JMIflooring.com - Flooring - Hardwood - Choosing a Hardwood Floor

Choosing the Perfect Hardwood Floor

Ark offers two different hardwood flooring constructions. Engineered and Solid.
While much ado is made about the advantages of one over the other, the fact is that both are equally beautiful, and in most situations, equally long-lasting. When choosing a hardwood floor these are a few things to consider. Ark offers four collections of exotic hardwood floors, each offering a different mix of species, colors, widths, construction (solid or engineered) and price. We offer a lifetime structural guarantee and 25-year finish guarantee on both constructions (see warranty for details). Here is a quick overview of the key differences between the two constructions.

SOLID CONSTRUCTION
This is just what it sounds like. Each plank is a single 3/4" thick, solid piece of your chosen species of wood, topped with multiple layers of our protective polyurethane finish. Solid construction can be sanded and refinished if necessary and for this reason is often the preferred choice of homeowners particularly worried about long-term damage to their flooring.

Engineered Construction
Here each plank is created using five layers of natural hardwood laminated "cross-grained" to each other. This base is then topped with a premium layer of your chosen hardwood species and multiple coats of our protective polyurethane. This construction counters wood's natural tendency to expand and contract with seasonal temperature changes. It also gives our floors unusual resistance to warping and buckling. Engineered flooring are also generally thinner then solid. this has little impact on floor life, but it can minimize the height differential between your new floor and the other floors around it.

Our Four Collections
Ark offers four collections of exotic hardwood floors, each offering a different mix of species and color, widths, construction (solid or engineered) and price. You will meet them all on the following pages.
Call us for information and pricing on your flooring project-815-344-3516

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Proper floor care and maintenance

Keeping your Ark floor beautiful is easy if you know how to protect and care for it properly. here are our top tips, but be sure to see complete details, Ask our sales staff at JMI Flooring, Inc. or Visit Ark-floors.com

Ark's Top Floor Care Tips

Make sure your floor is installed properly according to Ark's recommendations. This is the first and the best step toward a long life.
Never wet mop or flood your floor with any liquid. Clear up any spills immediately.
Use protective area rugs or mats in any subject to high traffic, moisture or spills (in front of sinks and stoves, in doorways, stair landings, etc.) Use rugs or mats in entry ways to reduce tracked in dirt and grit. Make sure all rugs or mats can "breath" and do not have rubber or vinyl backs which can trap moisture, one of wood's top enemies.
Use protective pads beneath furniture and chair legs-these are available at your dealer or any home center. Make sure any casters are clean and at least 1" or more in width.
Clean up dirt and grit as soon as possible using a broom or vacuum (but no vacuum beater bars).
Use heavy protective sheets of plywood or similar material to move any heavy furniture or appliances.
Don't let anyone walk on the floor with high heels, spiked shoes or cleats and keep your pets' claws clipped.
Don't use any Wax, Murphys Oil, Chemicals (bleach, ammonia, etc.) or non-recommended cleaning products.
Remember that sunlight can gradually change the color of your floor, so use area rugs or curtains to protect any areas exposed to sunlight.

Q : Does Ark offer "Aluminum Oxide Finishes" on your flooring?

A:Yes, in addition to our exclusive "Anti-Scratch" and "Anti-Abrasive" coatings, we also offer the very hard Aluminum Oxide finishes on some of our product line. That can better protect your floor from normal wear and tear. Because of that we are able to offer 25 years of finish wear warranty* for our products. Eventually the floor will need to be screened and re-coated, or sanded and re-finished. With Aluminum Oxide and our exclusive "Anti-Scratch" and "Anti- Abrasive" coatings, the time between your next sanding will be greatly extended and this will save you money.

Ark Exotic Pre-finished Hardwood flooring
Widths 4-3/4" and 3-5/8"
Brazilian Cherry	Brazilian Teak	Tigerwood	IPA

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