| There is nothing like a beautiful new hardwood floor | | | | buying a Maple hardwood but today we are not |
| to bring out the life in your home. Here are a few | | | | convinced it's what was shipped to us. The floor |
| tips to consider before having your hardwood floor | | | | scratches very easily and a hardwood should not, |
| installed because what may be common sense to | | | | hence the term "hardwood". Our cats have scratched |
| you may not be to your hardwood floor installer. | | | | the floor which really surprised us. So make sure the |
| The first thing to note is that the company where | | | | company where you buy your floor from is reputable |
| you buy your floor from does not necessarily have | | | | and don't forget to ask for references. |
| to install the floor for you. You can simply order the | | | | Another thing you might want to do is to find out |
| floor and hire your own contractor to install the floor. | | | | exactly where the wood is coming from. This was a |
| Always ask for references. Do not go with the | | | | big issue for me. I did not want an exotic wood from |
| assumption that the floor supplier has competent | | | | a Rain Forest. In fact what I really wanted was |
| installers. Trust me I am speaking from experience. | | | | Bamboo but at that time there weren't a lot of |
| Our installer attempted to cover our cold air return. | | | | colours available so we went with Maple. Bamboo has |
| Luckily my husband was home to stop him in his | | | | come a long way since then so we will using Bamboo |
| tracks. The installer also scratched the floor as he | | | | when the time comes to replace our floors upstairs. |
| was literally dragging his staple gun from board to | | | | Choosing your colour is important as well. We went |
| board. | | | | with a beautiful mahogany colour and it really does |
| I know time can be an issue for many people but | | | | look good...when it's clean. It has turned out to be a |
| make sure you are home when the floors are being | | | | very high maintenance floor because every little bit |
| installed. There are things you should look for. Your | | | | of dust and dirt shows up very easily. A lighter floor |
| flooring will likely be shipped to you in boxes. In these | | | | colour is much more forgiving, but if you like the look |
| boxes there will be many different lengths of wood. | | | | of a darker floor just be prepared to put a little more |
| The flooring should be laid out prior to installation in | | | | work into keeping it looking good. |
| order to mix in the shorter pieces with the longer | | | | There are a lot of things that I wished I had known |
| pieces. Our installer put all the small pieces in the | | | | before purchasing our floor. Knowing what I know |
| most visible part of our floor and placed the longer | | | | now I would definitely do things differently next time. |
| pieces around the perimeter of the room where you | | | | Installing a new floor is an investment. So take the |
| couldn't even see them. What ever happened to | | | | time to do your homework and be very selective |
| common sense? Unfortunately we took this as a 'no | | | | who you hire to install the floor. We were |
| brainer' and didn't watch to see how the installer was | | | | disappointed with the end result but you don't have |
| laying down the boards. | | | | to be if you learn from our mistakes. |
| At the time of purchase we believed we were | | | | I hope you find these tips helpful. |