Hardwood Flooring
  
Visit our Solid Wood
Photo Gallery or
Engineered & Laminate Photo Gallery
See our answers to the most Frequent
Questions
 The first step in selecting a
hardwood floor is to determine the type of hardwood floor product that
is appropriate based on:
- sub-floor
- use (residential or commercial)
- style
- color
- specie*
*When considering specie, factor the grade and relative hardness of
the specie and whether you desire plain sawn or vertical sawn
flooring. Please see
www.NOFMA.org for technical information and
www.NWFA.org
for industry information. Also see our list of manufacturer websites
to help you choose the best product for your home or business.
There are several key points to successful installation of a
hardwood floor:
- Find a professional floor contractor with a C-15 license,
membership to the National Wood Flooring Association, insurance,
bond and most important, a showroom. We recommend that you
browse the internet for manufacturer product offerings. Please use
hyperlinks in our web site to see individual manufacturer's
websites. A good website to see many manufacturers on one site is
www.goldenstateflooring.com .
 Check your
sub-floor. Under the carpet, tile, vinyl or wood, is it plywood
or concrete? The sub-floor must be clean, level and dry to proceed.
If your sub-floor is not exposed, you can hire a C-15 contractor to
clean, level and check the moisture of your sub-floor, joists and to
look at your crawl space for ventilation and potential pitfalls.
Your sub-floor needs to meet NOFMA standards for level and moisture
content. Moisture content variance between kiln dried hardwood and
sub-floor must not exceed 4%. Your contractor can check for
acceptable moisture readings.
- At your contractor's showroom, select the specie, color,
style and the appropriate floor (see diagram at top of page).
You can select solid, engineered or floating floor, either
unfinished or factory finished. Please note pre-finished floors will
have 7-10 coats of polyurethane with suspended aluminum chloride or
polymerized titanium for additional hardness, a UV cure coat (to
prevent sun fade) and a 10 to 25 year finish warranty. Sand in place
floors have 3 to 4 coats of polyurethane, no UV protection, no
suspended polymer and no factory finish warranty. Depending on you
sub floor and the product you choose you can nail, staple, glue or
float hardwood flooring. Today most finishes are polyurethane but
oil, wax, varnish and shellac finishes are still in use.
- After selecting a C-15 contractor, have that company visit
your jobsite to assess the conditions of your sub-floor and collect
information to give you a firm estimate based on the scope of
work required to give you the floor you desire based on your budget.
The right floor for your home or business can be determined by a
visit from Flooronline.com to discuss your options.
 One
needs to be careful in selecting a knowledgeable flooring contractor
to help you choose the appropriate floor, assist you in choosing
species, color and finish; all within the constraints of your
budget. Flooronline.com has
made a substantial investment in our hardwood, carpet and vinyl
showroom. Please come visit our showroom on Redwood Highway in Terra
Linda (San Rafael) to see for yourself if Flooronline.com is the company
you want to hire to protect the investment in your property.
Our carpet and hardwood showroom contains over 30 hardwood, carpet
& linoleum displays. We offer the full line of unfinished and pre
finished strip and plank hardwood flooring from Golden State Flooring.
Domestic and South American species available include:
Amendoin, Ash, Bamboo, Beech, Birch, Blood Wood, American and
Brazilian Cherry, Chestnut, Cumaru, Eucalyptus, Fir, Goncalo Alves,
Hickory, Kempas, Larch, Madrone, Maple, Merabau, Mesquite, Pecan,
Peroba, Pine, Rosewood, Santos Mahogany, Tauari, Tiger Wood,
Timborana, Teak and Walnut.
From Australia: Sydney Blue, Spotted Gum, Yellow Ash, Lace
Wood, Rose River Gum, Jarrah, Karri, Cypress, Tasmanian Oak and Brush
Box.
From Africa: Padouk, Iroko, Doussie, Cameron, Movingue and
Sapele.
Many species are manufactured both plain sawn and vertical sawn
(rifted & quartered). If you would like to see a chart of the
relative hardness values of each type of
wood, please
click here.
Manufacturers and Trade names include:
   
   
Anderson, Bamtex, Bamboo Mountain, Boral Timber, Bruce, Robbins,
BR111, Columbia, Eco Wood, Firebird, The Garrison Collection, Green
River Lumber, Harris-Tarkett, Historic Floors of OshKosh, Homerwood,
Kentucky Woods, Lauzon, Linden, Mannington, Medallion, Memphis,
Mirage, Mullican, Patina, Pinnacle, Pollmeier, Shelman, Tilo Cork,
WFI and Zanella. We also represent Boen, Hartco, Muskoka, UpoFloor,
Kahrs, LM, Rappgo and Sun Paratech.
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