Friends of White Canvas Designs recently posted an article on their blog that I thought would be nice to share:
How did that get on the floor?
Published May 9, 2010 Uncategorized 5 Comments We recently had a conversation with the folks at Kahrs Wood Flooring about wood finishing and their successful use of water-based technology. It’s so successful in fact, that they offer a warranty on their finishes good for 25 years. It got us thinking; what better test of a finish can there be than a floor?
So we asked some of the local custom flooring companies, who use solvent-based (highly toxic) products like Glitza Swedish and GYMSEAL, what type of warranties they offer. One offered no more than what the maker of the finish publishes on the container it comes in, two others said they would have to find out and get back to us, and one offered a 2 year warranty if you sign a maintenance contract with them.
Still, if you ask building professionals which types of finishes hold up best on wood floors, most will reply with one of the aforementioned solvent-based products. And yet, none of the companies who use those products will give you much of a warranty on them. Why is that? Is it because in reality, they really are not all that durable?
It’s interesting how people, even professionals, hold onto standards long after they have been supplanted by superior new products or technology. Prefinished flooring may not be right for everyone, but on one thing we can all agree; very few surfaces will test a wood finish more vigorously than a floor.
In our opinion, building standards which are no longer valid are held onto not because of what we don’t know; more often, it is because of things we think we know, but about which we are mistaken.
We hope you will join us in furthering the new standards for wood finishing – and we’ll see you at the job site.
 Karhs Prefinished Walnut | So we took a look at other prefinished floor manufacturers out there. It turns out that while Kahrs lays claim to being the first solvent-free flooring company, they are far from being the only one. In addition to Kahrs, we found these other prefinished flooring companies also use environmentally friendly water-based finishes – all with outstanding warranties: |
- Mohawk – 25 year warranty
- Bellawood – Certified 50 year warranty
- Muskoka – 25 year warranty
- Carlisle – Warranty for the life of the home
- Mirage – 25 year warranty
- Pergo – 25 to 35 year warranty
- Mercier – 35 year warranty
So we asked some of the local custom flooring companies, who use solvent-based (highly toxic) products like Glitza Swedish and GYMSEAL, what type of warranties they offer. One offered no more than what the maker of the finish publishes on the container it comes in, two others said they would have to find out and get back to us, and one offered a 2 year warranty if you sign a maintenance contract with them.
Still, if you ask building professionals which types of finishes hold up best on wood floors, most will reply with one of the aforementioned solvent-based products. And yet, none of the companies who use those products will give you much of a warranty on them. Why is that? Is it because in reality, they really are not all that durable?
It’s interesting how people, even professionals, hold onto standards long after they have been supplanted by superior new products or technology. Prefinished flooring may not be right for everyone, but on one thing we can all agree; very few surfaces will test a wood finish more vigorously than a floor.
In our opinion, building standards which are no longer valid are held onto not because of what we don’t know; more often, it is because of things we think we know, but about which we are mistaken.
We hope you will join us in furthering the new standards for wood finishing – and we’ll see you at the job site.
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