All Posts in "Oak Floors"

Cork Flooring: Endurance for 5,000 Years

With increasing public wakefulness for the protection of your environment, cork floors have gained in popularity lately as a result of the ever-increasing consciousness and consumption of organic sources readily offered, with no destruction of endangered forests and wildlife habitats. Cork floors are a by-product with the cork tree, traditionally found in South America, utilized in the manufacturing of corks supplied to bottle producers for superior sealing qualities. Harvested without the need of harm or destruction with the cork tree, cork floors would be the item of the bark on the cork tree, cut to precise lengths with redeeming qualities not found in other floor covering supplies irrespective of composition.

Comprised of many substrate layers based on the good quality of your cork floor selected, these floors are similar in composition to engineered laminate flooring with superior insulating and sound deadening qualities. Cork is readily available in interlocking tiles or panels with a resemblance to a hardwood floor when appropriately installed. Exactly where cork flooring interlocking tiles are either glued or nailed down, cork floor panels commonly 12″ wide by 36″ long, are “free-floated” for straightforward installation. Cork floor panels “free-floated” over correctly ready sub-floor surfaces, enable for contraction and expansion in the flooring material, with no visible seam or joint separation. Cork floors may be purchased finished or unfinished with numerous colors to select from. When finishing a correctly installed un-finished floor, the application of sealers delivers a more uniform finish maintaining possible water retention to a bare minimum.

With sound deadening capabilities, cork floors are often employed in commercial applications where noise from upper levels is drastically reduced. In residential applications, cork lessens sound transfer in townhome communities and apartment complexes resulting in satisfied homeowners and tenants. Recognized for superior insulating qualities, cork floors reduce energy consumption in … Read the rest

Aiden Hayes by — October 1, 2020 in Oak Floors

Sustainable Building Materials Are an Eco-Friendly Alternative For New-Build Homes and Tower Blocks
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All buildings, whether large or small, require the design and implementation of openings on most of their outside walls for potential doors and windows. These days, more often than not, during the construction, these holes are marked with PVC-U strips as the walls are built around them. The strips provide an airtight seal that stops hot or cold air from escaping or coming into the building. By avoiding this wasteful exchange of gas, other physical problems can be avoided, like the buildup of damp, causing mold and mildew to spread through internal walls and seriously ruin them.

PVC-U is obtained from old door and window frames that have been removed from buildings. The elements of these frames are extracted and the PVC-U is completely purified and recycled into weather-, damp- and leak-proof cavity seals. They are hardy and last a lifetime, so any worries about draughts and damp getting inside are a thing of the past. The PVC-U closers will fit into almost every door and window type, are flexible and are very easy to install. They require no extra materials or insulation and maintain installation flexibility on window fixtures.

Choosing the right type of seal is dependent upon the requirements of the structure being built. They are all made with recycled PVC-U, but have different properties. Among many purposes are the basic PVC-U cavity sealer; the insulation sealer – made with a tightly packed block of insulating material; the anti fire sealer – made with a flame retardant and also coated in a fire deterrent aluminum barrier. There are also strips designed to be fitted after the completion of a building; temporary fire deterring barriers that fit between inside wall gaps, giving about an hour of flame protection to inner walls; and ventilation strips that allow maximum … Read the rest

Aiden Hayes by — February 16, 2019 in Oak Floors

Building a Home - What Every Owner Builder Must Know About Home Building Materials
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Home building materials play a significant role. Since the Three Little Pigs first wiggled their curly little tails, we’ve been aware of the importance of building materials. But, while they had only three choices, we have more … a lot more.

Today, it’s not only about the strength and durability of the home but also about economy, ecology, aesthetics, style and personal choice. With universal building codes the way they are, we can usually expect them to meet at least minimum standards of quality and longevity.

Knowing Your Options for Structural Materials

Over the years, I’ve worked with many different structural materials choices for homes. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. I’ve concluded that there may be no “perfect” choice. Nothing seems to stand head and shoulders above all the rest. That being said, there’s every reason to believe that of the many choices, you could find one perfect for you.

If you are exploring options for the structural components of your new home, start with these choices. You can expand from here:

Traditional 2×4 and 2×6 stick built homesIn North America, this is the most common approach to home building. These can be site built or pre-framed, factory built homes. Builders for this method are the easiest to find and these homes are usually the least expensive to build.

Steel Framed HomesThese are constructed much the same as the wood framed homes and can also come in pre-framed, factory built panels. They offer some additional green building benefits, being thought of as more sustainable by some authorities.

SIP built homesStructural Insulated Panels are gaining popularity. These are structural panels that utilize insulation as part of the strength of the wall system. There are several different kinds of panels and methods of construction. They are often used … Read the rest

Aiden Hayes by — January 28, 2019 in Oak Floors

Oak FloorsUnfinished Oak hardwood flooring versus prefinished Oak is a option that shoppers deal with when taking into consideration hardwood floors in their new or current property. When we had been 1st pondering about staining the floors more than, we wanted to do a dark stain like Ebony. To obtain an ultra smooth finish on doors and drawers, you could want to sand among coats of the acrylic enamel. I had my floors professionally done… I was home when they did my upstairs den. You can see the new floors prepared to be installed in the area exactly where we had a leak.

So in the end, we went with quarter sawn, 5 inch wide, unfinished red oak in lengths varying from 1 foot to eight feet. It really is no wonder, with our fantastic BuildDirect costs on this classic, there’s no space or price range that is not created for oak. My installer just finished installing and finishing 1200 sq feet of Red Oak with Rubio Monocoat in Oak colour. In the massive client kitchen renovation I just did I stained the open shelves in Classic Gray and they appear beautiful.

If you get someone with knowledge it will make certain that your oak floor is fitted adequately to present luxury underfoot for many years to come. My question is will this look ok with the mahogany fireplace or need to we transform this to either oak or maybe paint it thanks Brenda. By the way we have birch wood in the adjacent living space & each rooms are painted in light Peach & have white trimming. The property has the darker stained oak wood work,six panel oak doors in all rooms that is in fantastic condition. Oak Flooring provides fantastic put on resistance and durability, so can final for … Read the rest

Aiden Hayes by — September 15, 2017 in Oak Floors

Oak FloorsI think several individuals struggle with choosing a stain colour for hardwood floors. If you get someone with experience it will guarantee that your oak floor is fitted correctly to provide luxury underfoot for quite a few years to come. My query is will this look ok with the mahogany fireplace or ought to we adjust this to either oak or perhaps paint it thanks Brenda. By the way we have birch wood in the adjacent living space & both rooms are painted in light Peach & have white trimming. The residence has the darker stained oak wood work,6 panel oak doors in all rooms that is in great condition. Oak Flooring provides great wear resistance and durability, so can final for a lot of years if looked immediately after adequately.

If you’re adamant about getting the floor a best match to your custom stained cabinets, and you can not come across a prefinished floor that goes with them, then looking at unfinished is possibly an choice for you. We finally decided on hand-scraped hickory engineered flooring in dark sienna finish. We have had our floors for over a year now, I have never noticed any scratches.. I’m positive they are there but just not noticeable… We hardly ever wear shoes inside our residence, so, I’m confident that’s a issue also.

When we have been 1st pondering about staining the floors over, we wanted to do a dark stain like Ebony. To realize an ultra smooth finish on doors and drawers, you may well want to sand amongst coats of the acrylic enamel. I had my floors professionally done… I was residence when they did my upstairs den. You can see the new floors ready to be installed in the area exactly where we had a leak.

Organic wood appears … Read the rest

Aiden Hayes by — September 9, 2017 in Oak Floors