Hardwood is a very popular and wise option for flooring. It offers natural beauty throughout a home or office and is easy to maintain. Hardwood flooring is an excellent choice for the many people that suffer from allergies as it does not trap the dust or debris that you can find in carpet. Damaged and older floors can easily be brought back to a “like new” condition with a simple refinish service. Enjoy your floors.
We suggest never using a polish or other such contaminates on the floor. This can result in future adhesion problems. An approved floor cleaner may be purchased through All About Hardwoods, Inc. or a local Hardwood flooring distributor. A 3rd coat of finish is recommended after about 6 months to help strengthen and seal the floors. Most floors only need to be refinished once every 5 years to maintain their beauty and keep them in excellent condition. A re-coat is a great solution for restoring the beauty of the hardwoods and adding longevity between refinishes. Re-coats are much less expensive than a refinish with pleasing results.
Cupping is, on occasion, another area of concern with hardwood floors. The term "cupping" is when the edges of a board are high, and the center is low. Some slight cupping and/or crowning is normal. This is a product of nature and this phenomenon in most cases should be tolerated.
The only thing that can cause cupping is a moisture imbalance in the wood. During some fall seasons we receive many inquiries about cupped floors. This is due to an exceptional increase in moisture, and is attributed to warm and wet spring and summer weather. When it is warm outside we are not running the heating systems in our homes, and we are also likely to have our doors and windows open, which introduces humidity into our homes. This humidity is then absorbed into the hardwood flooring.
So what should be done at this time? Our recommendation is to do nothing. The floor will usually flatten out considerably through the next heating season. This is not an uncommon problem in our area and is usually self-correcting.
Using a moisture meter to check MC (moisture content) in flooring and subfloors before installation is an important step we take to avoid future problems. All qualified contractors and suppliers take these precautions to narrow the possibility of moisture related problems.
Cracks are the most common cause of complaints on wood floors, and this problem in recent years has been exacerbated by pastel and white (or pickled/bleached) finish colors, which tend to make normal cracks appear much larger than when earth-tone or natural finishes are used.
It is normal for the interior of homes to become dry during heating seasons, for obvious reasons. As explained in the introduction, under this circumstance wood floors also dry out and shrink slightly. Properly made and properly installed wood floors should be expected to have “hairline cracks” between boards in dry months in most areas of North America. Depending on the width of the boards (or parquet members) used, the size of the room and the severity and duration of low outside temperatures (and hence the intensity of heating), the term “hairline cracks” can have various interpretations.
Generally, “hairline cracks” can be considered to be normal if, in strips 2-¼” wide or less: 1. They close up during non-heating months, and 2. They are not wider than the thickness of a dime in some locations, and vary from the thickness of a piece of stationery in most areas to scattered larger cracks up to the thickness of a dime.
Plank or strip floors sometimes “panelize” due to movement of underfloor construction, or if the finish cements individual boards into panels so that all the shrinkage is concentrated into only a few cracks, with other joints remaining tight together. In this event, the cracks that do appear will be considerably wider than the thickness of a dime.
Plank floors (because of the widths involved) and some parquet floors, can shrink individually up to 2½ times as much as 2¼” strip floors. Cracks that result can therefore be much larger than in strip, and still be normal. If the floor expands so that cracks disappear in high humidity seasons, it should be considered normal.
Note: Much of the information referenced above comes directly from the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers’ Association, and from the local business of Hardwood Flooring Distributors, Inc.
Blemishes & Debris
Settling resins can exaggerate the appearance of blemishes in the early stages of a floor’s life. Any small debris, such as tiny airborne particles in your house, can refract light more during this time. However, almost all blemishes disappear completely as finish sets.
*Length of time before you should become concerned: 60-90 days
Discoloration
Many types of wood are susceptible to slight discolorations with other types of finish. However, the vast majority of wood types will receive a color enhancement by Glitsa Swedish finish. As the finish sets, you may see very slight color differentiations in you wood floor. These differentiations are normal and will most likely even out.
*Length of time before you should become concerned: 60-90 days
Uneven Sheen
Many factors can contribute to uneven sheen. Dramatic factors such as humidity, temperature, and varying wood species’ composition can make the application process tricky, leading to possible uneven application. As with color differentiation, sheen variance should even out over time.
*Length of time before you should become concerned: 120 days
Screen Marks, Brush Stokes & Abrasions
Minor screen or brush marks may remain slightly visible during the initial drying phases. Likewise, small underlying abrasions may seem almost painfully obvious at first. Be assured that as the finish sets, resins tighten across the wood, and may of these marks will seem to disappear during the process.
*Length of time before you should become concerned: 60 - 90 days
Overall, you will save yourself quite a bit of stress and grief if you remember that it’s not uncommon to have some minor defects in a finished floor. Small, temporary side-effects will almost always disappear during the curing and maturation process. It is very much like the small cut or blemish on your arm as a child that faded very quickly and has since disappeared entirely. Please understand that this process is normal. If, however, these side-effects are still obvious after the abovementioned time allotments, it may be time to call your contractor.
When inspecting your new wood floor, remember to do so from a standing position with normal lighting. Glare, particularly from large windows, magnifies any irregularity in the floor and should not determine acceptance. Again, small irregularities such as those listed here may be present but should not be prominent when inspected from a standing position.
Stop and give your floor time to mature. All floors have a tendency to leave behind minor imperfections, many temporary in nature. Contractors and manufacturers are accustomed to these small quirks, but we realize they may be a bit startling when seeing your floor for the first time.
*Standards set forth by the National Wood Flooring Association in the NWFA hardwood floor manual. For more information about Glitsa American Quality finishes, please call (800) 527-8111.