I’m Building a New Custom Home. When Should I Select My Flooring?

When should you select flooring for your new custom home?  Ideally, this process will begin while your architect is designing your home.  Too often, people wait until their home is under construction to begin seriously considering flooring options.  This can lead to significant pitfalls. Below is a summary of the main reasons why wood flooring should be specified during the design process.

Flooring Affects Numerous Aspects of the Home

Certain aspects of a home are affected by the type and height of the proposed flooring.  For instance, the baseboards for solid wood flooring need to be set differently than baseboards for an engineered product.  Subfloor is also a consideration.  Whether your home will be slab-on-grade and/or over a joist system defines whether you should use solid plank or engineered flooring.  Knowing the exact flooring you plan to incorporate into your new home will help ensure various aspects of the construction process are smooth and seamless.

Lead Time for Production

Depending on the type of wood flooring you are considering the production lead time could be a major factor.  It takes much more time to manufacture wood flooring from newly recovered logs than it does to custom craft a floor from on-hand inventory.

Acclimation

Wood flooring should not be installed immediately upon delivery as it needs to be properly acclimated before installation. Certain factors such as humidity, subflooring and change of season can affect acclimation time.  You want to make sure your flooring is delivered to your home site in time for it to be properly acclimated to the room(s) where it will be installed.

If you are working with a building design professional to develop plans for a new custom home, be sure to connect with us during this process.  Our wood flooring specialists will work alongside you and your design team to help select the best wood flooring to meet your needs.  We’re here to help!