Whether you call them white-washed, limed or “pickled”, white hardwood floors are beautiful. The growing popularity of Scandinavian design kick-started the design community’s love affair with white-washed floors.

If you’re not familiar with Scandinavian design, think white walls, light coloured wood floors and minimalist interiors. Choosing light interior finishes is a utilitarian decision for these northern countries. The long cold winters and few hours of sunlight need white walls and floors to brighten up the space. While Vancouver may not have Scandinavia’s snow and never-ending nights, a bright interior adds cheer to a long streak of Vancouver grey rainy days.

The white-washed look allows the natural beauty of the wood grain to shine through the finish. It’s softer and more natural looking compared to painted white floors. Here are a few of our favourite white-washed hardwood floors.

Newbury Locking Oak colour Arctic – $

The light-wire brushing adds a touch of texture to this classic 5″ wide oak hardwood.

Shaw Castlewood Oak colour Tower – $$
Castlewood Oak has a lightly-whitewashed surface that preserves the natural charm of white oak. Its knots, mineral streaks and natural splits add a touch of rustic character to these 7.5″ wide boards.

Vintage Hardwood Maple North Solid Sawn Etched Iceland – $$
The subtle grain pattern of the maple keeps these white floors simple. We love the low-gloss oil finish and variety of widths. (3″, 4.5″ and 5″)

Kahrs Oak Bloc White – $$$

The Oak Bloc is perfect for creating beautiful patterned wood floors. Its three sizes (12″x12″ 24″x12″ and 36″x12″) can be mixed and matched to create a unique pattern. The light wire-brushing and white oil finish add to a touch of simplicity to balance busy patterns.

Karelia Ash Story Shiny White – $$$
Go for an authentic Nordic look direct from the experts at Finnish company, Karelia Hardwood. Similar to oak, ash hardwoods have a strong grain. The shiny lacquer finish mimics the look of painted floors without losing the beautiful wood grain.

Just like white shoes or a white sofa, white hardwood floors can be tough to keep clean. Following basic hardwood maintenance rules like taking shoes off indoors, using walk-off mats and cleaning often will help to keep your floors white.

MIRA Floors is the proud winner of the Innovative Business Practices award from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) serving Mainland BC. The BBB Torch Awards are held annually to acknowledge excellence in the BC business community and honour companies that maintain a healthy, honest marketplace. This year the winners were announced on June 11, 2015 at a gala at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver.

The Innovative Business Practices award is presented to an accredited business for their ability to break conventional business models and have a positive impact on their industry. MIRA Floors was nominated for their mobile flooring showrooms that allow customers to cut down on repetitive visits to flooring showrooms. Award recipients are selected by an independent committee after an in-depth application process.

“We are honoured to receive the BBB’s Innovative Business Practices award,” says Kevin Bergstresser, owner of MIRA Floors. “For a service-focused business like ours, the mobile showroom is the key to delivering above industry-standard service. Customers can spend so much time taking samples between their home and the showroom when picking flooring. Implementing the mobile showroom allows customers to save time and select flooring in the comfort of their own home. We’re grateful to receive recognition from the BBB for this business practice we’ve worked so hard to develop.”

MIRA Floors & Interiors has been a BBB a accredited business since inception in 2002. This is the second BBB award MIRA Floors has received. In 2013 MIRA Floors was the Marketplace Excellence Award winner – medium business category.

The five Torch Award categories this year included Marketplace Excellence, Community Excellence, Green Award, Innovative Business Practices and People’s Pick. Visit the BBB website for a full list of the Torch Award winners.

The safety of laminate flooring has come under fire in recent months with the 60 minutes story on Lumber Liquidators and Lowe’s pulling Chinese laminate over formaldehyde concerns. At a recent home builder’s trade show we were still fielding questions of how to talk about California Air Resource Board (CARB) compliance with customers. Everyone just wants to know their floors are safe for their families. Here are a few  frequently asked questions about CARB compliant flooring.

What are California Air Resource Board (CARB) regulations?

The California Air Resource Board requires all composite wood products (e.g. particleboard, medium density fibreboard and hardwood plywood) for sale in California to be certified as complying with California’s formaldehyde emission standards. For flooring manufacturers, this means their laminate and engineered hardwood flooring has to be manufactured with certified composite wood products. Composite wood producers are required to have their products tested by a third-party certifier. Flooring manufacturers must label their laminate and engineered hardwood flooring boxes to indicate they were made using CARB compliant composite wood products. CARB regulations only apply in California. In Canada, there are no similar rules to regulate formaldehyde emissions from wood products.

What flooring does CARB regulations apply to?

CARB regulations apply to laminate and engineered hardwood since these products are made with composite wood products. They do NOT apply to solid hardwood and vinyl flooring.

What is formaldehyde?

Formaldehyde is a colourless, strong-smelling chemical often used to make home building products. In everyday life, we are exposed to formaldehyde through tobacco smoke, cars, fires and even some glues and cleaning products.

How can I tell if my flooring is CARB compliant?

The CARB indoor air-quality standards were implemented in two parts. The second phase implemented in 2012 lowered the formaldehyde limit to a more stringent 0.05 parts per million. We recommend checking that laminate and engineered hardwood meet this second phase of CARB standards, known as CARB 2.

In the wake of the alleged issues with Lumber Liquidators laminate, flooring manufacturers are being more transparent about their supply chains and CARB certifications. The recent news has taught the flooring marketplace the value of asking more questions. Does the flooring manufacturer produce their own products or buy from others? If they buy from other suppliers, what do they do to ensure the products meet air-quality standards? Do they sell CARB compliant products to all customers or just those in California? Do they do additional testing? Do they go above and beyond CARB compliance by submitting their products for additional certification from independent third-parties?

Two flooring manufacturers that are exceeding expectations in their commitment to safe, sustainable products are Shaw Floors and Armstrong. Read the Shaw Floors laminate and hardwood certifications statement and the Armstrong’s eco-friendly laminate page for more information.

This week marks the completion of our work at the Inasmuch Refugee Claimants house. Each year the MIRA Floors team picks a project we can contribute free flooring to. We recognize that adequate funding is a huge challenge for many non-profit societies. With other day-to-day operational costs taking priority, there often isn’t room in the budget for much needed building improvements. For our 2015 project, we worked with Inasmuch Refugee Claimants to install new flooring in their home for refugees.

Inasmuch Refugee Claimants houses and cares for refugees and refugee claimants. “The people that enter the doors of Inasmuch will have witnessed torture, war, and will have experienced great trauma in their lives. Our desire is to surround them with safety, clothing, food, and direction as they manoeuvre their way through the maze of emigration,” explains Dawn-Lynn, who founded Inasmuch with her husband Peter. For more information about Inasmuch, read the recent Abbotsford News article about renovating the refugee home.

The old flooring was a vintage flooring lover’s dream. Classic vinyl patterns paired with blood red and bright pink carpets.

George and Zac posing for a photo

Zac installing carpet

Tom and Steve working together to install vinyl plank

For this project we installed new flooring throughout the entire house. We picked a durable click together vinyl plank for much of the main floor. For the lower kitchen and basement we choose a sheet vinyl with a more contemporary pattern than the existing. A long-lasting nylon carpet in a neutral tone was installed on the upper floors and staircase.

Living room before

Living room after with Shaw Floorte vinyl plank installed

Basement Kitchen before. The contractor involved built an entire kitchen in this empty room

Basement Kitchen after with Armstrong Initiator vinyl installed

Family room before

Family room after with Shaw Sweet Something carpet installed

Picking the best flooring option is a surprisingly detailed oriented process that goes beyond picking a type, colour and installation method. There are five common mistakes that are often overlooked but 100% avoidable with a bit of education.

1. Choosing a floor with a different thickness than the existing flooring

The thickness of your old floor needs to be considered while picking new flooring. Picking flooring with the same thickness is the easiest, hassle-free option for most people. Switching to flooring with a different thickness can be done but a few implications need to be considered before picking.

Baseboards
If your new flooring is thicker than the previous flooring, it is easy to move baseboards up to the height of the new flooring. If your new flooring is thinner and you move your baseboards down to the level of the new floor, there may be a space between the top of the baseboards and the paint lines. There are three possible solutions to this problem:

• Repaint the wall to cover up the line in between.
• When replacing the baseboards, install a slightly taller baseboard.
• Keep the baseboards at their previous height and install base shoe to cover the gap between the flooring and baseboards.

Doors
When new flooring is thicker, there is a risk of doors scraping against the flooring. Some door professionals can cut down doors so they will fit.

Door Casings
Similar to doors, thicker flooring may require door casings to be removed and cut down to fit.

Appliance and counter top heights
If your flooring was installed under cabinets or appliances, a thicker floor will raise all items on top of it. As an example, if your stove was level with the height of the countertops, it may no longer be level when you install the thicker flooring under the stove but not the countertops.

2. Neglecting the pad underneath

Carpet

Different types of Shaw carpet pad. The pad on the right is an inexpensive chip foam. The other two options have moisture barriers.

The underpad you put below the carpet is just as important as the carpet itself. A high-quality carpet pad is essential for extending the life of your carpet. Carpet pad with a built-in moisture barrier helps to prevent stains from soaking into the pad and reappearing on the carpet.

Hardwood/Laminate
If you live in a condo building, your strata may require an underpad with a specific sound rating. Since it is always easier to ask for permission than forgiveness, we recommend finding out what underpad sound ratings your strata requires before purchasing. Our article about underlay requirements for condos provides more in-depth information on the subject.

3. Using high-gloss finishes in very active households

Shaw Floors – Plaza Collection Zelda Birch laminate

A crucial step in selecting flooring is considering the amount and type of traffic your house has. To determine the best type of flooring, we always ask our customers questions about their lifestyle. What kind of traffic does this area see? Do you have kids or pets?

These questions help us determine how much wear and tear your floor will experience in its lifetime. High traffic areas or households with kids and pets are more prone to scratches, marks and other imperfections. A floor with a matte finish or distressing hides imperfections a bit better than a high-gloss piano finish floor does. If you have a high traffic household and hate scratches and imperfections, a high gloss floor is not recommended.

4. Forgetting to budget for subfloor preparation and levelling

When removing existing flooring, there can often be big surprises underneath. The subfloor may need to be replaced or levelled to meet the manufacturer’s subfloor requirements for your flooring. Your flooring contractor can provide you with a rough estimate of the costs for subfloor prep and levelling. Keep in mind that this will only be a rough estimate – it is impossible to provide a 100% accurate estimate until we can see the entire subfloor.

5. Picking flooring without researching maintenance requirements of the flooring

The cleaning and maintenance of a floor is often overlooked when making a flooring decision. With flooring, it is always good to consider the lifetime cost of the floor, both in terms of dollars and time. Hate vacuuming? Take out that carpet and replace it with a hard surface.

The lifetime cost of maintaining the floor is especially important for commercial flooring products. While some floors may be cheap to purchase, the cost of cleaning products, sealing, buffing and waxing the floor could total more than the maintenance for a more expensive floor. By not learning about the maintenance costs, your floor could end up costing you more in the long run. Our flooring maintenance guides can provide an overview of the maintenance required. To compare the true costs of the floor, ask your salesperson about the maintenance required for each flooring option you’re considering.