INTRODUCTION
“Wood is the most sustainable floor covering option out there. It’s the only one that’s naturally renewable. A solid wood floor can last hundreds and hundreds of years. Most other floor coverings are designed to be disposable,” says Brett Miller, vice president of technical standards, training, and certification at the National Wood Flooring Association (USA)
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Solid Wood
Much as its name implies, Solid wood is consisting of real solid wood from up to down and can berefinished multiple times throughout its lifetime. Often categorized on basis ofits Specie, Solid wood can come from a variety of trees, ranging from Oak andWalnut to Jatoba and Merbau.While selecting Solid wood onemust also take into account the environment in which it is to be placed. Beinga natural product, Solid wood will react to changes in the moisture, humidityand temperature of its surroundings. It will swell in warmer and damp weatherand will shrink and dryer and cooler weather, this over time can forge gapsbetween planks.
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Engineered Wood
Engineered wooden flooring isessentially any flooring in which the top(wear) layer is made out of Solidwood. Majority of the market sells Engineered wood in which the wear layer isonly 1mm in thickness and hence cannot be sanded or refinished. At SymphonyInternational we only provide Engineered wooden flooring in which the wearlayer is a minimum of 3mm in thickness which increases longevity by making itless susceptible to permanent damage.Another factor to considerwhile selecting Engineered wood is the backing layer. All engineered woodenflooring at Symphony International has a backing layer made of either Birchwood or Pine wood. Both of these backing layers are highly resistant to waterdamage which increases the durability of the flooring.
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Laminate Wood
Laminate flooring is made up of compressed fiberboards and melamine resin topped with an image of wood. Thetop most layer is a transparent wear layer which makes it extremely durable andless prone to scratches. Laminate flooring is more economically priced ascompared to Solid wood and Engineered wood. It is also very easy toinstall and replace and is additionally highly resistatant to water damage.
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Deck Wood
WPC decking is extremely resistant to fading, scratching, staining and mold making it the perfect flooring choice around water bodies such as pools and lakes or even near gardens. Deck wood at Symphony International can last for decades with nominal maintenance and has a very simple installation and repair process.
Types of Finishes:
UV oil
The surface of our wood is covered with three layers of a special UV-cured oil coating. When compared tolacquered floors, oiled floors are less resistant to dirt. However, spilledliquids get absorbed easier, so they need to be cleaned immediately.Oiled floors are much easierto repair when they get damaged or dirty. Sunlight and UV rays affect theoxidation process of wood, making it age and change its colour quicker, and aspecial UV oil coating helps to slow down this process.
Lacquer
The surface of our wood is covered with about five lacquer layers to protect it from stains and abrasions. The cleaning and maintenance and lacquered flooring is very easy. Lacquer-covered flooring is highly resistant to liquid spills and dirt, making one simple motion of sweeping or wiping enough to get rid of any accumulated dirt.