Installing hickory flooring qualities, factors, and hardwood options

Installing Hickory Flooring: Qualities, Factors, and Hardwood Options

One reason many decide to choose hickory flooring, characterized by tan to reddish heartwood and white to creamcolored sapwood, for their homes.

Hickory hardwood has closed, rough grain and is dense and durable. The grain and density, however, make installing hickory hardwood difficult. Hand tools are not strong enough for the wood's density, and machining and sanding, as a result, are difficult. Additionally, the hardwood is not receptive to stains, and its tongues have a tendency to split when nailed.

Installing hickory, however, is not impossible. Using a belt sander with multiple grit belts is recommended. As you or a professional sands with the grain of the wood, transition from an 80-grit belt to a 120-grit belt for smoothing the surface to a 220-grit belt for finishing touches.

For finishing, similarly, a less-typical approach also needs to be taken, and three methods are used for hickory hardwood.

Conditioning the wood to seal off the grain is one option.

Wood conditioner applied first seals off the grain and prevents blotching once a stain is added.

Water popping, on the other hand, opens the grain and makes the wood more receptive to stain.

First, run a damp rag over unfinished hickory hardwood.

This opens the grain, and as soon as the water is dry, apply the stain immediately.

A third option is going with distressed hardwood.

For hickory flooring, distressed hardwood hides blotches and other imperfections better.

There's not just one option for hickory flooring. Grades and finishes aside, this hardwood is available solid or engineered.

Each has certain advantages Solid hardwood, in general, is considered the pinnacle of flooring, the highest quality product available. Solid hickory, like any species, is used in conjunction with wood subfloors or built into floor joist systems.

Installation involves stapling or nailing, and plank sizes tend to run from 3/4ths of an inch to one inch thick and 2.25 to seven inches wide.

Solid hardwood, however, can warp or buckle in the presence of humidity or high temperatures and should not be installed below grade. If you would like hickory flooring from the basement to the top floor, consider going with engineered hardwood.

Composed of three to nine plys of hardwood bonded together, engineered flooring has a wear layer, also called a veneer, of highquality hickory hardwood on top, and all layers below are of the same or different species.Â

The grain pattern of each layer, as well, faces a different direction. This multilayer, multi-directional composition allows engineered hickory to expand and contract less than its solid hardwood counterpart and, as a result, allows hickory flooring to be added to any floor and on top of concrete or radiant heat.

The type of hardwood, hickory flooring is available unfinished or prefinished. The latter may be preferable for installing hickory flooring, as no sanding or finishing is needed.

However, prefinished hardwoods, in general, come in a limited selection of stains.

Bella Cera Hardwood Floors 400 Oyster Point Blvd, Suite 115 So. San Francisco, CA 94080 Tel.866.599.7999 Fax.650.873.4316

www.bellacerafloors.com/hardwood-flooring/Hickory-hardwoodflooring.aspx