Humidity

Changes in humidity level can cause any wood floor to shrink or expand. In order to minimize such movement, it is important to maintain the humidity level in your home between 40% and 50%, through the use of appropriate humidity and ventilation systems.

Liquids and spills

All liquids and spills should be wiped off as soon as possible in order to prevent any possible damage. You may consider using area rugs to protect susceptible areas (around kitchen sink, at entrance for wet footwear, etc.). Protection from abrasive dirt such as sand, street dirt and cat litter can damage any hardwood floor.
Protect your floor by using entrance mats and area rugs. Regular cleaning or vacuuming of these rugs will prevent accumulation of dirt. Felt protectors under the legs of all pieces of furniture will prevent damage caused by scratching.

Sunlight and artificial high pressure uv lighting

Normal exposure to sunlight will cause slight color changes in any hardwood floor. Area rugs, which block out light, should therefore be shifted regularly.

Care products

For best results, AHF recommends the use of specially formulated wood care and maintenance products by the flooring materials or coatings original manufacturer.

Before installing

hardwood floors, subfloors should be carefully treated and/or prepared, in order to prevent moisture-related problems and other problems with construction defects or sub-par installation conditions. Floors should be installed according to widely recognized industry standards and practices.
• Never use a damped mop or wet cloth to clean your hardwood flooring. Water can seriously damage any kind of wood .
•Never use wax on your polyurethane prefinished hardwood flooring. Never allow direct contact between the legs of pieces of furniture and the flooring. Use felt protectors under the legs in order to prevent scratches.

•Use a dry mop or vacuum cleaner frequently to eliminate solid particles which might scratch your hardwood flooring. • Please remember that water, sand, salt and dust are not compatible with hardwood flooring. •Without losing time, absorb water or liquid spills with a dry cloth •If there is a door leading outside where you have installed hardwood flooring Use a door mat to catch the dirt and absorb the humidity. Never use a rubber mat, with a Styrofoam or plastic backing. Some Styrofoam may damage your floor, therefore they are not recommended on hardwood flooring.

Glossary

Acrylic Impregnated

With acrylic impregnated hardwood flooring, the 1/16" hardwood veneer on the top of the floor has been injected (impregnated) with a plastic acrylic solution under very high pressure and heat. This specially treated acrylic resin makes the floor up to 300% harder and more indent-resistant thannatural wood. The engineered construction also reduces the risk of expansion and buckling. Modern hardwood flooring is available in many different edge styles, from square edge to micro-beveled, to deeply grooved edges.

Square Edge - no Bevel-

- The edges of all boards meet squarely creating a uniform, smooth surface that blends the floor together from board to board. The look is contemporary and formal, and there are no grooves to catch dust. The square edge can cost 5 - 10% more, but it gives a smoother appearance and square edge floors are easier to refinish. The square edge is not recommended over uneven floors.

Micro-Bevel

- The micro-bevel is meant to help hide minor irregularities, such as uneven plank heights.

Heavy or Hand-Bevel

- These floors also hide floor irregularities, and have a very distinctive deep groove in them. The beveled edge planks lend themselves to an informal and country decor. The hand-beveled planks have a rustic, hand-hewn look.

Caramelized or Carbonized Bamboo

Bamboo flooring is available in Natural or Caramelized. Natural is a light blond color similar to maple, and Caramelized is a dark amber color similar to young teak. This darker color is not a stain, but a process of pressure heating the fiber at the factory, which darkens the sugar compounds in the fiber.

Engineered Flooring

(also called Laminated Flooring, Engineered-Wood Flooring)

Engineered Wood Flooring is wood flooring made from two or more laminations (layers) of wood glued together in a sandwich. The surface is real, re-sand-able wood -- not to be confused with plastic photo laminates.

Floating Wood Floors

What makes floating hardwood floors different from traditional hardwood flooring is that such floors aren't glued or nailed to the wood subfloor or concrete slab. The planks are attached to each other, and sit on top of the subfloor or sound barrier.
The floor is installed with a small expansion gap at all edges, to allow for some natural expansion and contraction due to the seasons. The expansion gaps are never seen, they are covered by molding or shoe trim, and door thresholds.

Glue-down

In a glue-down application, hardwood flooring is adhered to the floor using a special type of adhesive - a chemical-drying compound. Urethane glue applied with the correct build up offered a moisture barrier and the process also traps dead air micro pockets eliminating transference of sound Some types of hardwood flooring may be adhered directly to:
Concrete Sound Barriers, Plywood Subfloor, Radiant Heating

The advantages of a glue-down application are:

No need to build a plywood subfloor( unless over radiant), saving time and material No subfloor means less height build-up, so less height differences between hardwood and non-hardwood flooring A very solid floor with little to no movement Glue-down application requires a skilled installer and meticulous site preparation.

The strength of your floor depends on the quality of the glue used. AHF All Hardwood Floor only uses proven, quality adhesives to ensure the bond remains strong into the future.

Hardness

When choosing your hardwood flooring it is essential to take into account not only its appearance but the hardness as well. It is worth choosing a harder wood species rather than a softer one for areas where hard wear is expected: children playing, pets, stiletto heels, a busy entrance hall.

In the Janka table below

Showing the hardness of the different wood species are compared relative to oak whose hardness is the most forgiving when it comes to expansion and contraction due to environmental changes in humidity and temperature.

Relative Hardness of Hardwood Flooring Species

Pine 42
Alder 44
Fir..59
Birch..67
Birch Baroque..67
Maple (pacific..82
American Cherry..89
American Walnut..94
Beach..95
Red Oak..97
White Oak..100
Rose Gum..103
Ash Baroque..105
Ash..105
Beech Baroque 118
Beech Antique..118
Maple (Canadian..123
Australian Jarrah..131
Indo cherry Merbau..144
Kempas..154
Santos Mahogany..163
Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba..175
Maceranduba blood wood..199

Horizontal or Flat Grain, Vertical Grain (Bamboo)

Bamboo flooring is available in Horizontal (Flat) Grain and Vertical Grain. Horizontal or Flat grain flooring is laid-up with 3 layers of flattened bamboo slats adhered together. When you look at the floor from above you can see the bamboo nodes.
Vertical grain flooring is comprised of stalks that are adhered together vertically. You see a smaller portion of each stalk, and the nodes are less noticeable.
Engineered Flooring (also called Laminated Flooring, Engineered-Wood Flooring) Engineered Wood Flooring is wood flooring made from two or more laminations (layers) of wood glued together in a sandwich. The surface is real, re sand able wood -- not to be confused with plastic photo laminates.
The grain that shows on the surface of your hardwood floor will appear different, depending on how the wood was cut.

Plain sawn (or flat-sawn)

lumber has the growth rings of the tree parallel to the board's broad face. Plain sawn wood highlights the grain, loops and growth swirls of the wood

Quarter sawn

has the growth rings of the tree approximately perpendicular to the board's surface. Quarter sawn wood has the straightest grain, and is used for our premium floors to add a sleek, streamlined look to any room.

Rift Sawn

lumber is cut at a 30-degree or greater up to 60-degrees angle to the growth rings. This produces narrow boards with accentuated vertical or "straight" grain patterns. How Quarter-Sawn Wood is Milled
First, the log is cut into quarters. Then, the quarter is flipped ninety degrees back and forth to saw off a plane of wood. This process does not produce any more waste than plain sawing, but it does require some extra time to flip the quarters back and forth. This milling process produces a specialty wood flooring cut called Rift and Quarter Sawn.
The benefits to this cut of wood are straighter grain that is up to 50% more stable than plain sawn flooring, and a superior looking product featuring less variation, longer lengths, and medullar rays. Plank Style

Engineered flooring may be available in different plank styles.

3 Strip The entire board consists of three parallel strips of the same width. This style is usually the least expensive, and gives a busy patterned appearance that can disguise the seams where three strips end together.
2 Strip
The 2-strip Long Plank consists of 2 parallel strips, with joints. The strips are longer and larger, but there are still seams with two strips ending together.
The 1-strip consists of a single strip along the whole length of the board. This style may be available in different widths. This style is a bit more cost, but the single strip boards are the only style that truly give the effect of traditional hardwood flooring.

Prefinished

Prefinished floors arrive for installation with a durable finish already applied to the surface. Because there's no need for finish application and drying time, the floors are fast to install.
Quarter Sawn vs. Plain Sawn The grain that shows on the surface of your hardwood floor will appear different, depending on how the wood was cut.
 
Plain sawn (or flat-sawn) lumber has the growth rings of the tree parallel to the board's broad face. Plain sawn wood highlights the grain, loops and growth swirls of the wood.

Quarter sawn has the growth rings of the tree approximately perpendicular to the board's surface. Quarter sawn wood has the straightest grain, and is used for our premium floors to add a sleek, streamlined look to any room. Radiant Heated slab and sleepers in concrete Floors (Recommended Flooring) For many builders, the reluctance to install hardwood floors over radiant heat stemmed from problems associated with the original technology introduced more than 40 years ago. Back then, floors were heated excessively to compensate for poor building insulation. Those high temperatures exaggerated expansion and contraction in hardwood flooring. Now modern insulation and building techniques allow a radiant floor to stay cooler than the floor of the average sunroom.
Today Ken Moersch has enjoyed tremendous success with. Accra real solid Cherry , Oak white or red, American black Walnut rift and quarter sawn premium maple first garde is also available for urethane glued down flooring , AHF has a system and a technique for floor laying and installation over radiant heat slab or sleepers in concrete that can be very sound absorbent and fell incredible solid to walk on. AHF wil also install unfinished engineered floors available today that are designed for radiant heated floor installation.
Recommended flooring: Premium on site-finished long-length wood tongue and groove blind secret mailed or square edge top nailed strip Glued down with Bostik's best urethane glue products.

Engineered unfinished

Floating wooden floors can be custom colored with stain and finished on site
•Engineered Glue-down •Bamboo (engineered)

Rift Sawn

lumber is cut at a 30-degree or greater angle to the growth rings. This produces narrow boards with accentuated vertical or "straight" grain patterns.
 

Site-Finished

Site-finished hardwood floors are installed, and then stained and finished on-site. Site-finishing gives a traditional, flowing, and unbroken finished appearance.

Site sanded / sanding / sander

Site sanded involves specialty industrial floor sanding equipment. The sander to sand the entire surface evenly into one dimensional plane. May include the use of wood floor filler that may be trowel led over the entire wooden floors surface.
Sanding tools tool burnish the wooden surface to a high polish.

Vertical or Horizontal Grain, Flat Grain (Bamboo)

Bamboo flooring is available in Horizontal (Flat) Grain and Vertical Grain.
Horizontal or Flat grain flooring is laid-up with 3 layers of flattened bamboo slats adhered together. When you look at the floor from above you can see the bamboo nodes.
Vertical grain flooring is comprised of stalks that are adhered together vertically. You see a smaller portion of each stalk, and the nodes are less noticeable.

Testimonials:

Ed in Coquitlam BC
We needed the upper main floor of our 60's home refinished and stair treads replaced. Our floors are red oak and original, so we wanted to preserve the flooring. I interviewed several companies before settling with AHF. One thing to consider is that for all other companies, I wasn't sure who would be doing the actual work. With AHF you actually get to meet Ken who does the refinishing, so you know that you are going to get someone that is actually skilled in the job. Ken was very considerate, responsive to our calls, and left the place tidy and clean each day. Everything sealed so there were no issues of dust. He definitely knows his trade and has been in the flooring business for his entire career. The quality of our floors look great, right up to the edges. The only thing I was a bit surprised at was the nails are very visible now that we have a clear coat, but hopefully the will disappear over time like the last finish that was on there. The best part is our stair treads, which look amazing. We chose to go with the Glitza product because it is known to last. So in summary, Ken did a great job, was trustworthy, and knows hardwood floors inside and out. Dave Plant in Vancouver
All Hard wood floors installed a great 500sq top nailed oak floor in our basement. We chose the old style top nailed floor to match the old hardwood floors in the rest of the house. They were certainly the right guys for the job -the finished floor is spectacular. Ken is a real craftsman. He pays a lot of attention to the details, like the nail patterns and the board selection. We gave them the house keys and went out of town for a couple of days to let them work. When we came back, the floor was finished. They started when they said they would and finished on time. I would highly recommend them. It is a shame to cover the floor with furniture. I only wish that I had got them to add some border detailing around the edge, to match the other old top nailed floors in the house. We will call them back when the rest of the houses floors need refinishing

Dennis Secret in Coquitlam
Ken is a pro who takes his job seriously and who is satisfied with his work only if the customer is satisfied. He did an outstanding job on a 50 year old floor in sad condition and made it look new. He knows hardwood floors inside out, and I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone

Laila Rylandsholm in Coquitlam
Wow WOW WOW - Ken brought life back to our floors and results are fantastic beyond our expectations. He is a craftsman, experienced, knowledgeable, a perfectionist with an eye to detail ~ which all show up in the final result. Ken is reliable - he is there when he says he is going to be there, he makes himself available when you need him which is critical when doing a multi trade renovation project, he is hard working and his hours are dictated not by the clock but rather by the completion of the job, he is client oriented and friendly. I found him to be extremely trustworthy which is very important since during the refinishing with the Swedish Glitsa products it is necessary to vacate the premises for several days and leave your home in his capable hands. A true professional who I would highly recommend

From ugly and abused to WOW | Frankensan in Vancouver
At our first home, we had a bad experience with getting our floors refinished (with another company), so this time I knew a bit more going into it... All I can say is WOW, too bad I didn't know of Ken the last time. He is passionate about floors. He is on time, respectful, and I am amazed at how well the floors have turned out. I wish I had pictures of before because the floors were so ugly - scratched, water and pet stained, carpet tape, paint, gaps... and now, you'd never know. I never would have guessed that the bedrooms would have turned out so nice - just like Ken said when he came over for the quote... He said that there would be some great variation in colour, that the finish would really bring it out. Bottom line is WOW. Great job... I'd use him again

Refinishing or sand and finish with Swedish Glitsa
Our Maple hardwood floors are thirteen years old as we do a lot of entertaining , charity and fund raising work out of our home our floors wore quickly due to our maintenance of washing with water We found AHF- All hardwood Floor Ltd through JDM Contracting Ken prepared our home by hanging dust barriers everywhere possible and then proceeded to sand and finish our floors WE found him to be very easy to get along with and a very hard working individual He made recommendations based on his knowledge and experience which we listened to carefully and followed We are very pleased with the results Ken is meticulous, competent and very outgoing Definitely at the top of the industry Thank you All at AHF-All Hardwood Floor Ltd
| Janice in Vancouver

Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen and Hallway sand and refinish
Kens detail surpassed my expectations. My neighbor had Ken refinish some floors in his home and I liked the quality of work that he had done. A year later I had Ken come in and refinish the main floor in my home. I left Ken in charge while my family and i vacationed in Calgary for two weeks. Returning home my wife and I were exceptionally pleased the house was locked up and in one piece but we were even more surprised with the beauty of our floors. Ken's quality of work and eye for detail was astonishing. We never thought the floors could nor would look as beautiful as they did. I will have All Hard Wood Floors take care of all my flooring in the future. Thank you Ken for being so informative and the care you gave our home. Chuck Kens detail surpassed my expectations.
| Chuck, Vancouver

Vancouver Appalachian white oak top nailed strip
hardwood floor refinishing and New tongue and grove American black walnut hardwood flooring I had my floors sanded before and they wore out quickly I found AHF All hardwood floor Ltd at the Better Business Bureau Ken, Doug and Justin Worked in professional and organized fashion produce over optimum results using Glitsa Max water Bourne floor finishes over my New American Black Walnut floors Thanks Ken, I be sure to Refer you to all my associates round our law firm or anyone needing your level of specialized skills.
| Kerry McKinnon Vancouver BC.

Ken Moersch thank you for the hardwood floors and stairs of the year, Unique original and durable AHF all hardwood floor supplied and installed 1700 Sqft of plywood glue to cement radiant heat slab, the proceeded to install Accra quarter sawn red oak complete with 1/2'' walnut feature strip even on radius walls 30 stairs complete with box inlays and two landings he worked 5 weeks 12 hrs a day to Install , Sand and finish with Glitsa Swedish Finish , His work completed on a schedule pretty much to the day he said he would. Extremely well done work not typical of the industry, Thank you All hardwood floor ltd.
| Charmaine in Vancouver

Outstanding, I had to say I didn't think refinishing my twenty year old hardwood floor was possible but All hardwood floors and his guys did it. It looks like new and better than I dared hope it would. Next I plan on asking them to install new floors in my new home.. I love the way they were meticulous in the details and the finished product is beautiful. | George Ramos, Vancouver.

Ken from Allhardwoodfloor was very helpful when doing my hardwood flooring installation. They are really pro's when it comes to any type of hard wood flooring in Vancouver or wood floor refinishing. I liked their service so much, I asked them to come back and do the wood floor installation in my other rooms. By far the best in service and quality I would definitely recommend. Their hardwood floor services to anyone interested in higher standards..
| William Murray North Vancouver BC

Brilliant Results, Two Thumbs up. We had a floor that need re sanding and refinishing as well as boards replacement in a way that showed no evidence of having been replaced since our floor has a very unique further. AHF-Allhardwoodfloor did excellent job that our floors came out looking beyond our expectation. They were very responsive and professional. It was a pleasure to work with them. I would highly recommend their services and level of craftsmanship
| Evelyn Layton North Vancouver