Wood Floors Are A Great Choice for Your Beach House

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Back to the Beach!

Yes, you can have wood floors in your beach house. You see, once the wood is properly installed and finished it takes on and gives off moisture slowly over time. It becomes a seasonal event. So it’s fine to open the doors at night and shut them and turn on the AC during the day.

The style, width, and expectations of your floor all affect your grade, installation, and finish choice. Do keep the beach sand off the floor with mats and rugs at the doors and a good dust mop as needed. Choose your floor finish with the maintenance you want to do, or not, in mind. Email or call the Goodwin Company for help on selecting the right finish for your floors.

A couple of the most important points for any wood floor installation are to:

  • Have the site at the proper moisture content and acclimate the wood to the same average moisture content as you expect on average year-round
  • Use enough fasteners for a nail-down application (it’s often more than you think; e.g., nail every 4” for a 7” wide floor) or use the quality elastomeric wood floor glue for a glue-down application. Of course, you’ll want to use proper wood floor vapor retarders for any installation method.

There is so much more to know including site-specific concerns. Two more problem prevention tips that we often find useful include:

  • Start the installation in the middle and nail toward one wall when installing wide wood. Glue a piece of spline in the groove of the board in the middle, then nail toward the other wall. Because each board is held down mostly on the tongue side with the nails, or flooring cleats, this technique cuts your shrink/swell in half.
  • If you have moisture intrusion concerns, or perhaps build-up of moisture in the building if it won’t be occupied part of the year, consider back sealing each board with inexpensive polyurethane. This seals both sides of the boards and balances their ability to take on and give off moisture reducing the potential for cupping.

Refer to Goodwin Company’s Manufacturer’s Guidelines, the National Wood Flooring Association specifications, and your flooring professional can guide you. Choose a professional with a good history who understands the local conditions. See our earlier blogs on how to choose a flooring professional.

Call if Goodwin Company can assist you in achieving a beautiful wood floor that lasts for the long-term for your beach home or office.

 

Beach houses with Goodwin Company wood floors:

Cedar Key

Key West

Simple Solutions for Summer Floors

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Legacy Heart Pine Vertical LegV

As seasons change, wood floors do, too! Wood is a natural resource and alters at different points in the year. Throughout the year when temperatures reach highs and lows, wood floors need extra TLC. With summer upon us, it is essential for wood floor owners to be even more attentive so their floors stay in excellent condition. Here are some simple solutions for summer floor care.

Throughout the fluctuations in weather, wood expands and shrinks. The humidity in the summertime can cause wood to expand, and potentially makes the wood concave in, or cup. Cupping is the reaction a wood floor endures when exposed to a change in moisture content. Cupping results in permanent damage; sanding will not fix this issue. One preventative measure includes keeping the house cool with a steady air conditioner during the warmer months, to prevent building too much moisture. A dehumidifier is another appliance that extracts moisture from the air. Dehumidifiers not only keep wood floors healthy but also keep the home healthy by helping prevent mildew. A great tool for calculating humidity in the home is a hygrometer! Hygrometers are low-cost instruments used to measure the humidity or amount of water vapor residing in the air. Keeping wood floors looking beautiful only requires time and effort, and is very affordable when cared for correctly!

Moisture Testing Accuracy Tips

Another nuisance the summer brings along for wood floors is… more sand and dirt!!! Sand and dirty are pesky, difficult to clean, and can ultimately do damage to wood floors. We know this feeling all too well at Goodwin; being a sawmill, it is exceptionably easy to drag sand everywhere! We recommend vacuums with a soft brush, or even backpack vacuums to avoid scratches (we use one in our showroom!). Afterward, mopping with little water and proper wood floor cleaners gives off a rich, new appearance. A little goes a long way!

You can read more about seasonal changes in wood floors, here:

https://heartpine.com/seasonal-changes-in-wood-floors/

 

How to Remove a Wax Finish and Recoat with Water-Based Poly

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It’s always heartwarming to be able to help a client who purchased a floor from us over 20 years ago. George and Cyndi Watkins wanted to take the wax finish off their River Recovered® Heart Pine floors, then stain and coat them with a water-based polyurethane. The Watkins are discerning clients who know what they […]

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Installing Wood Floors – It’s Not an Expense, It’s an Investment!

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We sometimes deal with potential customers who are debating between installing our wood flooring, or using an inferior product.  Sometimes the cost of our flooring is a bit higher than other options.  However, the durability, longevity, and alluring beauty of our woods cannot be ignored.  And, with proper upkeep (which amounts to regular sweeping and cleaning) our floors eventually pay for themselves:

  1. No need to replace our flooring in the future.  Unlike carpet, tile and vinyl, our species never go out of style and last forever.
  2. Wood floors add value to your home.  Don’t take our word for it…the National Wood Flooring Association and HGTV host Scott McGillivray seem to concur!
  3. Most wood floor owners will agree they are easier to maintain and keep clean because they do not accumulate a lot of dirt and dust.
  4. Reclaimed wood is durable and can withstand more wear and tear than other types of flooring.
  5. Our reclaimed flooring is not only green, but healthy, too!  Carpet fibers and tile grout lines are havens for pet dander, dust, pollen and allergens. Wood floors promote good air quality inside your home or office.

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Aren’t Wood Floors Difficult to Clean?

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One of the many myths about wood floors is that they are difficult to clean and maintain. That may have been true long ago, but now, with the high quality finishes available, wood floor upkeep is quite simple. In fact, it is no more laborious than cleaning any other type of flooring surface. Many people […]

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How Will Your Floor Look in a Few Years?

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You can expect your wood floor to change over time. Our Production Manager, Miguel Scannone, is happy to explain:

Almost every hardwood floor changes color over time. Most floors become a darker shade, caused by exposure to direct or indirect sunlight. The changes seen in the color of the floor happens more quickly during the first weeks after installation. This color change depends on the amount of exposure to sunlight, but tends to slow down while still continuing to change for about two years.

If you place furniture and rugs on a new or recently sanded hardwood floor, those areas shielded from the sunlight are going to have a different intensity in color than the rest of the floor. If you then arrange your living room in another layout after a few months, there will be apparent differences in color.

Modern finishes can provide protection that allows your floor to last for many years in great shape. There are also finishes that can, to some extent, block the effects of the sunlight, slowing down the rate of change, but most hardwood floors will develop intense, deep, and beautiful tones as the floor ages. If you follow the finish manufacturer’s guidelines for use, care, and cleaning of the surface; while making sure to repair and refinish the floor when necessary; your hardwood floor is going to look better and better every year.