Frequently Asked Questions

Hardwood flooring has many advantages over other types of flooring which include:

• Natural beauty in color and grain patterns that will be completely unique to your floor forever.
• Hardwood floors do not harbor allergens like dust, dust mites, mold and animal dander that are problems for allergy sufferers.
• Hardwood floors, if treated properly, will last for the life of the home and in solid wood flooring can be re-sanded and finished multiple times if needed.
• Hardwood floors are easy to clean.
• Hardwood floors are warmer than other hard surface floor products.
• Solid wood flooring is naturally very low in VOC’s.

Unfinished wood flooring is end and edge matched with a tongue and groove pattern all 4 sides and a square upper face edge. Unfinished flooring must be sanded and finished on site (after installation). After sanding and finishing, an unfinished floor will be completely flat, smooth, and sealed. Unfinished flooring can be custom finished with many different options of oil-based or water-based finishes and can be custom color stained to any desired color. Oil-based finishes tend to darken the wood, highlighting color, variation, character marks and grain of the individual boards. Water-based finishes have lower VOCs, are environmentally a bit safer and today there are some water-based finishes that can also give similar effects/looks to oil.

Prefinished hardwood flooring comes out of the box with finish on it. It is tongue and grooved all 4 sides and has a small micro-bevel on the edges of the flooring face rather than a square-edge. Prefinished wood flooring has up to 9 coats of UV-cured finish, including several finish coats containing aluminum oxide which gives the factory finish extra durability. Prefinished flooring typically has a 25-year residential finish warranty.

Unfinished and Prefinished wood flooring may either be solid wood or engineered construction, the difference depends on whether it comes out of the box finished, with micro-bevel, and is ready to be nailed down and walked on, or if it has a raw wood face with square-edges to be sanded and finished after nailing and/or gluing down on the jobsite.

The difference between the various grades is the amount of allowable color variation, character, defect, and sapwood allowed in a wood flooring product. The amount of open and/or closed defects allowed or not allowed will vary greatly based on grade as well as the specific characteristics of an individual wood species. The greatest amount of character and defect (knots, mineral streaks, pin holes, etc.) is found the Common and Rustic grades. As you step up to Select grade the color is more uniform and there are fewer character marks are allowed. The Clear and Select and Better grades will have greater uniformity still and generally present the highest grade possible in a given wood flooring product. The pricing typically increases along with the wood grade and increased sorting-refinement. It should be noted that for individual exotic wood species the grading may be more unique to the specific qualities of a given wood species. In these cases, the grading might be better explained by a specialist in those woods as some possess intrinsic characteristics of color variation and characteristics which may mean that even in the highest grades more variation and character may be present and are a part of the beauty of that individual wood species.

Durability can be measured in different ways but for natural wood hardness and strength ELEMENTAL offers the many of hardest/densest woods milled to flooring in the world. The Janka hardness rating defines true hardness of different wood species. Patagonian Rosewood, Brazilian Teak/Cumaru, Brazilian Walnut/Ipe, Momoqui/Bolivian Coffeewood are examples of extremely hard and durable woods for flooring. Refer to our species data page for the mechanical strength properties of our various hardwood flooring species.

Wood is a natural product and all natural wood flooring shows some color variation. Certain wood species show much more than others and that variety is part of their charm and beauty. While lower grades of flooring exhibit a larger number of character marks and more color variation, you can expect some color variation in all grades and species of wood.

The minimum order of our hardwood flooring is one box or one sub-bundle.

Most warehouses are closed to the public, but in a few locations ELEMENTAL warehouses with a wholesale distributor customer and they may be able to show quote our products in those instances. Photos on our website and additional photos of a product can be offered upon request, often do a better job of showing a product than small pieces or even small display boards given the range of color and character of many woods which can never be shown in a small sample.

Solid wood flooring is made of solid wood pieces molded to a tongue and groove profile. Engineered wood flooring is made of a thin sliced or sawn wood wear-layer (the layer that shows on the face of the flooring product) with a base that is glued to a multiple layer plywood base (glued up veneer layers we call plywood) or with a solid wood piece core and a bottom layer veneer to sandwich it all together (called a three-ply or solid core construction). Whether solid wood or engineered wood flooring is better depends on personal preferences as well as the conditions of the specific jobsite with full consideration of regional environmental/climate conditions.

Prefinished floors come out of the box with finish on the board faces of up to 9 coats of UV cured industrial finish. Some of these layers include aluminum oxide for maximum finish durability. The prefinished floor offers the convenience of having it installed quickly, with less sanding and dust so the room will be available for use right away. All prefinished wood floors will have a micro-beveled edge, a requirement for the finishing process.

Unfinished floors must be sanded and finished on site which requires more install labor in sanding, staining, finishing, and some additional delay in room usage as the finish dries. This process may be necessary to match color to an existing hardwood floor and allows for custom stain colors resulting in a completely flat (no beveled edges) and sealed floor when finished.

There is no simple answer to which type of flooring is better, the details of each project and personal preferences will determine whether unfinished (sand and finish) or prefinished is a better choice for a particular install project.

We can see the moon during the day for the same reason we see the moon at night. The surface of the moon is reflecting the sun’s light into our eyes. … “When we see the moon during the day it’s because the moon is in the right spot in the sky and it’s reflecting enough light to be as bright, or brighter, than the sky.”

Most hardwood flooring for the USA and Canada markets is kiln-dried to 6-10% MC (moisture content) per NWFA.org and NOFMA industry guidelines. Standard warranties note that RH (relative humidity) levels must be maintained between 30-50% RH for solid wood flooring and 35%-60% RH for engineered wood flooring for the warranty to be valid. Excess moisture can lead to wood expansion and result in changes to the floor which include warping, cupping, buckling, crowning and cracking. Only recommended cleaning products should be used on hardwood floors. Never wet mop a wood floor or allow water to pool on the floor. Spills should be cleaned up right away. Excessively dry conditions and low RH can lead to gapping, cracking, checking, and creaking as the wood shrinks when losing moisture. These problems result from environmental conditions of excessively high or low RH/moisture levels and are not caused by a defective product.

The moisture content of a flooring product and the subfloor should be carefully tested prior to install to make certain it is within the correct range, once installed it is assumed that this measurement was done accurately and the product deemed acceptable. Careful moisture measurement of the wood flooring and subfloor is a critical element of every wood flooring install, failure to do this can lead to entirely avoidable moisture related problems.

Our hardwood floors are kiln dried to a moisture content (MC) of between 6 and 10 percent with the vast majority of boards reading 7-9% MC. Hardwood floors will naturally expand and contract with fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity (moisture in the air). The ideal MC percentage for a given region/country does vary and of wood flooring is designed to allow for these small adjustments to take place prior to the wood flooring being installed. For example, wood flooring dried to 8% MC upon construction may gain moisture in humid South Florida and stabilize at 10-11% MC while the opposite may be true for dry desert or dry cold regions where the wood may acclimate down to 5-6% MC as it adjusts to the dry environmental conditions.

All prefinished hardwood floors have a beveled edge which is required by the industrial pre-finishing process to keep the factory finish from creeping over the side of the flooring boards which can lead to problems upon install. The bevel also hides any minor over-wood at the joints between flooring boards as these floors are not sanded after install. The smaller bevels are called micro-bevel and show less on a installed floor than larger bevels and sometimes are indicative of the milling precision of a wood flooring production as a larger bevel is necessary for a less precisely milled wood flooring board.

End Matching is the process milling perfectly square tongue and groove profiles on the ends of the individual flooring boards. End Matching is standard on flooring products up to 9’ long and in some cases on longer length flooring. Some extra long length flooring will not be end matched and that requires extra install work to precision cut ends during install.

A random width floor is one with a variety of different widths included on the floor giving it any even more natural wood look than floors with a single width. In solid wood, floors with 3”, 4” and 5” boards mixed on the floor are the most common, they allow mills to get a better yield from their log and lumber resource and were the way most wood floors were made in the “old days.” Random width floors should only use boards made by the same mill/factory for consistency of profile, fit, and grade.

Proper maintenance of hardwood floors includes sweeping, dust mopping and/or vacuuming the floors often to remove any abrasive materials that might damage the floor and finish. Cleaners should not be applied directly to the flooring, but on a cloth first. Always use recommended hardwood surface cleaners. Remove spills on the flooring quickly. Do not use products containing oil, polish or wax on hardwood, as doing so will create a residue build-up on the wood surface that will cause the finish to dull. Do not use a wet or damp mop to clean the hardwood floor. Any excess water can damage wood flooring.

Yes. Rugs will slide on the floor and the backing will act like sandpaper on the finish.  Using a mesh style anti-slip rubberized pad will grip the carpet and wood flooring to minimize abrasive movement while still allowing the floor to breath. Rugs and space carpets should be cleaned regularly and picked up for a full cleaning beneath them periodically.

Durability can be measured in different ways but for natural wood hardness and strength ELEMENTAL offers the many of hardest/densest woods milled to flooring in the world. The Janka hardness rating defines true hardness of different wood species. Patagonian Rosewood, Brazilian Teak/Cumaru, Brazilian Walnut/Ipe, Momoqui/Bolivian Coffeewood are examples of extremely hard and durable woods for flooring. Refer to our species data page for the mechanical strength properties of our various hardwood flooring species.

The best way to extend the life of a wood flooring product and its finish is to establish a regular product-appropriate cleaning routine, use felt floor protectors on all furniture, especially highly moveable furniture like chairs and bar stools, and keep your pet’s nails trimmed to avoid scratches. Place mats at all points in the home with exterior entrances to avoid water and debris being tracked onto the flooring. Some people try to limit the use of outdoor shoe use in the home to aid in cleanliness and increase the longevity of the wood floor finish.

Thousands of years ago, people in different communities all over the globe invented their own words to describe their lives, and that’s why today people from the same area tend to speak the same language and other people may not. Languages also evolve over time: Our own has changed so much that if you heard someone speaking English as it was spoken 500 years ago, you’d have trouble understanding what he was saying.

Many wood species are naturally photosensitive and will darken in color as they age. This natural darkening is reduced by coverage with rugs and furniture that protect portions of the flooring from direct light resulting in the difference noticed upon their removal. It is recommended to rotate rugs and furniture so that the flooring gets an equal amount of light exposure and is allowed to age more uniformly. Once the floor reaches a final aged state, usually after 12-18 months but this time can vary, the rug and furniture cycling is less critical.

Gases and particles in Earth’s atmosphere scatter sunlight in all directions. Blue light is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.

The square-footage for a given job is determined by measuring the square footage of the of all the rooms/spaces to be covered with hardwood flooring. Measure the length and width of each space and multiply those measures to get accurate square footage per space measurements.

Be thorough and don’t forget closets, corners, nooks and crannies – all areas to receive flooring need to be accounted for.

Add all the space measurements together and then an additional 10% to the total square footage to account cut-waste and defecting on the job. Wood is a natural product and as such the industry standard holds that up to 5% defect is allowable. ELEMENTAL hardwood never shows a 5% defect however installers, who are the final stage quality control for every wood flooring project, may find some pieces best not installed on the floor.

The industry standard recommends 5% to 10% overage for waste and cuts which may vary depending on the skill level and the layout of the area to be covered. It can also NEVER be stressed enough that a couple of boxes or bundles of product left over for storage in an attic or basement is the cheapest insurance one can ever have with a beautiful hardwood floor. Spot damage is more common than people think and if you have some of the same product available, getting an installer to make the fix is quite simple. Having to go out and find a small amount of the same product on the market can be a disappointing experience. This is especially true for prefinished hardwood flooring where small differences in profile, fit, finish gloss, stain color and the like can make finding a good match with an existing floor very difficult if not impossible. Plan to have a couple of boxes left over in storage for a rainy day.

Thousands of years ago, people in different communities all over the globe invented their own words to describe their lives, and that’s why today people from the same area tend to speak the same language and other people may not. Languages also evolve over time: Our own has changed so much that if you heard someone speaking English as it was spoken 500 years ago, you’d have trouble understanding what he was saying.

Yes. Hardwood flooring should typically acclimate for 5 to 14 days, with boxes opened and laid flat in a climate controlled to normal living conditions space where the flooring is to be installed. Additional acclimation time may be needed in areas with high or low humidity. Humidity conditions and appropriate controls should be considered when choosing and installing a hardwood flooring product for a particular home and region. Humidifiers and/or dehumidifiers can keep site condition RH levels stabilized in a healthy range for both wood flooring and people.

ELEMENTAL recommends using a vapor barrier equivalent to 15-pound felt paper or better even when above grade. The barrier paper/product should be laid between the hardwood flooring and the wood subfloor to prevent any moisture from getting to the floor from below.

Our warranty will typically not cover wood flooring installed in a bathroom. The reason is that bathroom RH conditions of high humidity from tub and shower steam, and the greater likelihood of water getting on the floor, run outside of standard RH tolerance warranty conditions. This said, wood flooring IS often installed successfully in bathrooms and concerning factors can be mitigated by using more stable narrow boards, not allowing water to pool on the floor and fully sealing up the wood flooring (sand and finish style) to not allow water and steam to penetrate much through the finish to the raw wood.

We recommend installers who have received some NWFA specialized training and these installers can be searched on the NWFA.org website via this link: www.woodfloors.org/certified-professional-search.aspx.

About 65 million years ago an enormous asteroid collided with the earth and changed everything on the planet. The dinosaurs couldn’t adapt and eventually died out, making way for new animals, ones that were better suited to this other climate.

Cupping, gapping, crowning, warping and bowing are movement issues that result when moisture is added to or removed from wood flooring. When wood flooring takes on more moisture from flooding, spills or high RH, the flooring will cup, warp, bow or buckle. When wood flooring dries out and loses moisture it may gap, crack, check and creak. Wood has a cellular structure not too dissimilar to a sponge, different woods react differently to moisture changes, but all woods expand and contract with changes to their moisture content. The best way to avoid these problems is to make certain the wood flooring and subflooring are properly acclimated to a specific jobsite and that the overall RH and environmental conditions stay within a consistent and acceptable range during the life of the floor. Humidity controls and avoiding uncontained spills and excessively high humidity and/or dry conditions are the best ways to avoid wood flooring problems related to moisture.

Wood naturally expands and contracts with changes in humidity; gapping in solid wood floors happens when RH is low and excessively dry conditions remove moisture from the flooring. You can reduce the amount of gapping in wood floors by using a humidifier during the heating season and/or driest months. Humidity can be monitored by using simple hygrometers that measure RH as well as temperature and gapping and other dry condition problems like cracking may be avoided or minimized by adding moisture to the wood flooring environment when RH readings show 30% RH or below. Each wood species reacts differently to moisture changes and some species expand and contract more or less than others. Using more naturally stable species, and narrower flooring boards in solid wood, are smart choices in areas where RH conditions vary widely and moisture driven movement concerns are greater. Engineered wood floors are more dimensionally stable than solid wood floors, particularly in wider plank flooring boards. That said, engineered wood flooring is also more susceptible to face cracking and a more catastrophic type of delamination failure in conditions that get very dry. For this reason most engineered wood flooring warranties state RH/moisture control conditions between a 35% to 55% or 60% RH as the range allowable for those warranties to be valid. Too dry conditions may be more problematic for engineered wood flooring than for solid wood flooring, and in all cases controlling the environmental moisture/RH of the flooring site is key to good long-term performance of the flooring product.

The energy that drives wind originates with the sun, which heats the Earth unevenly, creating warm spots and cool spots. Two simple examples of this are sea breezes and land breezes. Sea breezes occur when inland areas heat up on sunny afternoons.

Our hardwood floors are kiln dried to a moisture content (MC) of between 6 and 10 percent with the vast majority of boards reading 7-9% MC. Hardwood floors will naturally expand and contract with fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity (moisture in the air). The ideal MC percentage for a given region/country does vary and of wood flooring is designed to allow for these small adjustments to take place prior to the wood flooring being installed. For example, wood flooring dried to 8% MC upon construction may gain moisture in humid South Florida and stabilize at 10-11% MC while the opposite may be true for dry desert or dry cold regions where the wood may acclimate down to 5-6% MC as it adjusts to the dry environmental conditions.

ELEMENTAL recommends using a vapor barrier equivalent to 15-pound felt paper or better even when above grade. The barrier paper/product should be laid between the hardwood flooring and the wood subfloor to prevent any moisture from getting to the floor from below.

Our warranty will typically not cover wood flooring installed in a bathroom. The reason is that bathroom RH conditions of high humidity from tub and shower steam, and the greater likelihood of water getting on the floor, run outside of standard RH tolerance warranty conditions. This said, wood flooring IS often installed successfully in bathrooms and concerning factors can be mitigated by using more stable narrow boards, not allowing water to pool on the floor and fully sealing up the wood flooring (sand and finish style) to not allow water and steam to penetrate much through the finish to the raw wood.

Most hardwood flooring for the USA and Canada markets is kiln-dried to 6-10% MC (moisture content) per NWFA.org and NOFMA industry guidelines. Standard warranties note that RH (relative humidity) levels must be maintained between 30-50% RH for solid wood flooring and 35%-60% RH for engineered wood flooring for the warranty to be valid. Excess moisture can lead to wood expansion and result in changes to the floor which include warping, cupping, buckling, crowning and cracking. Only recommended cleaning products should be used on hardwood floors. Never wet mop a wood floor or allow water to pool on the floor. Spills should be cleaned up right away. Excessively dry conditions and low RH can lead to gapping, cracking, checking, and creaking as the wood shrinks when losing moisture. These problems result from environmental conditions of excessively high or low RH/moisture levels and are not caused by a defective product.

The moisture content of a flooring product and the subfloor should be carefully tested prior to install to make certain it is within the correct range, once installed it is assumed that this measurement was done accurately and the product deemed acceptable. Careful moisture measurement of the wood flooring and subfloor is a critical element of every wood flooring install, failure to do this can lead to entirely avoidable moisture related problems.