood it “raises” the grain and accentuates the annual rings. The annual rings are what gives wood its grain – which is the true beauty of hardwood floors. After the sealer is dry, the floor is sanded yet again (this time with 180-grit paper), then vacuumed and readied for the finish. Finishes are sold according to their sheen, or the amount of gloss. We recommend a satin finish - which will not show the scuff marks as readily as a semi-gloss or gloss. An entire website could be devoted to finish. Oil-modified urethanes have dominated the market for the last seventy years, but advances in the industry have given an edge to many of the new waterborne finishes – especially those which require a two-part mix. Two-component finishes (which mix like an epoxy) are VOC compliant – which means that no hazardous vapors are introduced into your home. These latest waterborne finishes, unlike the old oil-modified urethanes, will not amber. Ultra-violet rays will not affect them. When tested, two-component waterborne finishes have shown to be more scuff-resistant than any of the other finishes. These finishes are the choice of colleges and shopping malls with hardwood floors. The only drawbacks of two-component finishes are that: They require specialty tools to install (synthetic applicators, weighted t-bars, etc), They require experienced and skilled flooring craftsmen to apply, and They have a greater cost; oil-modified urethanes cost approximately $15 a gallon whereas this “super finish” costs around $75 a gallon.
These drawbacks do not deter the quality of your hardwood floors. They only affect those stubborn flooring companies who refuse to keep up with the latest products and technological advances in their industry. The cost difference has more to do with their decision to use oil-modified urethanes (the lesser product) over water-based urethanes than they would like to admit. Continued research and development have made hardwood flooring an even better choice. I used to say that hardwood floors, when properly maintained, will last 150 years. With some of the new finishes, my hardwood floors may have an infinite life.
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