Real Wood Floors Manufacturing
Process
The manufacturing process for Real Wood Floors begins
in the forests of the Midwestern United States. The
finest quality hardwoods are selected for color and
cut into lumber. The lumber is then properly dried to
ensure stability in the finished product. For solid
flooring the lumber is then run into the different widths
and set aside to wait for coating. For engineered flooring,
the lumber is then re-sawn to make the veneer used as
the top layer. We only use sawn cut veneers which produce
the look of a real solid floor but with the stability
and functionality of an engineered floor.
Engineered
flooring can be glued straight to concrete or installed
in the same traditional way as the solid nail-down
floor. The Baltic Birch plywood backing of the engineered
floor lends a greater dimensional stability to the
product than can be achieved in solid flooring. This
added stability allows the engineered flooring to
be installed directly to concrete subfloors (slabs)
and unlike solid flooring the product can be installed
below grade in basements.
The veneers are then sorted
by size and adhered to 7-ply Baltic Birch plywood.
The product, now called a blank, is then placed in
a hydraulic press to ensure a good bond between the
veneer and the plywood. After being pressed the blanks
can now be taken to the molder to add the tongue and
groove and the end matching (the tongue and groove
on the ends of the boards).
As the finished flooring
passes through the molder it is selected for grade.
If the product is intended to be sold unfinished it
is then sent to packaging. If it is going to be pre-finished
it then goes to the coating line. For hand sculpted
flooring the freshly milled product then goes to the
design facility where each pieces of flooring is scraped
and sanded by hand to achieve a time-worn look. For
prefinished flooring, whether solid or engineered,
the molder will mill the slightest bevel to the edges
and ends of the flooring.
In handscraped floors this
bevel is added by hand to each piece to preserve the
integrity of the time-worn look.
This bevel allows for
inconsistencies in the subfloor to be hidden and also
prevents premature wear on finished edges of the flooring
and facilitates easier maintenance.
The flooring is now ready for coating. The flooring
will be sent through a coating line that will stain,
seal and add 5 coats of finish. The finish, which
is an aluminum oxide base with a Teflon additive,
provides incredible wear protection and is what gives
us the ability to offer the 25-year wear warranty.
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