Hardwood Floors April/May 2019

Real Ways to Reach Homeowners

By Libby White Johnston

During The International Surface Event (TISE) in Las Vegas, the NWFA officially launched an industry-wide initiative to promote real wood flooring to consumers. The “Real Wood. Real Life.” campaign provides homeowners with information about choosing the right floor, selecting a professional for the job, and conducting maintenance properly. There has been a great response from NWFA members and industry partners, who have stated that the initiative is something the wood flooring industry has needed for a long time. REAL WOOD SURFACES Part of this e ort was clarifying for both the industry and consumers what is andwhat is not awood oor.MichaelMartin, NWFAPresident &CEO, notes that theNWFABoard of Directors and task force put a great deal of thought into the formal de nitions of wood ooring that were announced late last year. e group included representatives fromacross thewood ooring supply chain.

Wood [Wúd] noun Wood is the hard fibrous material that forms from the main substance of the trunk or branches and beneath the bark of a tree. A wood floor is any flooring product that contains real wood as the top-most, wearable surface of the floor.

WOOD FLOORING MAY BE BROKEN INTO THREE CATEGORIES 1 Solid wood flooring is a solid piece of wood from top to bottom.

2 Engineered wood flooring is real wood from top to bottom, normally made using multiple wood veneers or slats of wood glued together at opposing directions. 3 Composite engineered wood flooring contains real wood on the wearable surface only. The backing and core material may be made up of any type of composite material. — NWFA’s Formal Definition of Real Wood Flooring

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” While solid and engineered are pre y self-explanatory, we also felt we could not ignore any oor that had a real piece of wood on the wear layer,” said Martin. “Regardless of what’s on the back – composite, plastic, resin, or otherwise – as long as it has a real wood surface, it falls under the de nition of a real wood oor. What is not included in our de nition of real wood is a photograph of wood on a piece of paper that is sealed onto a piece of plastic.

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