2.

A) Yes.  We offer the best prices on the Main Line and Delaware Valley for middle to top of the line woods.  Our showroom is filled with samples of wood, and most of the selection can be available in 2-3 days.  If you have seen something somewhere else and would like a AHF price on the wood, ask us about it.  There are frequently sales the manufacturers offer on different woods; ask us if there is a sale on what you are looking for or something similar.

A)  You have three options without installing a wooden subfloor.  The first is to glue-down install engineered flooring; engineered flooring is a layer of real wood -- thickness depending upon the manufacturer -- with 5 to 7 layers of crossed plywood on the bottom to act as its own sub floor.  Most cheaper engineered wood cannot be sanded; we offer many different manufacturers, some of whom put such a thick wear layer of wood that it has as much sandable wood as a ¾” solid piece of oak, making a properly maintained engineered wood last lifetimes.  Ask us whether or not the wood you are looking at is sandable.  Your second option is to glue-down a solid wood on your floors.  A new glue has recently come out which allows us to glue down solid woods.  The new compound acts as a sturdy rubber which essentially creates the solid floor to act as a floating floor.  Your third option is to have installed an unfinished piece of engineered with a very thick piece of wear layer, and have us sand and refinish the floors.  This sometimes can be more expensive, but it will match any floors you have in your home because the same sanding and refinishing procedure will be done on both floors.  You will not recognize it is engineered wood installed at a different time than the rest of your floors.

A)  Yes, it absolutely does, but these underlayments are also often completely unnecessary and marked up a lot.  Without naming anyone, we have seen some companies mark up their underlayment materials 150-250% and getting it because it is 'needed'.  For floors installed on a wooden subfloor: the BEST moisture barrier is wood.  This can come in the form of
plywood to red oak to antique heart pine.  Installing a foam underlayment will reduce noise to the floor below, but the amount it will do this is rarely worth the cost of materials.  For floors on concrete: usually sound isnt a
concern.  Most concrete beds are 4-6", and have sufficient mass to muffle sounds themselves.  The glue used in a glue-down procedure is a urethane based glue; it is waterproof.  Urethane glue is one of the best sealants you can have.  Only under rare circumstances should you require an underlayment for the purpose of buffering water or sound.

11. Q) I have concrete and I was told I need to have a floating floor.  Is this the same thing as a glue-down?

No.  Glue down floors is applying the glue to the bottom surface of the boards so each board is interlocked, and connected to the floor.  A floating process is gluing the boards to each other; in theory, the entire floor can be lifted up.  Ardmore does not float floors.  A few reasons why:

- Wood boards are both strong and straight; concrete is strong but almost never perfectly flat.  There is often 1-2 spots where the natural rolling in the concrete causes a air pocket between the wood and concrete.  Every time that this area is stepped on, the floor gives a ‘clop’.  Sound barriers are required for floating floors for this reason, but will not eliminate this ‘clop’ping.  If you are worrying about a floor underneath the concrete, often the sheer mass of the concrete, glue and wood is enough to sufficiently muffle the sound from travelling downstairs.

- Floating floors have no barrier between it and the concrete besides a moisture barrier.  The most commonly used moisture barrier for floating floors is cork.  This helps prevent moisture rising from the concrete, but if the cork is saturated and water is still coming, water will leak into the wood and cause water damage.  The urethane glue used in a glue down floor is waterproof and will prevent any moisture from leaking through it.

- Floating floors are much more susceptible to water damage.  When a floating floor absorbs excessive moisture, the entire floor expands.  There is a ¼” – ½” gap between the edges of the floor and the walls.  Wood is very strong.  If it expands and uses up the gap, the only place for it to go is up; the entire floor will bubble up.  If there is sufficient water and time, and heavy furniture on the floor, the floor can be weighted down and compromise the surrounding walls through the force of its expansion.  When a glued down floor has water damage, the area is usually contained to a small area (3-4 boards), which can be replaced.

- Repair work on floating floors is very difficult.  The floor is connected and flowing; it is nearly impossible to remove one piece without damaging the adjacent board.  This causes a chain effect with an undeterminable outcome on time and the number of boards needing to replace.  With a glued down floor, the board can be chiseled out and a new board fitted in its place.  It is much easier to not significantly gouge out the solid concrete (which can be filled in with glue until flush) than it is to not nick a piece of the neighboring boards.

Many wood installers install wood on the side; they mainly install carpet and laminate. A large amount of floating floors are installed simply because the installer only knows how to install it that way.  Floating a floor is a similar process to installing a laminate.  Most wood professionals will agree a glued down installation is superior to a floating installation.