shown in the photo on p. 557. It’s not surprising
that wood flooring is a sentimental favorite. It’s
beautifully figured, warm hued, easy to work,
The solid-wood wear layer of this
engineered flooring can be sanded
and durable.
and refinished several times. The
Disadvantages: Wood scratches, dents, stains,
finishes shown are (left to right)
and expands and contracts as relative humidity
white ash, vintage chestnut,
varies. And, when exposed to water for sustained
and cherry.
periods, it swells, splits, and eventually rots. Thus,
wood flooring needs a fair amount of mainte-
nance, especially in high-use areas. In general,
solid wood is a poor choice for rooms that tend
to be chronically damp or occasionally wet.
Engineered wood flooring is basically an
upscale plywood with a top layer of solid hard-
wood laminated to a three- to five-layer plywood
base. Most types are prefinished, with tongue-
and-groove edges and ends. This flooring is typi-
cally sold in cartons containing 20 sq. ft. of
21⁄2-in. to 7-in. widths and assorted lengths.
Engineered wood flooring can be stapled to a
plywood subfloor, glued to a concrete slab, or
floated above various substrates. There are also
glueless, snap-together systems. (Because float-
ing floor systems can accommodate so many
substrates, building environments, and design
options, “ ‘Floating’ an Engineered Wood Floor”
is discussed on pp. 576–580.) More dimensionally
stable than solid wood, engineered wood flooring
is especially well suited to areas where humidity
fluctuates, such as kitchens or basement rooms.
There are many price points and quality levels
of engineered wood flooring, and you get what
This array of Natural Cork® flooring is sealed with a UV-cured acrylic finish that keeps out
you pay for. Better-quality flooring has a thicker
moisture. The cork wear layer is bonded to a high-density fiberboard.
wear layer—the top veneer layer, which can be
sanded. Wear layers range from 3⁄32 in. to 1⁄4 in.
thick. In general, a wear layer that was dry sawn
has grain patterns more like solid-wood flooring,
558 Chapter 20
whereas layers that were rotary-peeled or sliced
vacuum or mop it regularly to reduce abrasion.
from a log tend to look like plywood.
Avoid installing it in chronically moist areas.
Disadvantages: The wear layer of engineered
Coconut palm flooring, like bamboo, is plenti-
wood flooring is relatively thin. Although manu-
ful and can be sustainably harvested. Its texture
facturers contend that a wear layer 5⁄32 in. thick
is fine pored, reminiscent of mahogany. Because
can be refinished two or three times, that seems
coconut palm is a dark wood, its color range is
optimistic given the condition of most rental
limited, from a rich, mahogany red to a deep
sanding equipment.
brown. And it is tough stuff: Smith & Fong offers
Prefinished wood flooring is stained and sealed a 3⁄4-in.-thick, three-ply, tongue-and-groove strip
with at least four coats at the factory, where it’s
flooring called Durapalm®, which it claims to be
possible to apply finishes so precisely—to all
25% harder than red oak. Durapalm is available
sides of the wood—that manufacturers routinely
unfinished or prefinished. One of the finish
offer 15-year to 25-year warranties on select fin-
options contains space-age ceramic particles for
ishes. Finishes are typically polyurethane, acrylic, an even tougher surface. So if you’re thinking of
or resin based, with additives that help flooring
installing a ballroom floor in your bungalow, this
resist abrasion, moisture, and UV rays. To its pre-
is definitely a material to consider.
finished flooring, Lauzon® says it applies “a
polymerized titanium coating [that is] solvent-
free and VOC and formaldehyde-free.” Harris
Tarkett coats its wood floors with an aluminum
oxide–enhanced urethane. Another big selling
point: These floors can be used as soon as they’re
installed. There’s no need to sand them or wait
days for noxious coatings to dry.
As tough as prefinished floors are, however,
manufacturers have very specific requirements
for installing and maintaining them, so read their
warranties closely. In many cases, you must use
proprietary cleaners or “refreshers” to clean the
floors and preserve the finish. Also, board ends
cut during installation must be sealed with a fin-
ish compatible with that applied at the factory.
otHEr natural FlooringS
The materials in this group—bamboo, coconut
palm, and cork—are engineered to make them
easy to install and durable. And their beauty is
100% natural.
Bamboo flooring sounds implausible to people
who visualize a floor as bumpy as corduroy.
However, bamboo flooring is perfectly smooth. It
is first milled into strips and then reassembled as
multi-ply, tongue-in-groove boards. Available in
the same widths and lengths as conventional
hardwood, bamboo boards are commonly 3⁄8 in.
to 5⁄8 in. thick. Bamboo flooring can be nailed or
glued. But if you glue it, allow the adhesive to
become tacky first so the bamboo doesn’t absorb
moisture from it.
Bamboo flooring comes prefinished or unfin-
ished and can be sanded and refinished as often
as hardwood floors. It’s a warm, beautiful sur-
face, with distinctive peppered patterns where
shoots were attached. Bamboo is hard and dura-
ble, with roughly the same maintenance profile
Laminated bamboo, such as amber horizontal Plyboo®, is about as hard as oak. Thanks to its
as any natural wood product, so you must
extensive root system, bamboo can be harvested repeatedly without replanting.
Flooring
559
Cork flooring is on the soft end of the hard-soft
requiring glue usually need it to bond planks
continuum. Soft underfoot, sound deadening,
together, not to glue them to a substrate.
nonallergenic, and long lasting, cork is the ulti-
mate “green” building material. Cork is the bark
laMinatE Flooring
of the cork oak, which can be harvested every
Here, the term “laminate” refers not to fusing
10 to 12 years without harming the tree (some
thin wood layers but to a group of floorings
cork trees live to be 500 years old).
whose surface layers are usually photographic
Traditionally sold as 3⁄16-in. by 12-in. by 12-in.
images covered and protected by a clear
tiles, which are glued to a substrate, cork flooring melamine (plastic) layer. The photographic
now includes colorfully stained and prefinished
P R O T I P
images often show wood grain, tile, or stone.
squares and planks that interlock for less visible
Although plastic-laminate “wood” flooring may
seams. Cork flexes, so many manufacturers use a
in many of the adobe houses
be a hard sell to traditionalists, the stuff wears
flexible coating such as UV-cured acrylic to pro-
he designed, albuquerque legend
well and every year captures a larger share of res-
tect the surfaces and edges from water. Cork’s
nat Kaplan continued his tile
idential flooring. Moreover, as this category
resilience comes from its 100 million air-filled
floors up the wall by using
increases in popularity, manufacturers offer
cells per cu. in., so it’s a naturally thirsty material.
12-in.-sq. Mexican paver tiles as
more and more colors and textures, including
baseboards. With no fear of
Wipe up spills immediately and avoid soaking a
many that don’t mimic natural materials and are
drenching wood baseboards or
cork floor when mopping it: Use a damp mop
quite handsome on their own.
drywall, you can freely swing
instead and periodically refresh its finish.
Developed and first adopted in Europe, lami-
that mop as you swab the floors.
Disadvantages: Avoid dragging heavy or sharp- nate flooring most commonly consists of snap-
edged objects across it because it will abrade. Chair together planks that float above a substrate,
and table legs can leave permanent depressions.
speeding installation, repairs, and removal. Of all
Typically, engineered cork flooring has a three-
flooring materials, laminate is probably the most
ply, tongue-in-groove configuration. The surface
affordable, and as noted, it’s almost indestructi-
layer is high-density cork, the middle layer is
ble. It’s also colorfast, dimensionally stable, and
high-density fiberboard with precut edges that
easy to clean—though many manufacturers insist
snap together, and the underlayment layer is low-
that you use proprietary cleaning solutions.
density cork that cushions footsteps and absorbs
Disadvantages: Laminate flooring dents,
sound. First developed in Europe, snap-together
exposing a fiberboard core; you can’t refinish it,
panels float above the substrate, so owners can
although damaged planks can be replaced; and
easily replace damaged planks or, when it’s time
you shouldn’t install it in high-humidity areas or
to move, pack up the floor and take it with them.
over concrete basement floors because it tends
Many snap-together floors are glueless, but floors to delaminate.
rESiliEnt Flooring
Vinyl and linoleum are the two principal resilient
materials, available in sheets 6 ft. to 12 ft. wide,
or as tiles, typically 13 in. or 12 in. square.
Linoleum is the older of the two materials, pat-
ented in 1863. It may surprise you to learn that
linoleum is made from raw, natural materials,
including linseed oil ( oleum lino, in Latin), pow-
dered wood or cork, ground limestone, and res-
ins; it’s backed with jute fiber. (Tiles may have
polyester backing.) Because linoleum is comfort-
able underfoot, water-resistant, and durable, it
was a favorite in kitchens and baths from the
beginning, but it fell into disfavor in the 1960s,
when it was supplanted by vinyl flooring, which
doesn’t need to be waxed.
However, linoleum has proven resilient in
more ways than one by bouncing back from near
extinction, thanks to new presealed linoleums
that don’t need waxing. In addition, linoleum
(sometimes called Marmoleum, after the longest
continuously manufactured brand) has antistatic
These colors are a small sample of the hundreds available from Marmoleum, one of the oldest
and antimicrobial qualities. It’s also possible to
makers of linoleum.
560 Chapter 20
custom-design linoleum borders, which are pre-
cisely cut with a water jet. Flooring suppliers can
tell you more.
Vinyl has similar attributes to linoleum,
though it is a child of chemistry. Its name is short
for polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Vinyl flooring also
is resilient, tough to damage, stain-resistant, and
easy to clean. It comes in many grades, princi-
pally differentiated by the thickness of its top
layer—also known as its wear layer. The thicker
the wear layer, the more durable the product. The
more economical grades have designs only in the
wear layer, whereas inlaid designs are as deep as
the vinyl is thick. If you’re thinking of installing
vinyl yourself, tiles are generally easier, although
their many joints can compromise the flooring’s
water resistance to a degree.
Top: Porcelain 12-in. by 12-in. tile from BJCeramic. Bottom: Natural cleft
StonE and tilE
slate from Mohawk®.
If stone and tile are properly bonded to a durable
substrate, nothing outlasts them. However, hand-
Not grandma’s wall-to-wall carpet,
unless she lived in Hollywood. This
made tiles or stones of irregular thickness should
faux-leopard, cut-pile carpet is part
usually be installed in a mortar bed to adequately
of Shaw Carpet’s Wildebeest series.
support them. And leveling a mortar bed is best
done by a professional. Tile or stone that’s not
adequately supported can crack, and its grout
joints will break and dislodge. Chapter 16 has the
full story.
Tiles are rated by hardness: Group III and
higher are suitable for floors. Slip resistance is
also important. In general, unglazed tiles are less
slippery than glazed ones, but all tile and stone—
and their joints—must be sealed to resist staining
and absorbing water. (Soapstone is the only
exception. Leave it unsealed; most stone sealers
won’t penetrate soapstone and the few sealers
durable as other synthetics, although some acryl-
that do penetrate make it look like it’s been
ics look deceptively like wool.
oiled.) Tile and stone suppliers can recommend
Disadvantages: Carpeting can be hard to keep
sealants; you’ll find several on p. 373. If stone and clean, and it harbors dust mites and pet dander,
tile floors are correctly sealed, they’re relatively
which can be a problem for people with allergies.
easy to clean with hot water and a mild house-
In general, wall-to-wall carpet is a poor choice
hold cleaner.
for below-grade installations that are not com-
pletely dry because mold will grow on its under-
CarPEting
side. Far better to use throw rugs in finished
Carpeting is favored in bedrooms, living rooms,
basement rooms.
and hallways because it’s soft and warm under-
foot and because it deadens sound. In general,
the denser the pile (yarn), the better the carpet
Refinishing Wood Floors
quality. Always install carpeting over padding;
Wood floor refinishing can be as simple as lightly
the denser or heavier the pad, the loftier the car-
sanding an existing finish and applying another
pet will feel and the longer it will last. Wool tends coat of the same finish or as extensive as strip-
to be the most luxurious and most expensive car-
ping the floor finish completely and sanding it
peting, but it’s more likely to stain than synthet-
several times before applying a new finish. If the
ics. Good-quality polyester carpeting is plush,
floor is just grimy and dull from too many coats
stain-resistant, and colorfast. Nylon is not quite
of wax, it may just need a thorough washing. If
as plush or as colorfast, though it wears well.
washing doesn’t do the trick, try to determine
Olefin and acrylic are generally not as soft or
what the existing finish is before you rent a sander.
Flooring
561
tHrEE tEStS to
dEtErMinE a Floor FiniSH
refinishing Floors Safely
Wood floors installed in the 1960s or earlier were
refinishing floors is not inherently dangerous. nonetheless, there are safety
usually finished with some combination of wax,
issues to consider.
shellac, and varnish. After that, they were most
electrical. Before renting sanders, examine their electrical cords and plugs,
likely finished with a penetrating oil or oil- or
rejecting any that are frayed or appear to have been sanded over. if you don’t have a
water-based polyurethane. (For more on finishes,
heavy-duty extension cord, rent or buy one; lightweight household cords could over-
see p. 569.) Here are a few tests to help figure out
heat and start a fire. user’s manuals or labels on big sanders indicate minimum cord
what’s there and what to do next.
specs. Household circuits must be adequately sized for the equipment: 220-volt
Test 1: Wax. Place several drops of water on the
drum sanders often require 30-amp circuits; 110-volt sanders typically require
floor. If the surface turns white in 10 to 15 min-
20-amp circuits. in most cases, a drum sander’s 30-amp plug will fit a home’s
utes, there’s wax on the floor. If the water doesn’t
30-amp dryer receptacle.
leave a white spot, try test 2. If the finish is dull,
Renovation 4th Edition Page 129