About Our Floors

Does Wood Flooring Promote a Healthier Indoor Environment?

Yes. Bacteria, dust and dirt do not embed themselves in wood flooring as they do in other flooring options. Simple regular maintenance—such as dust-mopping, sweeping, or vacuuming—keeps wood floors dust-free.

Is Wood Flooring Hypoallergenic?

Millions of people suffer from sensitivity to chemicals and toxins. Tests by leading allergists have proven that wood flooring provides a healthier environment for these allergy sufferers. Wood doesn’t harbor irritating dust and microorganisms.

Is Your Harvesting and Manufacturing process eco-friendly?

Yes. Far from a depleting resource, hardwood is sustainable and commercially more available now than ever before. On the 486 million acres of forestland in the United States classified as commercial, substantially more wood is added in new growth each year than is harvested. For hardwood species, 90 percent more wood is added annually in net growth than is removed through harvest.

once installed, how often must wood flooring be replaced?

Every hundred years or so. In fact, the heart pine floors in historic Bacon’s Castle in Virginia are more than three centuries old and counting. Simple care and maintenance keeps wood floors looking beautiful for a lifetime. Instead of laying an entirely new floor when the original is worn, wood floors can be rejuvenated with sanding and refinishing. When done by a wood flooring professional, wood floors need only to be refinished every 10 – 15 years or 10 – 12 times during a floor’s life. When a wood floor’s useful life is over, it’s completely biodegradable.

is recycled wood flooring available?

Yes. Wood salvaged from a variety of sources, including old barns and factories, is a popular design trend. Wood recovered from riverbeds is another growing segment of the wood flooring industry. Logs that sank during logging operations years ago are being recovered by a number of companies and used to create truly unique flooring. Today’s only significant source for heartwood from long-leaf pine is through reclaimed timbers from warehouses and factories constructed during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Chestnut, hemlock, poplar, walnut, and cypress are other options.

Why should you invest in wood flooring?

Residential real estate agents say homes with wood floors sell faster and fetch higher prices, according to a nationwide survey commissioned by the National Wood Flooring Association. By a four-to-one margin, real estate agents said that a house with wood floors would sell faster than a house without wood floors. Some 90 percent said a house with wood floors would bring a higher price.

Does Wood Flooring Go well with most design styles?

Yes. In a survey commissioned by the NWFA, 96% of interior designers find that wood flooring works well with many decorating styles – modern, traditional, and formal. Designers rated natural materials as superior to man-made materials in beauty, prestige, style, maintenance, and durability. A variety of woods and finishes are available to complement the décor and style of any room.

there are so many species of wood. How do i select one?

Choosing a species of wood involves more than selecting a color to match your décor. Other appearance-related attributes are important too, such as texture, grain, and cut. You can compare the look of our finishes side by side here. Installers will want to consider mechanical properties like dimensional stability, machinability, and ease in finishing. And any specifier will need to consider availability and cost. NWFA’s wood experts offer detailed information about the properties of many wood species.

Is wood flooring durable enough for high traffic areas?

Yes. Specifiers and clients are discovering what basketball players have always known: wood flooring can take a pounding and still look beautiful. The finishes on most new wood floors stand up to heavy traffic, bringing wood flooring into bathrooms, kitchens, and other high-traffic areas. These finishes resist wear and stains better than other finishes and require no stripping, no buffing and no waxing.

Does wood flooring provide good acoustics?

Churches, synagogues, and other clients with auditorium projects increasingly request wood floors for its warmth and acoustic attributes. Ask your wood flooring professional about special installation techniques that can increase acoustic abilities.

EASY CARE STEPS FOR CLEANING HARDWOOD FLOORS

The Do's:

Wipe up spills immediately.
Vacuum, sweep, or dust mop your hardwood floor once a week, or more, if needed. The vacuum head must be brush or felt, and a wand attachment is preferable.
Use interior and exterior doormats at entrances to collect dirt and moisture and prevent it from being tracked onto the floor.
Area rugs are recommended in front of kitchen sinks, at all pivot points and within high-traffic areas. The rugs must be made of a breathable material to prevent moisture entrapment.
Place runners and area rugs (with slip-resistant backings) along high-traffic areas.
Keep animal nails trimmed to prevent finish scratches.
To prevent surface damage avoid rolling heavy appliances and furniture on the floor. Use plywood hardboard or appliance lifts, if necessary.
Replace hard, narrow furniture rollers with wide rubber rollers.
Keep the relative humidity in your home between 35% and 55% per NWFA.
Try to protect your floor from direct sunlight.

The Don'ts:

Use any of the following products (or products similar in nature) on your floor: ammonia based cleaners, acrylic finishes, wax based products, detergents, bleach, polishes and oil soaps, abrasive cleaning soaps or acidic materials such as vinegar.
Allow water to stand on your floor for any length of time – wipe up immediately.
Walk across your floor in poorly maintained shoes with heel taps, spike heels or with any sharp object protruding from your shoe.
Allow furniture to rest on the floor on small metal tips or hard domes.
Use rubber, foam back, or plastic mats as they may trap moisture and possibly discolor your floor.

TWF Spot Repair and Maintenance:

Procedure for spot repair: If an individual board is damaged, simply scuff lightly with 220 grit, 3m pad and apply water based finish supplied by Tennessee Wood Flooring. Allow 10 minutes to dry, 4 hours for regular traffic.

Refresh procedure: (Only if necessary) Wipe 220 grit, 3m pad over affected area, clean thoroughly, apply “refresher finish” supplied by Tennessee Wood Flooring with a t-bar applicator.
*Under normal commercial circumstances, this process should not be necessary more than every 5-6 years, if at all.

Keep in mind: The retailer will not have to move merchandise out of the store, as there is no odor to finish. The finish will be dry to the touch in about 10 minutes and ready for traffic in 4 hours. This process is easily done by a maintenance crew, but if using own company maintenance crew is not desired, we can recommend someone to do it for you.
*The life of the flooring will always be subject to the condition it is under. That being said, this process will allow your flooring to look “new” indefinitely.

Acceptance Of Flooring

As wood is a natural product, there will be variations in grain, color and texture. These variations are not to be considered flaws, but a natural characteristic of wood. Inherent in a natural product, there may be imperfections that occur in nature or reveal themselves during the manufacturing process. The accepted standard in the industry allows a defect tolerance and grading variance not to exceed 5%, which may be of manufacturing or natural type.

Prior to installation, all floor boards should be inspected. Regardless if it is a natural or manufacturing defect, boards that have an unacceptable grade, color, finish, texture or grain pattern should not be installed and should immediately be reported to the seller. The acceptance of the flooring remains the sole and joint responsibility of the installer and end-user. Once the flooring is installed, it has been deemed acceptable by the installer and end-user.

To achieve a uniform appearance across the entire floor, it is critical to blend several cartons of the flooring during installation. Additionally, extra flooring should be retained due to future repairs. It is the responsibility of the installer/end-user to determine if the jobsite subfloor and jobsite conditions are environmentally and structurally acceptable for wood flooring installation (see Minimum Jobsite Requirements). Tennessee Wood Flooring declines any responsibility for wood floor failure resulting from or connected with subfloor, subsurface, jobsite damage or deficiencies after hardwood flooring has been installed. In addition to the 5% manufacturing defect tolerance, the customer shall order 5%-7% in addition to the actual square footage needed as allowance for cut-off or waste.

For patterned, ornamental, or floors with a specific saw grade, the cut-off or waste can be higher. Tennessee Wood Flooring’s liability shall be solely limited to the replacement of defective products i.e. materials only in excess of the 5% industry accepted norm, excluding trimming waste allowance. In any case, Tennessee Wood Flooring shall not be liable for installer’s lack of judgement, quality of installation, labor, installation costs or any other consequential losses. Installation guidelines are intended to offer general guidance as it relates to Tennessee Wood Flooring solid pre-finished or engineered flooring and are NOT a replacement for a professional, certified installer.

Tennessee Wood Flooring wood floors MUST be installed according to the National Wood Flooring Association’s (NWFA) installation guidelines in order for Tennessee Wood Flooring’s warranty to be valid. The most current publication of the NWFA guidelines are available to all members and a list of local NWFA Certified Professional Installers can be located at www.nwfa.org.
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We want you to enjoy the warmth and beauty that comes with using reclaimed barn wood. Before using the product, here are few items that you should be aware of.

Variation and Defects:

Reclaimed barn wood is a natural product and may contain certain aged characteristics including but not limited to: color variation, nail holes, mortise holes, insect holes, livestock cribbing (chewing), staining, tapering, wane (not squared) etc. Due to the technology of the time, reclaimed wood dimensions are not as exact as in modern day milled lumber. The dimensions can vary. Appearances of reclaimed wood can also vary from board to board even if it is from the same lot. If a customer was shown a sample, that sample was used to demonstrate the general type, color and quality of the products. These samples do not represent that the products would necessarily conform exactly to the sample. Every order is made custom, and can have variation of color and texture because of that. Although the same staining and finishing process will be used on a specific order, as is used in the sampling process, the age of this material can cause contrast between the two. That’s the beauty of reclaimed material, no two orders are exactly the same. You cannot replicate what time and Mother Nature can do.

Finished For Years Of Durability

Frequent Questions