What Flooring Experts Want You to Know About Wood
The pros and cons of popular kitchen and bath materials.
Sometimes, Hawaii’s casual lifestyle takes a toll on kitchen and bathroom floors. Kids scratch them up with loose sand from the beach. Heavy fishing gear leaves dings and dents. Your new puppy has an affinity for your just-mopped bathroom. And all that dirt smeared across your once pristine kitchen? Luau feet. Wear-and-tear is nothing new for Hawaii flooring experts Shelley Tanner of John Cook Kitchens and Natascha Roblee of Pacific American Lumber. Both are familiar with the pros and cons of flooring in kitchens and baths.
Wood floors naturally complement Hawaii’s tropical aesthetic. But some of those floors don’t match well with tropical humidity. For hardwood floors to thrive, a home’s humidity level must range between 30% and 50%, or the wood can harbor mold, bacteria and dust mites, according to the National Wood Flooring Association. High humidity also can cause wood to swell and crack.
To mimic the look and feel of wood grain, flooring experts offer options such as waterproof laminate, vinyl floor selections, and colored tiles.
Roblee has an option for homeowners craving the look of hardwood: engineered wood flooring. “It is perfect for this humidity and climate since the plywood back helps to stabilize the top layer of wood,” she says.
Some homeowners who visit the showroom at Pacific American Lumber — the ones who just can’t get past their craving — express concern about water spills on wood floors. “Most floors are extremely easy to clean up and are durable,” assures Roblee. If spillage is an issue, she suggests placing mats around wet areas, including sinks.
Tanner says John Cook Kitchens offers luxury vinyl tile flooring, or LVT, “designed to replicate hard surface flooring materials, such as stone or wood, yet provide many more practical benefits.” Luxury vinyl is also available in plank formats, and has a realistic print, plus a clear vinyl layer, for protection. “This opens up a wide variety of design concepts,” she says. Vinyl also is easier on the feet compared with harder surfaces, such as tile.
John Cook Kitchens also has the Metroflor Engage Genesis and Inception lines, which are “waterproof and durable with an ultra-dense core floating installation, and locking system that can be installed under the cabinets for a cleaner look,” explains Tanner.
And, like Roblee, Tanner is committed to finding the best materials for clients: “I’ll offer flooring options, noting the pros and cons.”
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