According to an article recently made public on the House and Garden TV internetsite, the acclamation for oak flooring is quickly “losing ground to its exotic cousins”. There are different reasons for this, including the fact that demand is making exotic woods more available and reasonable, and the undeniablefact that exotic woods come in so many colors and patterns. The russet colour of Brazilian cherry is particularly hot at this time in home design, as is cork for its cushioning effect and sustainability. But is hardwood flooring installation the same for these colorful woods?
As it turns out, installing exotic hardwood floors isn’t any different than installing traditional hardwood flooring. As with oak, pine and maple, there are four different installation systems that are used with exotic hardwood flooring:
Tongue and Groove
In this system, one side and one end of a plank of wood have a groove, and the other end and side have a tongue – a section of the plank that protrudes from the centre of the edge. The tongue of one plank fits into the groove of another plank, and forms a tight, solid connection. Tongue and groove is the commonest installation system for making floors out of solid hardwoods, both local hardwoods and exotic hardwoods.
Click Systems
First made for designed wooden floors, click systems are available now for bamboo and other kinds of exotic woods. Similar to tongue and groove, the tongues in click systems don’t fit straight into the grooves, but must be tapped into the grooves with a flooring hammer. Youwill have to do your prep though and learn more about flooring types, because not all exotic woods are available in click systems.
Floor Connection Systems
Floor connection systems change, but mostly, all 4 side of the plank are grooved. Then, there’s a separate, unconnected piece of wood, rubber or plastic that connects planks to one another. This allows for floors to be designed with wood and other types of flooring, as long as they have the same connection systems.
Glued Flooring
Parquet floors, which are mosaics created out of different colors and shapes of wood, are typically installed with the glue down flooring method. In this process wood pieces are laid on the glue, and then hammered into place to form a level floor. Once the glue is dry the wood pieces are sanded and re-finished.
The kind of installation system dependson the type of wood being used, and the sort of floor – plank or parquet. To fully understand the flooring options for different types of exotic hardwoods, youwill want to do a little analysis online or talk with an expert at your local DIY store.