Wood Floors of Dallas Podcast

Selection to Installation: Your Complete Guide to Hardwood Floor Projects

• Hunter Ross • Episode 2

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What Should I Expect During The Flooring Installation Process? 

Ever stood in a showroom staring at countless wood samples wondering what happens next? Hunter Ross, owner of Wood Floors of Dallas with over two decades of industry expertise, pulls back the curtain on the entire hardwood flooring installation journey.

The podcast begins by outlining what happens after you make that first call. From the initial in-home measurement to product selection and scheduling, Hunter explains how his team typically gets projects on the calendar within just two weeks—significantly faster than industry averages. He then dives deep into the differences between solid hardwood (nail-down), engineered (glue-down), and click-lock installations.

For solid hardwood enthusiasts, Hunter reveals the meticulous process that many contractors gloss over. Did you know your new floors need to acclimate twice? First for a week before installation, then for another 4-7 days after installation before sanding and finishing can begin. This careful approach ensures your hardwood floors remain stable and beautiful for decades. 

The conversation shifts to why someone might choose engineered over solid hardwood. Beyond the faster installation timeline, Hunter highlights the superior stability of engineered products, which eliminates the creaking that can develop in solid floors over time. 


Ready to make an informed decision about your next flooring project? Call 972-525-0026 for a free in-home consultation and work with professionals who believe in educating their clients every step of the way.

To learn more about Wood Floors of Dallas visit:
https://www.WoodFloorDallas.com
Wood Floors of Dallas
159 W. Main St., Suite 200
Lewisville, Texas 75057
972-525-0026

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Wood Floors of Dallas podcast, where we bring expert insights on hardwood flooring design and craftsmanship, hosted by Hunter Ross, owner of Wood Floors of Dallas, with over 20 years in the building product industry. Whether you're a homeowner or a general contractor, we're here to help you create amazing spaces with honor, quality and expertise. Let's get started.

Speaker 2:

Thinking about new floors. Whether it's your first time or your fifth renovation, knowing what to expect can make the process smoother and even enjoyable. Hunter breaks down each phase so you walk in informed and out with incredible hardwood floors. Welcome back everyone. I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with Hunter Ross, owner of Wood Floors of Dallas. Hunter. How's it going?

Speaker 3:

Hey, sophia, going good, how are you?

Speaker 2:

I'm also doing good, and that's great to hear. Hunter, can you inform our listeners about what they should expect during the flooring installation process?

Speaker 3:

Sure, absolutely so. There's a few different types of flooring installation so I'll hit those real fast. There's solid hardwood, which is also called nail down hardwood. There is also glue down engineered hardwood, and then there's also a click lock installation. So the first thing is customer gives us a call. We will go out to their home and do a measurement for them and then they will either come to the showroom where we bring samples and things to their home to look at. The first step is just understanding the scope of the project and what needs to be done, and then the product selection process and then the scheduling process. Normally, just a good point for everybody to know is that as soon as you kind of confirm and understand what the details are and the scope of the project is, as soon as all that's agreed upon, the job is put onto the schedule and it usually averages around two weeks out from the time that that decision is made pretty fast on getting to things. A lot of other companies will put you out way in the future, but we have a really good staff and lots of good people that work for us. We're able to get them done quickly.

Speaker 3:

Moving on into the start of the project, we'll cover the hardwood solid hardwood, nail down floors first. The first step would be we bring the material into the home to acclimate and that's just getting the relative humidity balanced to the inside of the home. During that process the home envelope needs to be closed and the air conditioning needs to be running as normal, so that way the material equals out to how it's going to live in the house. Basically, After that week of acclimation, the next thing that we do is we install the flooring, the solid hardwood that's plywood, as well as the underlayments that are necessary, and then the solid hardwood on that's plywood as well as the underlayments that are necessary, and then the solid hardwood on top. We install that. That usually takes one or two days, depending on the size of the project. Then it sits in place again for roughly another week to acclimate in place. It really just needs to sit there and breathe, do a little bit of expansion and contraction before we sand it and actually seal the floor. So you're looking at, bring the materials in, it sits in the home for a week for acclimation, it's installed and then it sits for roughly about anywhere from four to seven days. These are actually measured. We actually measure the moisture content in the material. So sometimes it can go a little bit faster. Sometimes it might take a little bit longer to get all that acclimation equal. But after that second acclimation period, when the flooring has been installed, we start the sand and finish process, and that process usually takes like about four days, maybe five. That's your sanding and your staining and your multiple coats of polyurethane that go on top, and then after that we're done with it, and so the movers or whoever got all the things out of the home ahead of time will then come and bring everything back. So that's the process for solid hardwood and then for engineered hardwoods. It's way faster from start to finish. You decide on what you want. We order the product as soon as the product's in, you know, here in the warehouse or delivered to the job site, one of the two.

Speaker 3:

All of these products are typically kiln dried specifically for our regions. That way there's not a need for a lot of acclimation. Sometimes we'll acclimate them for a day or two just for safety, but most of the time they're ready to go. So we would then install that floor, the glue down engineered hardwood. It usually takes about four or five days total for all the things that need to be done, and so from the very start of it let's just say we start on Monday, all your floors will be in by the end of the week and it will be done all wrapped up in one week, which is really nice, and then the click lock process is almost the same. So, as far as the way that the timetable of installation goes, it usually is about a week from Monday to Friday pretty much. Sometimes we can get it done faster, but setting expectations for customers is a good idea.

Speaker 3:

So, have a little bit of cushion there in case they need other things done. So that's the basics.

Speaker 2:

So, hunter, visibly speaking, why would someone go with the engineered hardwood over the customized?

Speaker 3:

Well, there is a lot more options in engineered hardwood when it comes to readily available product. The stability of engineered hardwoods is one of the main regions that anybody chooses that over solid hardwood. It's obviously a shorter time frame from beginning to end, but also engineered hardwoods are built specifically to cut down on expansion and contraction, which is what happens to solid wood so much. An engineered floor will never start creaking over time like a solid wood can over many, many years. The finishes are also really, really good. They're factory controlled and applied, so those finishes, when they're done in that perfect environment, they're very, very durable and so they last a very long time.

Speaker 3:

And most people like to do engineered hardwoods for the speed, the durability and the uniqueness of the colors. Add on to that that you can get really really wide boards in engineered hardwoods, and those are really becoming the most popular. For example, most of the new European oak white oak engineered hardwood that's the most popular is like seven and a half inches or wider, and your recommendation for solid hardwood in North Texas specifically goes up to about four inches in width. If you go above that, there's other things that you have to do to make sure the installation is done the right way, which is called a glue assist, and so it adds a significant amount of cost to getting it all done with those wider planks. When you go up to four inch wide, there's going to be some expansion and contraction in that board which, when you start going larger, you know, each inch as you get larger, the strength of that solid hardwood. It's like three quarter inches thick, so the strength of it is so strong that you have to do way more to keep it in place and keep it from moving. And so that's why engineered hardwood is so good, because it's using quality adhesive attached to the plywood base. It really stops all that expansion and contraction from the beginning.

Speaker 3:

Wow, so there's a lot that goes into it, oh yeah definitely, and you know, the fun thing about this is we like to educate people on all these facets so that way they really are prepared. We get a lot of people that come in that have been told that oh yeah, no problem, we can do, we can put in, you know, seven inch solid hardwood, no problem, it's all good, we just throw it in there, no big deal. And they don't go into all the details about how it's been done, because most of them don't know all those extra steps that has to be done. Yeah, so the education and the thorough explanation of all those things is really important, and we want our clients to be very well educated, so their expectations are good when we start.

Speaker 2:

Most definitely Love it, Hunter. We'll catch you in the next episode. Have a fantastic rest of your day.

Speaker 3:

You too. Thanks, sophia, have a good one.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning in to Wood Floors of Dallas podcast. Ready to transform your space? Call 972-525-0026 for a free in-home consultation or visit woodfloordallascom to learn more. Work with honor, build with excellence. See you next time.