Choosing the right hardwood or laminate flooring can sometimes be difficult, as there are so many different choices of hardwood and laminate flooring. Our hardwood flooring and laminate professionals can help you select the best, most cost-effective solution for your home or business.
Speak with your sales associate at HRS Flooring/The Carpet Warehouse and decide on the right type of wood flooring or laminate flooring for your home or business.
Types of Hardwood Flooring and Laminate:
Types of Hardwood Flooring and Laminate:- Red or White Oak Flooring
- Bamboo Flooring (a Green product!)
- Cherry Flooring
- Maple Flooring
- American Cherry Flooring
- Brazilian Cherry Flooring
- Walnut Flooring
- Laminate Flooring
- Other Hardwood Flooring
It is also important to ask about the different finishes and stain colors available. Our expert staff can help you every step of the way!
Once you choose your new hardwood floor, and it comes into our warehouse (unless we already stock it!), we schedule the installation to take place. There are some things you will need to know to get ready for the installation of your new hardwood or laminate floor.
Hardwood and Laminate Flooring Acclimatization
Hardwood and Laminate Flooring must acclimate 24-48 hours before installation in the area where it is to be installed.
In the spring and fall when temperatures outside are very close to temperatures inside, the hardwood flooring materials will acclimate properly in our warehouse and we can bring the flooring materials to your home and install the same day if needed (we prefer to always acclimate the flooring if possible).
In the summer or winter when it is very hot or very cold in our flooring warehouse, we will bring the flooring materials to your home at least 24-48 hours prior to installation so that the hardwood or laminate flooring materials have a chance to acclimate properly.
If not acclimated properly, after installation it is possible that your floor can separate or buckle.
On the scheduled day of dropping off the hardwood or laminate flooring materials (depending on the season this might not be a necessary step), our flooring installers will call one hour prior to dropping off the flooring materials, arrive at your house, and put all of the flooring materials where you specify and let you know when they will be back for the installation.
Before Installing Hardwood Flooring and Laminate Flooring
On the scheduled day of installation, our installers will need to move the furniture from the rooms that are to have hardwood or laminate flooring. We ask that you go through bookcases, tables, dressers, desks, and other furniture to make sure that books, magazines, and small breakable items are put away.
Items should be moved off of the floor, and all furniture should be ready to be moved. This is also a good time to detach any furniture that may be attached to the wall and disconnect all electronics. This is to make it easier and quicker for our installers to move the furniture around and to prevent disconnecting or connecting the wrong wires and potentially damaging your electronics.
Installing Hardwood and Laminate Floors
Our hardwood or laminate installers will then move the furniture and tear out the old flooring or carpet (if necessary), to make room for your new floor. Special care will be take to prepare the sub-floor for your new hardwood if the installers deem it necessary.
The installers will lay out an underlayment; exactly what this is depends on what type of floor is being installed and what you purchased:
- Hardwood floor – either dense hardwood flooring acoustical underlayment OR red rosin paper.
- Laminate floor – laminate flooring pad – basic OR upgraded.
This is when the true music of hardwood flooring installs begins to take place! Various saws will be set up to cut the hardwood or laminate flooring to fit. Please keep a safe distance, and ESPECIALLY keep pets and small children away from the hardwood or laminate flooring cutting area!
If the floor being installed is a “floating” floor, as is the case with laminate floors and some hardwood, then none of the pieces will actually be affixed to the sub-floor. However, most hardwoods are going to be nailed or glued to the sub-floor using a special nail gun (or adhesive) designed for hardwood flooring.
After the hardwood or laminate floor is laid out or “racked” (laid out to make sure that it fits properly and looks aesthetically pleasing laminate flooring does not have this step) it will be installed.
After the Hardwood or Laminate Flooring Installation
After the flooring installation process, the installation team will install a small piece of molding (shoe molding) around the baseboard of all the rooms. This is to cover the small spaces around the edges of the floor and allow for proper expansion and contraction (if you are doing new construction to your house you can wait to have the baseboards installed until after the flooring is installed and eliminate this step).
These gaps are necessary because these types of floors expand and contract with the change of the seasons. The molding (called quarter round or shoe molding) will give your new hardwood or laminate floor a finished appearance; Ta-Da! A completed hardwood or laminate floor from HRS Flooring/The Carpet Warehouse!
Furniture will be put back, and your new hardwood or laminate floor is finished.
Hardwood or laminate flooring is an easy and quick way to make a lasting difference in the value, feel and look of your home – make your home beautiful!