Wood Floors Are A Great Choice for Your Beach House
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:
