Hardwood Floors February/March 2026

CONTENTS

PUBLICATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE Robert McNamara | Chair, Sheoga Hardwood Flooring Jason Elquest | Blackhawk Floors Inc. Steve Brattin | Chair Stephanie Owen | President & CEO Anita Howard | Membership & Meetings Officer Libby White Johnston | Marketing & Communications Officer Katie Norton | Education & Certification Officer Dana Rogers | CFO NWFA LEADERSHIP

Industry Insights

18 Government Affairs What’s in store for 2026?

By Dana Lee Cole

22 Market Matters State of confusion.

By Santo Torcivia

Business Best Practices

28 Sales Savvy The messy middle.

Lenny Hall | Endurance Floor Company Inc. Kevin Mullany | Benchmark Wood Floors Inc. Jim Schumacher | Mirka

By Paul Reilly

Libby White Johnston | Publisher | libby.johnston@nwfa.org Burt Bollinger | Editor | burt.bollinger@nwfa.org Rhonda M. May | Asst. Editor/Creative Manager | rhonda.may@nwfa.org Brett Miller | Technical Editor Bridget Norlie | Engagement Manager | bridget.norlie@nwfa.org PUBLICATION TEAM

At the Site 36 Sponsored Content Company Profile: Bona 48 Sponsored Content Company Profile: Peachey Hardwood Flooring 54 Underlayments Resiliency in acoustical underlayments. 58 Tech Talk Discovering historic artifacts. 60 Sponsored Content Company Profile: NOFMA 62 WFOY Winner Spotlight Best in Historic Restoration:

14 Research Park Drive St. Charles, Missouri 63304 P : 800.422.4556 Local : 636.519.9663 F: 636.519.9664 E: news@hardwoodfloorsmag.com W: hardwoodfloorsmag.com

By Randy Dye

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Burt Bollinger Steve Brattin Dana Lee Cole Randy Dye Seth Gladden

Don Jewell Libby White Johnston Terry Patton Paul Reilly Santo Torcivia

By Burt Bollinger

Universal Floors Inc. 64 Hardwood Hints

By Terry Patton

Manual blind nailing. 66 Technical Publication Tip Concrete flatness tolerance.

ADVERTISING SALES

Katie Schenk Advertising & Brand Growth Director katie.schenk@nwfa.org | 314.488.4669

Product Focus

68 Subfloors, Adhesives, Underlayment 70 Specialty Wood Flooring

Hardwood Floors (Print: ISSN 0897-022X and Online: ISSN 2475-5125) is published on a bi-monthly basis, plus the Annual Industry Guide, by the National Wood Flooring Association and distributed as a membership benefit to its member companies and without charge upon request to qualified individuals throughout the wood flooring industry. Single copy price is $8, annual Industry Guide is $50. Subscriptions: $40/year (includes 6 issues and Industry Guide) in the U.S. and Canada. Publication office: 14 Research Park Drive, St. Charles, MO 63304. Phone: 800.422.4556. Printing office: Walsworth, 306 N. Kansas Ave., Marceline, MO 64658. Printed in the U.S. Periodicals postage is paid at Chesterfield, MO and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hardwood Floors, P.O. Box 9147, Lowell, MA 01853. Copyright © 2026 by the National Wood Flooring Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Hardwood Floors' subscription base is AAM audited. An AAM audit provides advertisers and agencies with assurance that what they choose to invest in does, in fact, reach target audiences for specific ads. The AAM audit also helps media companies by documenting the quality of their audiences.

Also in this Issue

6 Chair’s Cut

By Steve Brattin

8 Business Briefs 12 Wood Stock

By Burt Bollinger

74 Seen at NWFA Schools 76 Partners in Education Sponsored scholarship winners announced. 78 New Products 80 Ad Index