How We Build Your Dream Home - Part 11

Your dream home is coming right along!  The tile flooring has already been installed in the kitchen, master bath, secondary bath, powder rooms, and laundry rooms.  Usually, the remainder of the home (excluding carpeting in bedrooms) gets Hardwood Flooring! 

There is a variety of wood flooring to choose from, but the majority of the wood we use in our homes is natural hardwood.  Our homeowners choose different brands of natural and engineered high quality woods provided by Nature’s Beauty, Carlton and Essenza for example.  Homeowners also choose from different types or species of carefully selected hardwoods including walnut, birch and oak.  The size of the plank varies in widths (usually 3-8”), lengths (anywhere from 12-84”), and thickness (usually 9/16-3/4”).  There is an array of contemporary finishes to choose from as well; from Matte or Gloss to Oil or Aluminum Oxide with UV coating.  The style of wood is another option – from smooth cut to machine or hand distressed.  Depending on your own style and taste, the possible combinations for the perfect wood flooring for your home are innumerable!

Wood floors are often glued or nailed down, but we usually “float” the wood floors, meaning they are not secured to the subfloor.  Instead, they are suspended above the floor while resting on a cushioned underlayment.  This makes it easier on the knees when you walk because there is some give to the floor.
 
More benefits of floating the wood floor are:
1. High-end floating floors have a lifespan anywhere from 40 to over 80 years.
2. Floating wood floors are built to better withstand high humidity.
3. Floating wood floors allow you to float the new flooring over wood subfloors, concrete slabs, or particle board underlayment.
4. Longstrip Floating wood floors are usually available in longer lengths than standard engineered flooring.
5. Most Floating floors can be sanded and refinished new again if needed.
6. Hardwood flooring is the only floor covering that increases the value of your home.
7. Hardwood flooring does not cause allergies.

Now that we know we want to float our floor, let’s find out a little bit more about the process of installing a floating wood floor.

Floating wood floor planks are usually composed of multiple thin hardwood or plywood layers glued together.  The center cores of the boards are engineered to incorporate a tongue and groove system.  Traditionally a small bead of glue is applied to the grooves on the edges of the boards during the installation process.  The newer design of floating floor is a locking system called “Click Loc” in which no glue is necessary but the floorboards lock onto one another by angling the board into the mating end of the next board or by using a tapping block.  

All floating floors require an underlayment pad to be laid out over the subfloor first.   The underlayment (Cork, Silent Stride or foam cushion - sometimes containing a moisture barrier) is used to reduce and deaden sound transfer as well as provide a capillary effect to cushion the floor.

In the pictures below you can see the layerd wood planks as well as the underlayment followed by a picture of the finished product.

Once the floor boards are connected, they become a single unit and when expansion and contraction happens, it happens as a whole, minimizing gaping that can be seen in traditional nailed or glued installation, where each board expands and contracts independently of the other boards.   

If you didn’t want hardwood floor in your home before, perhaps you do now! 

For more information on building a dream home in San Diego with McCullough Design Development, visit our model home at Gables Crossing in Del Sur.  It is located on the corner of Artesian Road and Camino Del Sur, 5 miles north of the 56.  you can also visit our website at http://www.mddhomes.com/ for virtual tours and more.