Installation

We install all types of hardwood flooring. Traditionally, hardwood flooring was in the raw, unfinished form that would be installed to a wood subfloor and then sanded, stained (if a different colour was desired), sealed and finished. Today hardwood flooring can be purchased unfinished, prefinished, varied thicknesses, solid or engineered. The subfloor that you are installing the flooring to will determine which choice will be optimal for long term performance.

On or above grade wood subfloors

Most hardwood flooring installations on Vancouver Island will be ground level or higher, leaving you will the most flooring options. All types of hardwood flooring will work in this circumstance - solid, engineered, unfinished or prefinished. How the flooring is installed depends on the product, warranty specifications and the width of the flooring planks.

Cleat-nailed - this is the primary installation method for most flooring choices that are no wider than 3 1/2" on a wood subfloor for solid and engineered hardwood flooring. Note* - flooring staples are not recommended for top perfermance. Overtime your floor is more likely to come loose, start squeaking or even exhibit dimpling which is where the staples will push the flooring edges up everywhere the staple is lifting.
S-bead adhesive and cleat nail - Some flooring manufacturers request their flooring products to glued as well as cleat nailed to a wood subfloor. While this does add to the project timeline, the addition of a glue to the bottome of the flooring before nailing it in creates a more stable floor for those products that are of a moderate width. This is our recommendation if your flooring planks are wider than 3 1/2".
Full-trowel glue down - This is exactly as it sounds! An adhesive is troweled directly to the subfloor and the engineered or solid flooring is laid on the glue. No cleats required. Many manufactors will often recommend this for flooring that exceeds 5 1/4" wide. Note* for wider plank flooring, engineered flooring offers the best stability. Wood expands and contracts with humidity changes and throughout the seasons - engineered products will result in less movement.
Floating floor - In this application the flooring product is not fixed to the floor, but glued at the joints and "clicked" together. This is common for engineered and laminate flooring but if there are any inconsistences in the subfloor the floor will appear to "bounce" and tends to be noisy when shuffling across the floor. It will not feel "solid".

Below grade concrete subfloors

YES! You can install some wood products on concrete but the choices will get narrower. For this installation method, only engineered flooring is recommended. Moisture changes are dramatic with the concrete and a solid wood floor will not perform well. The stability of the layers in the engineered flooring will help to minimize movement. There are a couple of options for installation on concrete.

Floating floor - this is probably the most common installation method on concrete. The flooring material is literally "floating" on the concrete and is attached either with glue where it comes together or some products may "click" together. Some flooring may require an underlay beneath the flooring, some flooring has the underlay built into the planks.
Full-trowel glue down - the full trowel on concrete is exactly the same as it is for a wood subfloor.