Hardwood Floors February/March 2017

Things to Consider When Installing Wood Floors in Dry Climates (Continued) TECH TALK

in a region in which it will not perform, and neither will a contractor.

you must explain in writing and in person the risks and benefits of their choices. Don’t be afraid to say, “No.” This is your responsibility to the customer and the industry.

for us, and we now know what MC percent we have to achieve with the wood floor. The RH percent and temperature is checked again at the time of material delivery, and again before installation. This gives us an accurate picture of the home’s environment. This is the exact same process for engineered, solid, and all of the various species. Wood floors will move during environmental changes. Our job is to make sure it is in its “happy place” before install. Not all wood species enjoy a dry environment. This is much more prevalent when dealing with engineered wood floors, but some species don’t perform as well as others. In Arizona I have not found a solid wood floor that can’t be installed successfully with proper acclimation. With that said, you must educate your customer about the issues that can arise with their wood floor choice. The same as you would recommend that a customer with 100 pound dogs and four children maybe not choose American cherry. You might not recommend a 10” wide x long length hickory floor. You can install both of these floors, but SPECIES

CUSTOMER RESPONSIBILITY

Wood floor maintenance is the same across the country. Educate your customer on how to take care of their wood floors. Let them know that they must maintain their home’s environment in order for their floors to perform. This includes not shutting off the air conditioning and heading for cooler weather in the summer. You would be surprised how many calls we get in the early fall complaining of gaps in floors. Yes, you can install wood floors in dry climates. Work with your distributors to understand the products you are installing, and work with your customers to understand their wood floors and their role in the successful performance of their floor. Build these relationships through communication and you will have many successful installations and many happy customers. Jason Elquest is owner of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Blackhawk Floors Inc. and is an NWFA Regional Instructor. He can be reached at jason@blackhawkfloors.com.

ENGINEERED VERSUS SOLID

In Arizona, we have a predominantly slab market. So we install an immense amount of engineered flooring. Most of what we install is unfinished engineered. Once installed we treat it exactly the same as a solid unfinished wood floor. Some of the benefits are increased dimensional stability, no need for subfloor, and exceptional milling tolerances. As great as they are, some engineered floors just don’t handle the dry environment well. The failures are caused from many different issues. Some engineered floors fail due to the species or the way the product is constructed. Distress in the form of delamination, surface checking, and splitting are quite common. Bottom line is this: talk to your wood floor distributors and find out what is working and what is not. I promise they don’t want a claim or a failure any more than you will. A responsible distributor will not sell a product

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