SOLID HARDWOOD PLANK FLOORING
CHELSEA PLANK® FLOORING
Putting the “Plank” in Chelsea Plank® Flooring.
The original definition of plank flooring was wooden floorboards with a width of 3” or greater. That, of course, was prior to the misappropriation of the term “plank” by manufacturers of flooring that isn’t wood.
Frame Industries, Inc., the manufacturer of Chelsea Plank® Flooring, was established in Chelsea, Michigan in 1994.
NATURAL
In simplest terms, a solid plank of hardwood flooring is a piece of a tree. It is neither laminated, extruded, mixed nor reconstructed from industrial regurgitation. It’s the real deal, that which other flooring products strive to resemble and are measured against.
Photo: North Bay Hickory
BEAUTIFUL
From a blazing orange sunset to the shoreline of a pristine lake, nature provides us with our most magnificent images. Throughout their lifecycle, trees, which are beautiful both inside and out, provide us with spectacular visual imagery that cannot be cloned by facsimile products.
Photo: Castle Plank Hickory
VERSATILE
With several species and grades, a rainbow of stain colors and numerous surface finishing techniques, the number of hardwood flooring options is as infinite as the stars of a clear night sky. If your home is a mansion or a cabin, there is a solid hardwood floor that will fit your taste perfectly.
Photo: Quartered White Oak - Matte
LONGEVITY
Solid hardwood flooring has been utilized in European castles as well as early homes in the New World with several of those floors surviving for hundreds of years. A hardwood floor is a “forever” floor that will last for generations if properly cared for.
Photo: French Oak
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GREEN
Properly managed, the North American hardwood forest operates like a perpetual carbon filter. In addition, by harvesting and converting mature trees into hardwood flooring, the carbon capture is extended for decades if not centuries.
Photo: Aspen Maple
THE IMITATORS
ENGINEERED FLOORING
Admittedly, the term Engineered Hardwood Flooring sounds impressive. Unfortunately, the definition of that impressive title is…..plywood.
Plywood flooring does offer a little more stability and a wider acceptable humidity band than solid hardwood flooring. However, due to its construction, plywood flooring has inherent weaknesses, like delamination and face checking, that are not present with a solid hardwood floor.
In addition, discerning customers are forced to research the advantages and disadvantages of the different ply structures, core materials, adhesives and top sheet thicknesses of plywood floors. Then, of course, can the plywood floor be refinished? As a hint, there is a thickness where the top sheet will begin to act more like a solid than a veneer which defeats the stability advantage.
On a final note, if a plywood floor and a solid hardwood floor are of equal quality, the plywood floor will cost more.
VINYL PLANK FLOORING
Like engineered hardwood flooring, some appealing descriptions like resilient, luxury, life proof and water proof have been added to the vinyl name over the years. Well, vinyl by any other name is still the same basic product that was on your grandmother’s kitchen floor.
Unlike solid hardwood flooring, vinyl is not susceptible to movement from water and humidity. However, high and low temperatures cause substantial expansion and contraction. In addition, direct sunlight on a dark vinyl floor exacerbates that condition.
Many brands of the vinyl plank flooring on the market today are waterproof which means the vinyl planks won’t absorb water. That however, doesn’t stop water from collecting under the vinyl planks and causing black mold.
Last but not least, vinyl planks are printed with photographs of real wood planks. Inevitably, “plank” photographs will repeat in the same room, room to room and house to house.
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