Bull Tough Flooring specializes in the art and science of installing and refinishing solid hardwood floors.
Here are some of our Top hardwood floors our Calgary Customers typically have installed and refinished.
RED OAK
Red oak, the most common and popular hardwood flooring used in the Calgary.This wood is always available and comes in various widths.Excellent results can always be expected with this product.
MAPLE
Maple is the second most common wood used in Calgary. It takes a skilled craftsman to bring out the beauty of maple due to the fact that’s it’s technically more difficult to sand and stain than many other woods.
WALNUT
Walnut is one of the most visually attractive woods we work with.The grain and colours of the wood really pop out when the floor has been coated.As a softer wood it must be well maintained well to last a long time.
BIRCH
Birch is a soft wood similar to maple in it’s characteristics. It looks great either natural or stained and can easily be refinished due to the softer nature of the wood.
AMERICAN CHERRY
American Cherry is a wood best finished with a clear coat. Staining American Cherry is limited to a selection of colours due to the heavy red tones in the wood.
ASH
Ash is a wood that looks amazing when stained, the unique wood grain patterning within this wood really pops out when colour is added.
With the increased popularity of porcelain tiles, luxury vinyl, and plastic laminates—all of which can now be manufactured to look remarkably like wood flooring—genuine hardwood flooring has become slightly less common in recent years. But real hardwood flooring remains a premium flooring material that is still the preferred choice whenever a truly genuine look is required. After all, the goal of newer flooring products is to look like wood—no one develops a flooring material with the goal of making it look like plastic. Solid Hardwood vs. Engineered Wood
A floor that appears to be solid hardwood may be exactly that—solid planks of a hardwood such as oak, maple, birch, or mahogany that fit together with tongue-and-groove joints and nails. But it is equally likely that the floor is made with a form of engineered wood—planks that have been manufactured by bonding a thin layer of real hardwood over 5 to 7 thin layers of plywood glued together with the grain direction alternating from layer to layer. This construction give engineered wood flooring remarkable stability and resistant to warping.
Advantages of solid hardwood flooring include:
Can be sanded and refinished several times over the lifetime of the floor
Thick flooring layers offers a solid feel underfoot
Sound transmission is better than engineered hardwood
Normally sold unfinished, so can be stained in any color desired
Advantages of engineered hardwood flooring include:
Extremely stable flooring especially when in contact with concrete subfloor
Cheaper than solid hardwood
Easier installation than solid hardwood; amateur DIY installation is possible
Generally sold prefinished, reducing work required for installation
Environmental Issues
Solid hardwood is a truly natural product, and disposal of old flooring is no problem when the floor ends its useful life. Many old solid hardwood floors are recycled for other purposes. Engineered hardwood floors, though they consist primarily of wood products, also use a variety of glues in the plywood layers that form the core. These adhesives may outgas formaldehyde or other toxins in small amounts, and people who are sensitive to these substances may experience health issues.
Subfloor/ Underlayment Requirements
Both solid hardwood and engineered hardwood flooring require solid, sturdy subfloors, and may require some form of secondary underlayment installed over the subfloor. In many cases, an existing old floor, if solidly attached and in good condition, can serve as the base for new solid hardwood or engineered flooring planks.
