Hardwood
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Pre-Finished Hardwood and our Environment Why Use Pre-Finished Hardwood? Current Hardwood Styles Pre-Finished Hardwood and our Environment Because we only sell products that we can buy directly to save you money, most of our hardwood comes from Canada. Almost all the major American brands are controlled by distributors. 
If you are concerned about the environment, then almost any North American
hardwood is a good choice. The founder of Green Peace, Dr. Patrick Moore,
is a great proponent of North American hardwoods. He wrote an article published
in the Vancouver Sun in August of 2007 that explains why using North American
hardwood is one of the best things you can do to ensure clean air.
In short, well-managed new growth forests, the ones that produce our timber,
are far more efficient when it comes to producing oxygen and absorbing
carbon monoxide. Our old growth forests are virtually stagnant in this category.
Because hardwood stores up to 67% carbon, any hardwood produced
that is not burned is good for the environment.Dr. Moore specifically mentions hardwood flooring and furniture as good products to buy as long as they are not burned and they are responsibly harvested. Certainly the production cycle is far longer than bamboo, but the acreage produces four times the hardwood with essentially the same land we had over 100 years ago. North American timber companies can produce enough wood to supply our vast markets and still export wood. Why Use Pre-Finished Hardwood? The short answer is no muss, no fuss. The finish is applied at the factory, and all you do is nail it down and you’re done. Generally speaking, pre-finished hardwood costs less overall.  Unfinished hardwood first needs to be nailed and then sanded, which creates lots of fine dust that is a pain to clean. Then stain and a final finish is applied. This process generally costs substantially more than pre-finished flooring because of the labor and adds time to the household disruption while each layer dries. Also, if anyone in your household has respiratory issues, using pre-finished flooring is the best choice for their health. With pre-finished hardwood, the urethane finish is applied under factory controlled conditions using multiple thin coats. The urethane is instantly cured, first with UV lighting and then aluminum oxide, a chemical that makes the water-based urethane much more rugged. Most quality pre-finished hardwood has a micro-bevel on all four sides, which ensures that you don’t catch splinters if you run your feet across the floor. If your sub-floor is not perfectly level and the wood is square edged, there’s a chance you would catch a tiny edge and splinter the floor, not to mention getting the splinter in your foot. Many low-end hardwood floors, especially those found in big box stores, are beveled only on the sides and not the end joints. Our Canadian hardwood has eight coats of UV cured water-based urethane with aluminum oxide and a 25-year wear warranty. Current Hardwood Styles Because our mill is far north, we buy in large quantities to keep the cost of freight low. While planning our orders, we consult designers and new home builders to make sure what we offer is what is popular.  Ceramic tile used to be sold in 1 in. by 1 in. squares, but now larger ceramic tile is in style. For the last 80 years, hardwood planks were usually 2 ¼ in. wide. With 16 square inch tiles common, wider wood is now in fashion. Unlike ceramic tile, which is easy to make in larger pieces, wider wood requires better logs and therefore usually costs more than the thinner planks. FloorsForLess.com specializes in hard-to-find 4 ¼ in. wide wood. Because we buy factory direct in large quantities, we can bring you fine quality wood in this popular 4 ¼ in. width, and we can often do so for the price of the 2 ¼ in. and 3 ¼ in. wood that is found in most stores. Check out other prices on wider wood, and then come see us. We also buy special manufacturing lots of first quality wood, so ask about our specials.
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| We have stores in Madison, Appleton and Davenport. |
