Maple Hardwood Flooring

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• Maple Hardwood Flooring

Maple Hardwood Flooring

One of the best ways to enhance the beauty of your home, and upgrade its value, is to install hardwood floors. Hardwood floors can be most effective in entryways, hallways, and living spaces, but can also be installed in bedrooms and even kitchens and bathrooms. The only limit is your imagination.

There are a variety of hardwoods to choose from, and maple is one of the most popular choices. Maple is a hard and durable wood that will retain its beauty for a very long time; it is easy to care for, and commonly comes in a natural lighter color that can complement any interior design, whether modern or traditional. With routine care and maintenance, your maple floor will give you pleasure for decades.

Northern hard maple is generally regarded as the premium species for flooring among maples; it is grown in temperate and northern forests above the 35th parallel, where shorter growing seasons and long winters produce dense grains, rich and consistent colors, and few imperfections. The Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA) grades the quality of northern hard maple; First Grade is the highest standard, with the boards hand-selected to ensure that character variations are minimized. The face of First Grade boards are free of defects, though small pin knots and occasional spots and streaks can pass inspection.

"Second and Better Grade" is most commonly used for routine flooring; the boards exhibit more natural variations. Also, a greater number of knots, spots, and streaks are permitted, although excessive spotting will not pass inspection. As with First Grade boards, bark streaks and shake are not permitted. "Third and Better Grade" is the lowest grade of northern hard maple that is allowable by the MFMA; this grade is suitable for any floor where variations in appearance do not raise aesthetic concerns. This grade may exhibit all defects common to maple wood, but it must be firm and serviceable.

Northern hard maple is available in a variety of lengths (usually, strips are delivered in various lengths), which can be finger-jointed if you so choose. Widths of the strips range from 1½ to 3¼ inches, while thickness must be at least 5/16". The most commonly selected thickness is 25/32". Also, maple can be purchased as parquet -- a variety of square and rectangular pieces that fit together in patterns.

When your new floorboards arrive, your home environment should be stable, with an air temperature between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and relative humidity (indoors) between 35 and 50 percent. The floorboards should be stored in the room in which they will be installed for at least 72 hours prior to installation, so they will be able to acclimatize: moisture absorption will cause the wood to swell slightly, and moisture loss will cause shrinkage, so this inevitable fluctuation should be allowed to occur and the wood to stabilize. Depending on climactic conditions in your area, this acclimatization period may be shortened or lengthened. It will take a year or two longer for your new floors to fully acclimatize, as they go through a few seasonal cycles.

In the dry winter months, there may be some shrinkage cracks in your maple floors; these very slight cracks will close up again in the spring and early summer, as air moisture increases. If there are extreme fluctuations in the humidity level in your house, you might consider installing a humidifier and/or dehumidifier to stabilize these fluctuations and protect your floors. Other "symptoms" of extreme fluctuations in humidity are squeaks -- also caused by these expansion and contraction cycles -- and "cupping," caused by a moisture imbalance through the thickness of your boards.

Your maple flooring can be installed over concrete slabs where heating pipes are embedded; however, you must take several precautions, so discuss this issue with your installer, or with your dealer if you are installing your floors yourself.

It is also important to discuss the finishing coat with your installer. You should first apply a sealer, which alone is sufficient to protect your floor, but generally a sealer is an undercoat for a finish. You have a range of choices for this finish coat: an oil-based or water-based urethane, a moisture-cured urethane, or a Swedish finish, for instance. Each finish will produce its own effect, so look at samples.

Once your floor is installed and ready for use, ongoing maintenance is a routine matter. Never use water to clean your maple floor, and many soaps, oil soaps, and other polishers may damage the wood or leave a discoloring residue. Be sure to dust-mop and vacuum your floor every week, to keep it free from dust, grit, and other abrasive particles that can eat into the floorboards. Your installer or manufacturer should be able to recommend specific cleaning agents that will keep your floors looking fresh and new, without damaging them or leaving residue. With proper care, your maple floor can last for generations.

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