Your subfloor determines your flooring options.

If you want new installed floors, you have 3 main options:
1) hardwood floors: if you have wood floor joists or plywood underneath
2) laminate or engineered wood floors: if you have concrete subfloors
3) tile: if you have concrete or backer boards underneath

Solid Hardwood Is an Option When You Have Plywood or Wood Subfloors

If you want the warmth and quality of real solid hardwood flooring, and you have wood subfloors, you’re in luck. Hardwood flooring comes in strips or planks and is attached to the surface underneath with nails. That is why you need wood floor joists or plywood subflooring to enjoy a solid hardwood floor. You need a subfloor that works well with nails.

You don’t have to use solid hardwood – you can install laminates or tile on wood subfloors. You simply have the option of solid hardwood when your subfloor is wood.

Choose Laminate or Engineered Wood to Install Over Concrete Subfloors

It is not ideal to install a hardwood floor over concrete. Because hardwood flooring is nailed down for stability, you will have the job of nailing into your concrete floor – perhaps drilling holes first. Hammering and drilling holes into concrete is not desirable. It can make the concrete less stable and more prone to cracking. For these reasons alone, installing hardwood over concrete should be avoided.

If you want the look of wood but can’t use solid hardwood flooring, two wood-like products can do the job: laminate flooring or engineered flooring.

Laminates and engineered floors are often snap-together boards that rest or float on your concrete surface. Laminates are man-made layers formed into boards that fit together tightly. The top layer looks like real wood – it typically uses a photo image of birch, oak, pine or maple wood, for example, depending on the wood species you pick.

Engineered floors have a thin top layer of real wood. Like laminates, the boards are layers of man-made materials that are solidified into boards that interlock together for installation. The top layer is a very thin piece of finished wood in the species you select – for example, oak, pine, cherry, maple, or other wood.

No stain or finish goes on laminates or engineered floors – these floors are pre-finished.

Use tile for areas that get very wet or get heavy foot traffic

Are you resurfacing a kitchen, bathroom or mudroom? Ceramic tile or vinyl tile is a good choice if your floor is going to get wet or get heavy foot traffic, and you need durability.

Because it cleans up well after people track in mud, dirt and water, tile is a top choice for bathrooms, kitchens and mudrooms. Ceramic tile can be installed over plywood, backer boards or concrete. We recommend professional installation for tile: planning layouts, cutting tiles for an even, balanced look, and finishing evenly with grout requires great skill and experience. Bryant’s Floors does professional tile installations. We take pride in giving you a secure, even floor that will remain stable and look great for years.

Wondering which type of floor is best for your space? Contact us today with your questions and to get a free estimate.

What are Green Finishes?

Woodworker’s Journal defines a green finish as “one that has a more benign chemical profile than the traditional finish it’s designed to replace.” (Woodworker’s journal, October 2009).

Myth: Green finishes are harmless to the environment

Reality: A green finish isn’t necessarily less irritating to people. It doesn’t mean ‘harmless to the environment’. A green finish is one with a change in the recipe that the manufacturer makes voluntarily. This is not to meet any specific standard for ‘less harmful’ or ‘green.’ Sometimes the replacement chemicals can be as irritating to work with as the original ones.

Water Based Finishes

Water-based means the finish contains some water.

Myth: The liquid in a water-based finish is water; so only water vapor is given off.

Reality: You may be surprised to learn that “water based coatings are not water-soluble, nor do they contain any water soluble resins.” Water-based means the some water is used in the formula. “The majority of clear water-based finishes contain glycol ethers, all of which are considered VOCs” (or volatile organic compounds, linked to health problems, and which can generate ozone). (Source: Woodworker’s journal, October 2009).

Oil Based Coatings

This broad category includes oil-based varnishes and polyurethanes. It includes Danish oil, teak oil, spar varnish. They include oils from seeds, such as linseed, soya or tung.

Myth: These are the most harmful finishes to people and the environment

Reality: “In general, these finishes are relatively safer for us than for the environment.” While they contain VOC’s these are in lower amounts than in lacquer, for example, because the solids content is higher. Because these finishes are wiped on, not sprayed, they have a “very high transfer efficiency… which means very little is wasted and only a minimum of solvent is used.” (Source: Woodworker’s journal, October 2009).

Green Finishing at Bryant’s Floors

When we finish your floors, we take real steps to protect your health, our own health, and the environment. We sum it up this way: Waste not, want not.

We use these waste-reducing steps in all our work:

– We apply finish with high-transfer pads and brushes. This puts far less finish in the air than spray guns, and far more on your floor. You save money buying less finish, too.

– We recycle solvents. Because they use petroleum, some solvents can harm the environment if left to evaporate. So we don’t do that. We store them so that the solids settle out, so the solvent can be re-used. Very little goes into the air this way.

– We don’t create leftover finish. Because we buy only what we plan to use, there is no leftover finish to get crusty or go bad over time. Less waste.