General Contractors and Flooring

General contractors and home builders, in my experience, do not do a good job with specialty trades.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a flooring contractor, so I probably carry around a small chip on my shoulder.  That said, I believe consumers of remolding services should hire a reputable flooring contractor even if they already have a GC.  In my 20+ years of experience in the remodeling industry at many different levels, I witness more flaws in flooring than in all the other trades combined when inspecting new or remodel construction.

Why?  Well, I can see a couple of reasons.  For starters, builders and GCs are not willing to pay even decent rates for flooring work.  Thus, if they sub out the floor work, the tend to hire from the bottom of the barrel.  Additionally, the floor work is also usually the highest margin work, which means the temptation to do the work themselves (or hiring bottom feeders) becomes even more tempting.

This then leads to 2 problems.  The 1st and most obvious is the work is sub-par.  The 2nd problem is that the GC and/or builder know enough about flooring to be dangerous and not nearly enough to be proficient.  In the flooring industry, there is so much to know about all the different types of flooring, that only someone who spends all of their time in the industry can be helpful.  I cannot count the number of times I see mid-grade and often cheap pre-finished flooring installed in nice homes.  I also, (gasp) see a ton of t-molding, quarter round, door jambs that aren't undercut, etc...  Because an average carpenter can probably do an o.k. job installing pre-finished flooring, they insist that pre-finished flooring is the only option.  I suppose this is better than a jack-of-all trades trying to sand and finish a floor, but again, you - the person paying big bucks for a remodel - shouldn't have the most visible and used portion of the project done by hackers and amateurs.

My advice is simple.  Find out who the contractor uses to do the flooring work.  If they don't use someone who has an excellent reputation you can verify on Angie's List or similar site, I would find the flooring company on your own.  Not only will you get better floors, you will probably pay less; avoiding the proverbial double whammy.

Maple Flooring...what do you think?

I love maple flooring. It is a very hard species (see basketball courts and bowling alleys) and I think it also a very beautiful species. In my years in the flooring business, I have seen, worked on, and installed many maple floors. The critics of maple flooring typically say that it is too light in color, or that the floor shows too many gaps. I'll speak to both of those points specifically...and then let you decide if maple is good fit for your home or business.

The natural color of maple flooring is something you are either going to like or dislike; so this is a matter of preference. I do meet people that think they are stuck with whatever color it is, and don't like it; in which case I advise them that there are options. First, a natural maple floor finished with water-based finish is going to look a lot different than a maple floor that is finished with an oil-based finish (see pics below). Secondly, a maple floor, if properly sanded and conditioned, can take a stain and look absolutley stunning (picture top left and another stained maple floor below). That said, many flooring contractors will say they can stain maple and then proceed to do a horrible job. There are also contractors that will say that you just simply can't stain maple floors.

Choosing a compitent flooring contractor is a whole different topic, but trust me, there are floor sanders in every market that can and do stain maple correctly. If you are outside of the Denver Metro area and ProWorks Flooring is not an option, I would definately have any contractor who says he/she can stain maple, provide references and pictures.

The reason why staining maple is so hard is because the wood is very dense, thus making it difficult for the wood to absorb stain. We use special techniques to sand and then condition a maple floor that is different than when we stain oak.

With regard to gaps in the floor, this is typical of any hardwood, but often more noticeable with maple. Maple, being a very hard wood, is less stable than oak; meaning that it will expand and contract more than oak with changes in relative humidity...not much, but enough to notice. Also, especially when it is finished naturally with water-based finish, maple is very light in color; almost white. Thus the gaps, which appear black, will contrast more than they would on a darker floor and appear more obvious.

If the thought of gaps is bothersome, I would recommend staining the floor a darker color. Or, you may try installing and running a humidifier (and or de-humidifier depending on where you live) to keep humidity levels in the home as close to 40% as possible. If you can maintain close to 40% humidity year round, the wood will be remain stable, greatly reducing its tendency to expand and contract.

The basketball court shows maple with oil-based finish. The kitchen shows maple with a water-based finish. The last picture (and the one up top) show maple with different stains.