Our industry continues to promote "custom installations" of the ever-increasing number of hardwood flooring products and species now available. Whatever the complexities involved, this particular aspect of flooring installation offers us an opportunity for renewal.
Every day of our lives we are faced with decisions. Some need immediate attention while others can be pondered for a while. Some decisions are reversible. Others will have a lasting affect on your life and the lives of others. As corny as it may sound, selecting a floor covering, especially when it involves hardwood, is a long time commitment for you and anyone else who resides in your house in the future.
When we look back at the hardwood flooring industry and the changes that continue to "surface" in the overall performance for each and every hardwood flooring installation, only one word can describe it: "incredible."
As far as I am concerned, information about acclimation and moisture will always top the list of "things-you-need-to-know" if you're in the wood flooring business.
Probably the most under appreciated "hero" of any hardwood flooring installation is the fastener. Buried beneath the floor surface, never to be seen or (hopefully) heard from again, the fastener plays a subordinate position in the hardwood flooring industry. And yet, from the contractor's viewpoint, fasteners have always been an intricate element of all wood flooring products that are suitable for a nail down application.
The dealer/contractor has always been considered the front-line representative of the hardwood flooring industry. Consumers continue to be tantalized with the multiple potential products available from our progressive hardwood flooring manufacturers.
The ultimate durability of hardwood flooring definitely has been a contributing factor in the product's sales growth over the last two decades. The sweet reward associated with the closing of a sale can also turn extremely sour if it is followed by an inappropriate, weak installation. Product performance can and will be encumbered in the wake of a thoughtless installation.