Wood Flooring Survey

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wood Flooring-2010 Industry Information

Here’s some interesting information about wood flooring from a recent 2010 industry survey – check it out…

1. 24% of all flooring purchases are wood flooring
2. Over 80% of hardwood sales are of factory-finished products (pre-finished), and of that, 47% were engineered construction rather than solid.
3. 60% of sales were to the residential replacement market (existing homes)
4. 39% of all woods were over 4” wide

5. 43% of all woods were 2 ½” to 3” wide (wake up people... just kiddin’)
6. Rustic hand-scraped styles were 84% of sales – that’s huge! Miami is just catching on to this style. We have some very cool ones in our showroom.

I’ve been saying for decades that pre-finished floors are the way to go. Factories can cure the many-layered finishes with UV lights – can’t do that in your home. Most on-site finishers only apply 2 or 3 coats, verses the 7-10 average at the factories.

Also, engineered verses solid wood: engineered wood is far more stable than solid, which is a huge advantage in areas where humidity and temperatures are high. Engineered wood can be glued directly to the substrate, while solid woods (with some exceptions) are typically nailed – however – when you nail a solid wood floor, you need to have a wood substrate below to nail it to. If you have a concrete subfloor, you have to first install plywood in order to nail the new finished floor. That can add a significant cost to the project that you’re never going to see or appreciate; that is, unless the installation is not done correctly and the plywood pops off the floor – but that’s another discussion altogether.

Have a great day, and if you ever have any flooring questions or problems, you can always call us at 305-234-3000 or email Michael@allfloors.com and we’ll try to help.

 

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