Wood Flooring

DEFINITION

CONSIDERATIONS

COMMERCIAL STATUS

IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

GUIDELINES

CSI Numbers:

09550 Wood Flooring

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DEFINITION:

Wood flooring in this section refers to finish floors that can be in strips or parquet and nailed or glued to a subfloor.

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CONSIDERATIONS:

Wood flooring is considered an aesthetic plus to homes. It also offers long life and fairly easy maintenance.

Most wood flooring is derived from hardwood trees. From an overall view, the growth/removal rate for hardwood trees in the U. S. is positive with growth easily exceeding removals.

The use of regional hardwoods such as mesquite stimulates the regional economy and uses a tree considered a nuisance by many. Mesquite trees are often subject to chemical eradication programs rather than used constructively. Mesquite hardwood is highly valued as a floor material. However, the tree does not produce large consistent-size logs, increasing the costs of processing it.

Reused wood flooring is often derived from remilled salvage timbers. It can also be salvaged from old flooring. From an environmental standpoint, this approach saves materials from the wastestream and does not impact living trees. Very often the reused wood flooring comes from trees that are no longer present to harvest, or in grain patterns only found in rare old large trees. This adds to the aesthetic quality of this type of flooring.

The finishes selected for wood flooring and any adhesives used should contain low VOC content.

	Commercial Status				Implementation Issues
	T E C H N O L O G Y	S U P P L I E R S	C O S T		F I N A N C I N G	A C C E P T A N C E	R E G U L A T O R Y
Domestic
Regional
Reused

	Satisfactory
	Satisfactory in most conditions
	Satisfactory in Limited Conditions
	Unsatisfactory or Difficult

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COMMERCIAL STATUS

TECHNOLOGY:

Well-developed.

SUPPLIERS:

Suppliers of regular domestic hardwood flooring are common. Mesquite suppliers are available but less mainstream. Reused flooring availability is limited locally. Least toxic adhesives for wood flooring are readily available.

COST:

Mesquite and reused wood flooring (such as remilled old wood) exceeds the cost of standard domestic hardwood flooring by up to 100%. Reused wood flooring (such as salvaged flooring) is seldom commercially viable, due to the time required to prepare it. Remilled old wood into flooring is available.

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IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

FINANCING:

Available.

PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE:

Wood flooring is highly valued.

REGULATORY:

None.

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GUIDELINES

Standard installation techniques apply to wood flooring of all types.

Select least-toxic adhesives, such as low-VOC, for adhesive applied flooring (see Finishes and Adhesives section).