Frequently Asked Questions
Is it cost-effective to select wood flooring instead over other floor coverings?
Yes! Residential estate agents say homes with wood floors sell faster and fetch higher prices, according to a recent survey in the USA. By a four-to-one margin, real estate agents said that a house with wood floors would sell faster than a house without wood floors. Some 90% said a house with wood floors would make a higher price.
What are the benefits of hardwood floors over carpet?
With proper maintenance, the advantages of hardwood floors vs. carpet are abundant and pay off for a lifetime.
Hardwood floors or carpeting? Both types of flooring materials have distinct advantages and disadvantages. While different living and working environments certainly call for different materials, some features of carpeting and hardwoods are consistent across environments.
One of carpeting’s essential attributes is its soft, insulating, buffering nature. It naturally absorbs sound.
The bad news is that it’s difficult to catch carpeting at its ideal “peak”. Carpeting always goes out of style, so you may be forced to replace it several times as trends go in and out, and the look and feel of a living environment changes.
New carpeting can be a health hazard; modern manufacturing uses synthetic materials – what you smell in a newly carpeted room, or carpet shop – which can be hazardous. New carpets will leak for years, and new carpet installation also often uses chemicals which emit fumes. These too, may not be healthy, and may cause sinus or breathing problems for people exposed to them for extensive periods of time. Natural, more eco-friendly carpets do exist, but they drive up costs significantly.
Modern technology has also made it possible to instil some permanence in carpeting, in the form of anti-fade colour fastness, near-perfect stain protection, and even fireproofing.
High Maintenance
On the other end of the spectrum, carpet imminently deteriorates, and the more traffic it sees, the worse the effect. Many carpets can look ragged in as little as five years.
Most carpets have loops that can be pulled loose, and because of its woven nature, once a carpet begins unravelling it quickly gets worse, rather than better. It is very difficult to repair carpet. Replacing it completely is often necessary.
Extensive cleaning, Minimal Results
Carpets require regular intensive cleaning-daily, weekly, monthly and yearly with extensive, expensive aids, chemicals and equipment. The bad news is that they tend to be a one-way street. Given enough time and traffic, they will always matt and become increasingly difficult to care for.
Even with regular care, particles of all sorts – dirt, dust, grime, grit and the like – sift and sink through the weave and pad and settle near the floor. Dampness from accidents, traffic and even carpet shampooing can actually increase the dampness, rot and growth of mildew and more. Anyone who has ever removed old carpeting can share countless related horror stories.
Allergy Nightmare
In fact, for individuals who suffer allergies, carpets are a living nightmare. They’re a constant source of irritating dander, dust, fluff, fur, mildew, mould and pollen. Dusts mites, especially, love carpet.
Hardwood
Safe and clean
As mentioned above, hardwood doesn’t hide harmful particulate matter, making for a healthier, safer living environment, especially for allergy sufferers.
Generally, hardwood floors cost more than carpeted floors, but they also require less maintenance, last longer and can be “repaired” (instead of replaced).
Especially in older homes, hardwood floors can be draftier and colder. But a well-selected area rug typically remedies this problem.
Low Maintenance
Comparatively, hardwood floors require minimal maintenance – in terms of both effort and equipment. Consider, simply, the difference on price between a mop and vacuum. Hardwood floors are also much resistant to spills and stains.
Hardwood floors do get scraped, scratched, scuffed, dented and damaged – especially in high traffic areas. However, wood flooring can most often simply be sanded, smoothed and refinished. It is rarely necessary to replace a wood floor.
Sustainable
Since wood is a naturally occurring resource, which can even be reforested, hardwood floors may also be a quality ecological choice. Faster growing types of wood flooring materials – such as bamboo (Which is actually grass) make this an even more plausible reality.
Unsurpassed Beauty and Value
Perhaps the number one reason to consider a hardwood floor is for aesthetic reasons.
Hardwood is one of the oldest flooring materials there is, and it never goes out of style. Because of a large variety of trees and wood types, a world of colours, consistencies, designs, grains and patterns are available.
Whereas many new homeowners will remover carpeting upon purchasing a house, viewing it as an additional expense, hardwood floors definitely increase the value of a house.
So, while hardwood floors may cost more initially, with proper maintenance, they can be a sound investment that pay off for a lifetime.
My clients have diverse tastes in interior design. Does wood flooring go well with most design styles?
Yes. 96% of interior designers find that wood flooring works well with many decorating styles – modern, traditional, and formal. Designers rated natural materials as superior to man-made materials in beauty, prestige, style, maintenance, and durability. A variety of woods and finishes are available to complement the décor and style of any room.
There are so many species of wood. How do I select one?
Choosing a species of wood involves more than selecting to match your décor. You should be aware of the basic facts about wood species. Other appearance-related attributes are important too, such as texture, grain, and cut. Installers will want to consider mechanical properties like dimensional stability, machinability, and ease in finishing. And any specifier will need to consider availability and cost. Floor Design can offer detailed information about the properties of many wood species.
Why do most gymnasiums use wood flooring?
For the same reason many homes and businesses do: durability and comfort. Indeed, wood flooring commands more than 70% of the highly demanding sports floor market. Wood floors are softer and more supple than other surfaces. Wood flooring provides greater resilience, improves shock absorption, and increased energy return, all of which help to reduce injury and body fatigue for athletes.
Does wood flooring provide good acoustics?
Churches, synagogues, and other clients with auditorium projects increasingly request floors for its warmth and acoustic attributes. Ask your wood flooring professional about special installation techniques that can increase acoustic abilities.
Does Wood flooring promote a healthy indoor environment?
Yes! Bacteria, dust and dirt do not embed themselves in wood flooring, as they do in other flooring options, Simple regular maintenance – such as sweeping, or vacuuming – keeps wood floors dust free.
It’s undeniable that hardwood floors add warmth, beauty and a high-end feel to any home. However, many people don’t realize the health benefits of hardwood floors in the home.
As the concern for indoor air quality in the home continues to rise, families are educating themselves on how they can make their home a safer environment. In fact, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) consumers spend 90% of their time indoors, 65% of that time in the home. Organic pollutants can be 2 to 5 times higher, and occasionally 100 times higher, inside the home than outside. Dust, allergens and chemicals in the home significantly contribute to this pollution. This means that the place that most people consider the safest is exposing them to the largest amounts of hazardous pollutants.
Floors actually comprise the largest surface area in our homes and can trap harmful pollutants, like dust allergens, which can drastically affect the health of the home. In the USA the Mayo Clinic recommends removing carpet in the home and replacing it with hard surfaces to ensure healthier air quality. Hard surfaces, like hardwood, make it more difficult for allergens to penetrate and cling to the floor. Key sustainability advocates such as the USBC and LEED have indentified hardwood floors as the healthier and more sustainable choice in flooring. This is because they don’t leave a space where mould, pollen or animal dander can grow, unlike flooring alternatives. Plus they are easy to clean effectively with proper non-toxic and GREENGUARD certified cleaners like Bona.
Start by creating a safe home from the hardwood floor up with these simple steps. Dust mop you floors daily with a microfiber material that uses static charge to attract dust and allergens, while protecting your floors from scratches and unnecessary wear. Weekly, clean your floors with pH neutral, non-toxic and biodegradable formulas to clean and keep your home and environment safe. Also, use a washable microfiber pad, which will remove 99% of bacteria versus 30% from a regular mop and will keep waste out of landfills.
My client suffers from allergies. Is wood flooring hypoallergenic?
Millions of people suffer from sensitivity to chemicals and toxins. Tests by leading allergists have proven that wood flooring provides a healthier environment for these allergy sufferers. Wood doesn’t harbour irritating dust and microorganisms.
Is the natural environment protected during the harvesting and manufacturing of wood flooring?
Yes. Far from a depleting resource, hardwood is sustainable and commercially more available now than ever before. On the 486 million acres of forestland in the United States classified as commercial, substantially more wood is added in new growth each year than is harvested. For hardwood species, 90% more wood is added annually in net growth than is removed through harvest.
Once installed, how often must wood flooring be replaced?
Simple care and maintenance keeps wood floors looking beautiful for a lifetime. Instead of laying an entirely new floor when the original is worn, wood floors can be rejuvenated with sanding and refinishing. When done by wood flooring professional, wood floors need only to be refinished every 10 – 15 years or 10-12 times during floor’s life. When a wood floor’s useful life is over, it’s completely biodegradable.
I want to get scratches off my hardwood floor?
Bona’s quick and simple methods can prevent scratches, smooth them out when they do happen.
Many times scratches on hardwood floors can be attributed to lack of preventative maintenance in the home. There are many easy things you can do to prevent scratches and Bona offers solutions if they are already there!
Follow these simple steps:
- Take high heels off at the door. In fact, if possible always remove shoes at the door!
- Trim your pets claws
- Dust and vacuum floors on a regular basis to rid of sand, dirt, or grit build-up
- Place mats both inside and outside exterior doors to trap dirt. Use rugs in high traffic areas
- Use protective felt pads on the feet of furniture
- Mop floors AT LEAST every other week
However, if you already have scratches, we do offer Bona High and Low Gloss Polish to fill in minor scratches.
Here’s what we recommend:
Start with our cleaner. We offer two cleaners, a hardwood and stone tile & laminate cleaner. Both are pH balanced, non-toxic, biodegradable, and leave no dulling or sticky residue behind. Similar formulas, but the Stone Tile & Laminate Cleaner contains a slightly stronger degreaser. In other words, the hardwood cleaner is safe to use on ANY hard wood surface and we recommend the Stone Tile & Laminate Cleaner for other hard surfaces.
Next, you will want to use our polish, which is quite easy to apply. We now offer a high and low gloss option. Both are urethanes in an acrylic base, which means they are much more durable than other acrylic and ammonia products available. The lower the sheen, the fewer scratches you see. It’s all about personal preference. Check out our How to Polish video for more information on these products.
One of the advantages of our Polish is that it blends beautifully with itself. The first time you polish your room, take all of the furniture out and apply a coat of Polish using the tan applicator pad which fits your Bona mop. You can rinse the pad out and use it again just like you would a paint brush or paint roller. We recommend applying one to two coats. For best results, wait 24 hours between coats, before putting heavy furniture back in the room and allowing heavy traffic, such as pets, on the floor.
Down the road, if you have worn spots in the high traffic areas but the rest of the floor still looks good, you can just put Polish on the High traffic area and it will blend right in.
