Solid Unfinished Hardwood

Unfinished hardwood allows the home owner to have their floor installed and finished on site just as it had been done for hundreds of years in the past. This process allows maximum flexibility to the home owner when it comes to selecting grades, sizes, and stain colours of hardwood floor. An unfinished hardwood floor is still the preferred choice of many custom home builders and the floors installed and finished in this manner offer a smooth overall look to the floor. Brampton Hardwood offers a large inventory of unfinished floors in many domestic and exotic species in a variety of plank sizes.

Advantages of Solid Unfinished Hardwood

Unfinished hardwood ensures maximum flexibility and options in terms of plank widths, grades, and species available. Unfinished hardwood allows the home owner to select custom or unique stains that compliment or even match existing floors in the house. Home owners are also able to select from different finishing sheen levels (satin, semi, gloss) to create that added unique touch to their floor.

Unfinished hardwood is available in a wide range of thicknesses which is ideal when you need to match up against levels of existing floors in the house.

Unfinished hardwood has square edges around each plank creating a unified and uninterrupted appearance. This look complements the traditional decor and the architectural integrity of historical homes.

Custom patterns, medallion inlays, and border treatments add a unique and personalized touch to any floor and are much easier to achieve with unfinished hardwood.

A hardwood floor minimizes allergies and increases the air quality by eliminating trapped dust particles that typically occur in other flooring options. They do not retain irritants or allergens that can trouble allergy sufferers or people with respiratory problems, thereby making it a healthy choice for interior living environments.

Installing solid hardwood flooring is an excellent long term investment that will hold and even increase the value of your home exceeding the initial installation cost. Studies suggest that houses with hardwood flooring sell much faster than those featuring other types of floors. Real estate agents and investors recognize the value of hardwood flooring. Therefore, it can become a strong resale feature which enables a faster sale and brings higher prices at the time of resale.

Solid Hardwood floors can be sanded and refinished multiple times thereby extended the longevity of your floor. When you decide to refinish your floor in the future you will have the option of changing the colour or finish if desired to create an entirely new look.

Unfinished Hardwood vs. Prefinished Hardwood

Unfinished hardwood needs to be sanded, stained, and finished in the home after installation thereby causing more dust and odours to travel in your home. Prefinished hardwood comes already finished from the factory ready to be installed.

Unfinished hardwood, once installed, requires a waiting period for the stain and finish to dry; therefore it can take up to three times longer to complete the flooring job; whereas prefinished hardwood can be walked on right after installation.

Prefinished hardwood has aluminum oxide hardeners added into the finish to extend their durability, making them ideal for high traffic areas in the home. Hand applied finishes do not contain these hardening agents, thereby making factory finished floors up to three times harder than on-site finishes applied in the home. Therefore, prefinished hardwood floors are also warranted to last longer, typically 15 to 50 years versus 1 to 5 years for on-site finished floors.

Prefinished hardwood is manufactured in a controlled environment preventing the finish from getting foreign particles, hair, dust, etc into the finish. It is more difficult to control this during on-site applications.

Some prefinished hardwood floor manufacturers apply sun guard protection coatings to their floors which helps prevent the floor from yellowing over time. Unfinished floors do not have this feature in their finish.

Unfinished hardwood is cheaper to purchase but is usually more expensive to install because of the added staining and finishing process required; whereas prefinished hardwood is more expensive to purchase but the installation is simpler and less costly.

Unfinished hardwood has the added advantage of allowing custom colours to be applied to match existing hardwood that is already in the house. Prefinished hardwood is only offered in pre-stained colours from the factory.

Unfinished hardwood has square edges around each plank creating a uniform and uninterrupted look to the floor which complements the traditional decor and the architectural integrity of historical homes. Prefinished hardwood has small bevels around each plank giving dimension to the floor boards once installed.

Care & Maintenance

Hardwood floors should be protected immediately upon their installation by periodic cleaning using a suitable hardwood floor cleaner. To prevent scratches, felt protector pads should be used under all furniture. When moving furniture, remember to lift and not drag. High heeled shoes should never be worn on top of any hardwood floor. Following this advice as well as the advice below will ensure that you will be enjoying your hardwood floor for many years to come.

To prevent scratches to the surface of your hardwood floor apply felt pads to the under side of all furniture. For heavier furniture, use felt pad protected castor cups to help spread the weight and prevent dent marks on the hardwood.

Periodically inspect under your furniture for worn or loose felt pad protectors and replace as soon as possible.

Do not walk with high heeled shoes on hardwood

Lift any furniture that is to be moved onto or away from your hardwood floors

First sweep or vacuum your hardwood floor. (If you plan to vacuum your floor make sure your vacuum attachment is safe for hardwood).

Make sure your cleaner is made specifically for hardwood floors. It should say so on the front of the bottle.

After sweeping or vacuuming your hardwood spray some cleaner onto the appropriate applicator and apply it to the floor.

While cleaning check the terry cloth/micro fibre cover's underside for dirt buildup every so often. If terry cloth/microfibre cover is dirty, remove and replace with a clean cover.

Stock up on extra terry cloth/micro fibre covers when cleaning larger areas of hardwood. Using dirty terry cloth/micro-fibre covers only spreads the dirt around creating steaks on the floor.

Terry cloth/micro-fibre cloths are machine washable and therefore reuseable.

Do not use these covers other than for cleaning your hardwood floors.

Do not wet mop your hardwood floor. Excess humidity directly applied to your floor may permanently damage it.

Do not use water or vinegar to clean your hardwood floors. Do not use furniture policy or wax on polyurethane hardwood floors.

Do not use any detergents that are not made specifically for hardwood floors.