Flooring FAQ

Yes, all hardwoods will scratch. Purchasing a grade such as Tavern or Distressed can help camouflage any scratches if you have dogs or small children.

Using felt pads under all your furniture legs is also super important. This can prevent any deep scratches caused by moving your furniture around.

Another tip is to cover any high traffic areas such as the front entranceway. Welcome mats can do more than great your guests!

From the forest to the floor all of our flooring is 100% Canadian Made!

We log and kiln dry our own lumber, and all of our hardwood is manufactured right here at our mill in Mildmay, Ontario! This also means we can avoid multiple mark-up costs that other flooring companies may have because we process our own materials. Each step in our manufacturing process is carefully supervised to ensure top quality product!

The boxes are roughly 60lbs each.

Hardwood is one solid 3/4″ board, ideally used in rooms that are on or above ground. The benefit of using solid wood flooring is that it can be sanded and refinished many times, making it adaptable to any style required.

Engineered wood flooring is 1/4″ of high quality hardwood pressed into 3 layers of criss-crossed solid material. These layers stabilize the hardwood from moisture, meaning they expand and contract less than solid wood flooring in unstable environments. It is ideal for basements or cottages and houses close to water. Although it can be sanded down and refinished, it cannot always be done as many times as solid wood flooring.

We do not recommend installing hardwood flooring in your basement. Instead we suggest you install Engineered flooring which can be glued directly onto concrete.

Yes, hardwood flooring has to be nailed. It is NOT a floating floor.

You can use cleat nails or staples and nail about 6″ apart.

Knowing what size of flooring to install depends on what kind of job you are completing.

Renovation – You can basically install any size of our flooring in a renovation (2 1/2″, 3 1/4″, 4 1/4″, 5″). This is because houses being renovated usually have been sitting long enough for the moisture level to normalize and settle.

New Construction – If it is new construction, we recommend installing nothing wider than a 4 1/4″ size plank. This is due to the fact that a new build will hold a lot of moisture and can take up to a year to dry out.

Hardwood is like a sponge, if your home has a lot of moisture or high humidity, your floor is at higher risk of cupping. We recommend using the smallest sized flooring (2 1/2″ or 3 1/4″), or installing engineered hardwood flooring to reduce any chance of cupping in a new home.

If you look at the Janka scales for hardwood it will show Hickory and Hard Maple as the hardest woods.

The Janka Scale is a system used to measure the hardness of a wood species. It is determined by the amount of pound-force required to push a .444-inch diameter steel ball halfway into the wood, giving an indication of how well your wood flooring can withstand dents and wear.

Our flooring has 7 layers of acrylic dried under ultra violet lighting. There’s also a layer of aluminum oxide for hardness and a layer of U.V. protection for window shadowing and fading.

Below shows the Janka Scale with the varieties of hardwood that we carry.

We recommend using our in-house brand floor cleaner Effeclean, which uses environmentally friendly cleaning agents derived from naturally sourced ingredients. And Bonus – it’s also made in Canada! Our 946mL bottle retails for $19.99 separate or in a kit including a swivel mop with a microfiber pad for $35.  

Using the wrong products can damage your floors. Cleaners with harsh chemicals can ruin the finish, or wax can cause a buildup on your floors. Both can be an expensive problem to fix. 

If you prefer not to use a cleaning product, you can just use water!

Select means that there are no knots or imperfections in the grain. Tavern is just the opposite, it has knots and imperfections. These knots and imperfections can help to add character to your hardwood floor.

All knots are puttied and prefinished so they will never dry out and become loose.

Our flooring has 7 layers of acrylic dried under ultra violet lighting. There’s also a layer of aluminum oxide for hardness and a layer of U.V. protection for window shadowing and fading.

All of our floors are a full 3/4″ thickness.

Cupping is when the edges of individual planks of hardwood flooring expand and lift while the center remains flat, thereby creating a sort of ‘cup’ or bowl. A hardwood floor will cup due to high moisture and humidity.

We do not finish the flooring on site therefore we do not have access to the stain. If you are looking for someone to colour match stain for you we recommend calling Abracadabra Finishing Service 519-367-5885.

Here is an example of a trim order.
2 3/4″ Modern Casing primed
3pcs@3′
6pcs@4′
5pcs@5′
1pc@7′
6pcs@8′
5″ Modern Baseboard primed 200′ random length Or you can send in a specific length list we will do our best to match the lengths.
Add your name, phone number and address then email info@southbruceflooring.com or call in  your list. 519-367-3215

South Bruce Flooring does not install the flooring. We do highly recommend Damian Kraemer 226-668-3304 OR Glen Leslie 519-373-2308 for your installation needs.

1×4 boards lose 1/4 inch in thickness and 1/2 inch in width before leaving the mill. That means once you get a 1 x 4 the board is actually 3/4 inches by 3 1/2 inches.