Ask the Flooring Expert

Q: Is it possible to mix and match different wood species for a custom floor and if so can you recommend which different species that would be compatible, 3/4” pre-finished hardwood, preferably not all dark colored woods. Thanks for your assistance.

Robin

A: The short answer here would be "yes," but lets get into a bit more detail to explain how to ensure it works out well. Acclimation is critical here, especially with a 3/4" solid floor. You can make a mix of any species you want so long as it appeals to you. I would suggest allowing all of the wood for your floor to acclimate in the room it is to be installed in for at least a week before installing.

Product wise, if you want a pre-finished product I would suggest looking into flooring all from the same collection or manufacturer. If all of the flooring is from the same collection, it is more likely you will have a uniform appearance in finish and the milling should be similar.

Honestly I would suggest looking into unfinished product if possible here, then applying a site finish so you will have a uniform finish across your floor. This will also allow for the entire floor to be sanded to a uniform height. Now you might be thinking that all 3/4" solids will have the same height, but there are small differences plank to plank in height and even milling. The reason behind this is that each board will come from a different portion of the tree (or different trees) and will be tried in a different portion of the kiln, causing slight differences.

In the end, the keys to making this type of project successful would be to ensure you acclimate all of your flooring for at least one week before installation. An unfinished floor with site sanding and finish will give you a more uniform look, but for pre-finished stick to the same manufacturer and collection where possible to give more uniform product and appearance.

A few other notes to keep in mind here. Try to avoid mixing products which are too different in hardness (or simply avoid products which are softer than white oak). My reason behind this is to ensure you have a floor of relatively uniform durability so it wears a bit more evenly, rather than seeing wear mostly on one species over another.

Design wise, there are a few different things you can work with. You can mix anything and everything, but you could also make a themed mix, such as all exotic or all oak using different stains. You can get some really great looks out of just about anything and the key to ensuring you get a truly awe inspiring floor is to take plenty of time to rack out the floor ahead of time so you can design before installation. Taking time can allow you to mix in some really good pieces of character wood (like Tigerwood or character grades of Oak) in more rich floors like Brazilian Cherry or even more uniform floors such as high grades of Maple. My best advice here is to take your time, get samples and see what species you can combine to get the appearance you are looking for.

Q: Santos Mahogany, natural and not laminate:

W

A: Santos Mahogany, also known as Cabreuva, is a species of Mahogany originating from Southern and Central America. Much like many exotic species of hardwood the rich variants of color found in Santos Mahogany make it a highly desire and popular species of wood in the flooring industry. Like most wood species, the coloring found in Cabreuva depends on what portion of the tree the wood is coming from and the grade of the flooring. Clear grades of Santos will have much more uniform color than select or lower grades.

The sapwood for Santos Mahogany tends to have pale brown coloring with some red or amber tones, but the heart wood tends to have much more of the red color and even gets some purplish-red tones. This being said, both you and Mike are correct. Much of the Santos Mahogany I have seen tends to be brown with red undertones, so depending on the lighting you can see more red in the flooring rather than the brown tones more prevalent in the sap wood. Clear grades of Santos will tend to have a more uniform coloring, typically brown with red tones, where as select and lower grades will give a bit more variance, ranging from amber tones of pale brown to deeper reds which seem to have near purple grain patterns to them.

Some manufacturer's will add stains to their finish to bring out specific color tones found naturally in a particular species of flooring, so in some cases the deeper reds are generated by applying a light stain to the finish of the Santos. Cabreuva does not tend to darken quite as much as some of the other exotic species of wood, such as Brazilian Cherry, but you will see a slight shift in color over time as this is a natural product. Sometimes this shift causes the red tones in the wood to become more prevalent or you can get a more amber or brown toned floor, it simply is a matter of the individual planks of wood and the environment it is in. A room with high amounts of sunlight will have more color change than something like a theater room where little or no light enters the room on a daily basis.

In the end here, it is mostly a matter of the specific product and plank selection which will determine the coloring you receive from any species of wood, especially exotic woods like Santos Mahogany. This is part of the beauty and appeal of wood floors - natural variation of color which when carefully laid out makes a floor become something close to art.

Q: I have employees with allergies and would like an alternative to carpet for a professional office (approx. 3700 sq. feet of flooring).

Most of the area would be considered light to medium foot traffic. What options would last longest and look best?

Mindy C.

A: There are two methods of thought here. If you want the ultimate in resiliency for your office I would suggest looking into VCT (vinyl composition tile) or stone. These types of floors are as close to impervious as you can get.

Now if you want to go toward something hypoallergenic I would suggest looking into cork. For a commercial application you are best set using a glue down cork with a site applied finish. This will give you the best weight bearing floor from cork. The problem you will have with cork is that it is susceptible to gouging if heavy objects are dragged over the floor because of how soft cork is.

You could also look into a wood appearing vinyl like Konecto. These floors are very durable and rather easy to install, which will cut down on your installation costs. Vinyl, like cork, can be susceptible to gouging, but as long as furniture is lifted before being move, you should relieve this worry much as you would with cork.