Gymnasium Hardwood Flooring Maintenance, Refinishing Gymnasium Hardwood floors, restoration, resurfacing, recoating Service

British Columbia CANADA 604 603 7317

Gymnasium Refinishing Service

This Service Is Available Province Wide For Your Convenience.

Your municipality can save thousands and tens of thousands with yearly and bi yearly recoating of the finish on your Gymnasium and various sprung Flooring Systems

Re Coating is 1/4th the Cost a Re Sand. or better.

Maintenance of Maple hardwood flooring HIGH TRAFFIC FLOORS:

Taking Care of Your Maple Sports Flooring

Wood is porous and can absorb and release moisture. If the humidity rises, your wood floor will absorb that moisture, causing it to expand. If the humidity falls, your wood floor will release moisture, causing it to shrink. Many installations include expansion voids around the perimeter and around columns or floor inserts, plus expansion joints built into the floor surface. These features permit natural, normal expansion and contraction without damage to the floor. Too much moisture causes abnormal expansion, which can lead to cupping or buckling of your floor. In abnormally dry conditions the wood will contract, leaving separations between flooring strips.

Steps For Proper Maintenance: Dry Tack THE FLOOR DAILY with a properly treated dust mop. If the floor is used heavily, sweep it up to three times per day.

WIPE UP SPILLS and any moisture on the floor surface.

MAKE SURE THE HEATING/VENTILATING/AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM IS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY and set to maintain indoor relative humidifies between 35 percent and 50 percent year round. In areas of consistently high or low outside humidity, a 15 percent fluctuation will not adversely affect the maple.

REMOVE Scuffing and shoe marks using an approved floor cleaner applied with a soft cloth Contact your floor finish manufacturer for approved cleaning products.

INSPECT FLOOR FOR TIGHTENING OR SHRINKAGE. During wet weather, check for water leakage around doors and windows. Remove debris from expansion voids.

ALWAYS PROTECT THE FLOOR when moving heavy portable equipment or lifts. Ensure portable equipment does NOT have crowned wheels or wheels that include center ridges remaining from the molding process. These types of wheels can create very significant point loads.

Please Observe the Following: Shutting down the ventilation system in your facility for a prolonged period of time, Is a Bad Idea.

Clean your floor using No scrubbing machinery or power scrubbers that use water under pressure. Water is your floor's worst enemy!

Gymnasium Hardwood Flooring Maintenance

With a few simple steps and precautions, you can enjoy and preserve the original beauty of your floor.

Humidity

   Changes in humidity level can cause any wood floor to shrink or expand. In order to    minimize such movement, it is important to maintain the humidity level in your home    between 40% and 50%, through the use of appropriate humidity and ventilation    systems.

Liquids and spills

   All liquids and spills should be wiped off as soon as possible in order to prevent any    possible damage. You may consider using area rugs to protect susceptible areas    (around kitchen sink, at entrance for wet footwear, etc.).

Protection

   Abrasive dirt such as sand, street dirt and cat litter can damage any hardwood floor.    Protect your floor by using entrance mats and area rugs. Regular cleaning or    vacuuming of these rugs will prevent accumulation of dirt. Felt protectors under the    legs of all pieces of furniture will prevent damage caused by scratching.

Sunlight

   Normal exposure to sunlight will cause slight color changes in any hardwood floor.    Area rugs, which block out light, should therefore be shifted regularly.

Care products

   For best results, we recommend the use of specially formulated wood care and    maintenance products.

Installation

   Before installing hardwood floors, subfloors should be carefully treated and/or    prepared, in order to prevent moisture-related problems and other problems
   associated with construction defects or sub-par installation conditions. Floors
   should be installed according to widely recognized industry standards and practices.

Maintenance

Never use a damped mop or wet cloth to clean your hardwood flooring. Water
can seriously damage any kind of wood.
Never use wax on your polyurethane prefinished hardwood flooring.
Never allow direct contact between the legs of pieces of furniture and the flooring. Use felt protectors under the legs in order to prevent scratches.
Use a dry mop or vacuum cleaner frequently to eliminate solid particles which might scratch your hardwood flooring.
Please remember that water, sand, salt and dust are not compatible with hardwood flooring.
Without losing time, absorb water or liquid spills with a dry cloth.
If there is a door leading outside where you have installed hardwood flooring,
use a door mat to catch the dirt and absorb the humidity. Never use a rubber mat, with a styrofoam or plastic backing. Some styrofoam may damage your floor, therefore they are not recommended on hardwood flooring.

Glossary

Acrylic Impregnated

With acrylic impregnated hardwood flooring, the 1/16" hardwood veneer on the top of the floor has been injected (impregnated) with a plastic acrylic solution under very high pressure and heat. This specially treated acrylic resin makes the floor up to 300% harder and more indent-resistant than
natural wood. The engineered construction also reduces the risk of expansion and buckling.

Bevel

Modern hardwood flooring is available in many different edge styles, from square edge to micro-bevelled, to deeply grooved edges.

Square Edge - no Bevel - The edges of all boards meet squarely creating a uniform, smooth
surface that blends the floor together from board to board. The look is contemporary and formal,
and there are no grooves to catch dust. The square edge can cost 5 - 10% more, but it gives a smoother appearance and square edge floors are easier to refinish. The square edge is not recommended over uneven floors.

Micro-Bevel - The micro-bevel is meant to help hide minor irregularities, such as uneven plank heights.

Heavy or Hand-Bevel - These floors also hide floor irregularities, and have a very distinctive
deep groove in them. The bevelled edge planks lend themselves to an informal and country decor.
The hand-bevelled planks have a rustic, hand-hewn look.

Caramelized or Carbonized Bamboo

Bamboo flooring is available in Natural or Caramelized.

Natural is a light blond color similar to maple, and Caramelized is a dark amber color similar to
young teak. This darker color is not a stain, but a process of pressure heating the fibre at the
factory, which darkens the sugar compounds in the fibre.

Engineered Flooring (also called Laminated Flooring, Engineered-Wood Flooring)

Engineered Wood Flooring is wood flooring made from two or more laminations (layers) of wood glued together in a sandwich. The surface is real, resandable refinish able wood -- not to be confused with plastic photo laminates.

Floating Wood Floors

What makes floating hardwood floors different from traditional hardwood flooring is that such floors aren't glued or nailed to the wood subfloor or concrete slab. The planks are attached to each other,
and sit on top of the subfloor or sound barrier.

The floor is installed with a small expansion gap at all edges, to allow for some natural expansion and contraction due to the seasons. The expansion gaps are never seen, they are covered by molding or shoe trim, and door thresholds .

Glue-down

In a glue-down application, hardwood flooring is adhered to the floor using a special type of
adhesive - a chemical-drying compound.

Some types of hardwood flooring may be adhered directly to:
Concrete
Sound Barriers
Plywood Subfloor
Radiant Heating

The advantages of a glue-down application are:
No need to build a plywood subfloor, saving time and material
No subfloor means less height build-up, so less height differences between hardwood and non-hardwood flooring

A very solid floor with little to no movement

Glue-down application requires a skilled installer and meticulous site preparation.

The strength of your floor depends on the quality of the glue used. All Hardwood Floor only uses proven, quality adhesives to ensure the bond remains strong into the future.

Hardness

When choosing your hardwood flooring it is essential to take into account not only its appearance
but the hardness as well. It is worth choosing a harder wood species rather than a softer one for
areas where hard wear is expected: children playing, pets, stiletto heels, a busy entrance hall.

In the table below, the hardness of the different wood species are compared to oak whose
reference value is 100.

Relative Hardness of Hardwood Flooring Species

Pine	42
Birch	67
Birch Baroque	67
Maple (European)	82
Cherry	85
Walnut	90
Beech	95
Red Oak	97
Oak	100
Rose Gum	103
Ash Baroque	105
Ash	105
Beech Baroque	118
Beech Antique	118
Maple (Canadian)	123
Jarrah	131
Merbau	144
Kempass	154
Santos Mahogany	163
Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba)	175

Horizontal or Flat Grain, Vertical Grain (Bamboo)

Bamboo flooring is available in Horizontal (Flat) Grain and Vertical Grain.

Horizontal or Flat grain flooring is laid-up with 3 layers of flattened bamboo slats adhered together. When you look at the floor from above you can see the bamboo nodes.

Vertical grain flooring is comprised of stalks that are adhered together vertically. You see a smaller portion of each stalk, and the nodes are less noticeable.

Engineered Flooring (also called Laminated Flooring, Engineered-Wood Flooring)

Engineered Wood Flooring is wood flooring made from two or more laminations (layers) of wood glued together in a sandwich. The surface is real, resandable wood -- not to be confused with plastic photo laminates.

Plain Sawn vs. Quarter Sawn

The grain that shows on the surface of your hardwood floor will appear different, dependingon how
the wood was cut.

Plain sawn (or flat-sawn) lumber has the growth rings of the tree parallel to the board's broad face. Plain sawn wood highlights the grain, loops and growth swirls of the wood.

Quarter sawn has the growth rings of the tree approximately perpendicular to the board's surface. Quarter sawn wood has the straightest grain, and is used for our premium floors to add a sleek, streamlined look to any room.

Rift Sawn lumber is cut at a 30-degree or greater angle to the growth rings. This produces narrow boards with accentuated vertical or "straight" grain patterns.

How Quarter-Sawn Wood is Milled

First, the log is cut into quarters. Then, the quarter is flipped ninety degress back and forth to saw
off a plane of wood. This process does not produce any more waste than plain sawing, but it does require some extra time to flip the quarters back and forth. This milling process produces a specialty wood flooring cut called Rift and Quarter Sawn.

The benefits to this cut of wood are straighter grain that is up to 50% more stable than plain sawn flooring, and a superior looking product featuring less variation, longer lengths, and medullary rays.

Plank Style

Engineered flooring may be available in different plank styles.

3 Strip
The entire board consists of three parallel strips of the same width. This style is usually the
least expensive, and gives a busy patterned appearance that can disguise the seams where three
strips end together.

2 Strip
The 2-strip Long Plank consists of 2 parallel strips, with joints. The strips are longer and larger, but there are still seams with two strips ending together.

1 Strip
The 1-strip consists of a single strip along the whole length of the board. This style may be available
in different widths. This style is a bit more cost, but the single strip boards are the only style that truly give the effect of traditional hardwood flooring.

Prefinished

Prefinished floors arrive for installation with a durable finish already applied to the surface. Because there's no need for finish application and drying time, the floors are fast to install.

Quarter Sawn vs. Plain Sawn

The grain that shows on the surface of your hardwood floor will appear different, dependingon how
the wood was cut.

Plain sawn (or flat-sawn) lumber has the growth rings of the tree parallel to the board's broad face. Plain sawn wood highlights the grain, loops and growth swirls of the wood.

Quarter sawn has the growth rings of the tree approximately perpendicular to the board's surface. Quarter sawn wood has the straightest grain, and is used for our premium floors to add a sleek, streamlined look to any room.

Radiant Heated Floors (& Recommended Flooring)

For many builders, the reluctance to install hardwood floors over radiant heat stemmed from
problems associated with the original technology introduced more than 40 years ago. Back then,
floors were heated excessively to compensate for poor building insulation. Those high temperatures exaggerated expansion and contraction in hardwood flooring. Today, modern insulation and building techniques allow a radiant floor to stay cooler than the floor of the average sunroom.

Many of the new engineered floors available today are designed for radiant heated floor installation.

Recommended flooring:

Premium site-finished long-length wood
Engineered Floating
Engineered Glue-down
Bamboo (engineered)
Cork Floors

Rift Sawn

Rift Sawn lumber is cut at a 30-degree or greater angle to the growth rings. This produces narrow boards with accentuated vertical or "straight" grain patterns.

Site-Finished

Site-finished hardwood floors are installed, and then stained and finished on-site. Site-finishing
gives a traditional, flowing, and unbroken finished appearance.

Vertical or Horizontal Grain, Flat Grain (Bamboo)

Bamboo flooring is available in Horizontal (Flat) Grain and Vertical Grain.

Horizontal or Flat grain flooring is laid-up with 3 layers of flattened bamboo slats adhered together. When you look at the floor from above you can see the bamboo nodes.

Vertical grain flooring is comprised of stalks that are adhered together vertically. You see a smaller portion of each stalk, and the nodes are less noticeable.