From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein
DETROIT, July 11, 2024 ~ People are funny.
The construction industry has tried for years to sell us on the benefits of well-built homes that will save energy and energy costs, but we keep opting for things like comfort and healthy air.
Can we have it all? Yes.
Healthy homes have been touted for decades by groups like the American Lung Association, ALA, in part utilizing hard surfaces that would not become dust and dander catchers. They suggest hard finishes that don’t off gas and require little in terms of upkeep.
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One product that ties into this thinking is natural hardwood floors.
Natural wood is still a very earth friendly material that is not only renewable but can be recycled in numerous ways.
Some of the negative issues inherent in such finishes are a single piece in the middle of the floor that gets gouged or scratched or the periodic gapping between floors that variance in household humidity might cause.
Humidity changes can also cause noisy floors as individual boards may move against one another.
This movement can also cause metal fasteners to move and, again, create unwanted noise as we walk the floor.
In response to these issues, we have seen the evolution of affordable luxury vinyl plank flooring that are true floating systems.
Such floors are not mechanically fastened to the subfloor, so variations in indoor temperature and humidity won’t create gapping and nail squeaks.
Most such patterns are made to look like the wood we wish we could have.
What if we told you there is a DIY flooring product available that is a floating system created to eliminate the concerns we just expressed?
A solid, natural wood product that can be purchased in 3/4-inch thickness or even a 5/8-inch depth.
The flooring is pre-finished on all six sides so moisture swelling should not be an issue.
This floating system requires no nails or glue and is even compatible with some in-floor heating systems so you can utilize warm floor technology with a beautiful hardwood that does not trap allergens.
The product manufacturer is a company called Steller and is headquartered in Pennsylvania.
The flooring uses a connector clip that fits into grooves on the underside of the planks such that installation requires only modest force, body weight and rubber soled shoes, to secure each section.
And what about the notion of having to repair a dent or deep scratch in the middle of the floor?
You can use a suction cup, like those you would purchase at an auto-parts store to remove door dents in the car, to lift individual planks from the finished floor.
Take out the offending plank and replace it with either a new piece of material, or one you swipe from the floor under a couch or throw rug.
Any plank in the finished floor can be removed at any time using this technique. It is truly user friendly!
If, in the future, you decide to change the color of the stain, you could, with relative ease, take the entire floor out to a garage or outbuilding and complete the sanding and refinishing prior to a reinstall.
Cost is compatible with a typical true hardwood installation and the only requisite is a sound, level sub-floor.
So, we can now have the best of all floor systems without the typical problems associated with wood.
A novel concept using professional thinking like that you can find every day at InsideOutsideGuys.com.
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For more advice, listen to “The Inside Outside Guys” every Saturday and Sunday on 760 WJR from 10 a.m. to noon or contact them at InsideOutsideGuys.com.
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