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Looking at some walnut for my own house. My wife likes it, but I am a little worried about its hardness. This would be first floor with fairly heavy traffic. Any opinions? Thanks, Nick.
Opinions on Walnut
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You can get a similar look with hickory or pecan and it's much harder.
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The dust is poisonous to horses and pretty irritating to humans.
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Yeah its soft, smells sweet, and is irritating as hell in large quantities. It'll make your nose run pretty bad.
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The idea if having to stain flooring freaks me out. I didn't know about the irritation aspect. I think the current fall back is red oak.
Ugh, anything but more red oak. It's actually a nice wood but it's so prevalent that it's lost it's appeal for me.
To clarify, I was saying that a stained hickory is a good substitute for walnut. Hickory has some pretty wild color variations so you need to even that out. Staining a floor isn't any big shakes but I'd go with prefinished anyway. We used Mohawk in my parent's house because the local store is a family friend. The product was good. Down here I would look to Somerset for hickory.
I actually have a harder time with oak than with walnut. When I did millwork the oak would stain the hell out of my hands and give me eczema plus the splinters ALWAYS get infected. I seemed to be the only guy in the shop that had this problem though.
To clarify, I was saying that a stained hickory is a good substitute for walnut. Hickory has some pretty wild color variations so you need to even that out. Staining a floor isn't any big shakes but I'd go with prefinished anyway. We used Mohawk in my parent's house because the local store is a family friend. The product was good. Down here I would look to Somerset for hickory.
I actually have a harder time with oak than with walnut. When I did millwork the oak would stain the hell out of my hands and give me eczema plus the splinters ALWAYS get infected. I seemed to be the only guy in the shop that had this problem though.
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Walnut dust is toxic enough that if you get it on the ground, no plants can bloom. And the smell when cutting it is awful.
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Rift and quarted white oak!
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Well what do u guys think would go well with fir? I'll check out hickory again. Definitely not doing pre-finished anything.
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How about heart pine?
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This is weird. I like heart pine but consider it too soft for high traffic areas. I know it is harder than walnut though. I'm pushing for white oak or something tropical. I haven't the faintest what is available for tropical hardwoods in this area though. I'm gonna talk to an old flooring guy and see if he still has any contacts.
Heart pine has stood the test of time as hardwood floor. It's a good choice, far more stable than hickory, though not as hard. White oak has been used for flooring for a very long time & is my prefered flooring. Got a great look, finishes real pretty with oil finish.
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For the love of God anything but red oak. Most common floor in America. Why so adamantly against a factory finished floor?
Factory finish has water openings at every joint. Every joint has a dirt catcher. Factory finish doesn't clean as easily. Factory finish is not easily repaired. Factory finish isn't the same level from plank to plank.
Won't be no factory finish floor in my home as long as I can site finish a floor.
There is no comparison to a pre-finished hardwood floor and a real hardwood floor.
I guess popular hardwoods are what's local, around here you see flat sawn white oak in every track house as far as the eye can see. Higher end homes tend to have rift sawn or quarter sawn white oak.
Beech, birch and maple are also popular.
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All of those are dependent upon the product selected and you should know that. Sure - pick a cheap Bruce floor and compare it to a site finished floor and you're absolutely correct. As far as being not easily repaired, I guess that's if you weren't smart enough to order a box or two for such things or you're not skilled enough to replace a plank or two
- still untrue either way. I get it - you finish floors for a living. Spreading misinformation to support a biased agenda doesn't make it true though. In some cases the list you provide is absolutely correct. In others it's not. It boils down to product selection. Would you compare a cheap, inexperienced finishing contractor to the level of work you do? So why compare cheap, low quality factory floors.
All of those are dependent upon the product selected and you should know that. Sure - pick a cheap Bruce floor and compare it to a site finished floor and you're absolutely correct. As far as being not easily repaired, I guess that's if you weren't smart enough to order a box or two for such things or you're not skilled enough to replace a plank or two
I get it - you finish floors for a living. Spreading misinformation to support a biased agenda doesn't make it true though. In some cases the list you provide is absolutely correct. In others it's not. It boils down to product selection. Would you compare a cheap, inexperienced finishing contractor to the level of work you do? So why compare cheap, low quality factory floors.
Looks like I hit a nerve.
Yes, I'm skilled enough to do plank replacement & every pre finish job I install, has at least one box leftover for future repairs. But I can't replace planks in a matter of minutes, like I can repair a scratch in a site sand floor. It literally takes me less than 5 minutes to recoat a small area & blend it so it's not visible.
Pre finished floors, do have a water trap at every joint, as there's no seal, I don't care how expensive a wood you buy. Flood a prefinished floor with a bucket of water & you're going to get a considerable amount of water, or milk, or juice on the bottom side of the floor. A sealed, site finished floor will only have it at joint that have opened, not across the entire floor.
Even micro bevels, still hold dirt as you push a micro fibre across them.
We've laid prefinish floor from $3/sq ft, to $15/sq ft for materials. None of them are as high end as a site sand floor & I don't say that just because we're a sanding company, I say it because it's true.
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