Description
Icefall Grandeur Engineered Hickory: The Week Before the Floor Goes Down
Ask an experienced installer what separates a floor that settles beautifully from one that gives trouble, and the answer is rarely about the board. It is about the state of the building when the board arrived. Icefall Grandeur Engineered Hickory is a stable, cross layered product, and it will still behave better in a house that was ready for it than in one that was not.
Acclimatising the boards where they will live
Acclimatising hardwood means letting the cartons sit in the rooms where they will be installed, long enough to come into balance with the air there. Not in the garage, not in the basement if the floor is going upstairs, and not stacked against an outside wall. The boxes belong in the space itself, spread out so air can reach them, for the period the manufacturer specifies.
Acclimatising hardwood is about balance rather than ritual. Timber takes up and gives back moisture until it matches its surroundings. Boards fitted the same afternoon they came off a cold trailer will come into balance after installation instead of before it, and they will do so while held in place by fasteners or adhesive. The heating or cooling should also be running as it will normally run, so the boards balance against the real conditions of the finished house rather than a temporary state.
Testing what is underneath
Proper hardwood subfloor preparation is a short list of unglamorous checks, every one of which earns its place.
- Moisture content of the subfloor, measured with the correct meter for concrete or for timber, and recorded rather than remembered.
- Flatness across the whole area, with dips filled and humps ground before the first board goes down.
- Soundness, with loose boards refixed and squeaks traced while they are still easy to reach.
- Height checks at doorways and against appliances, so the finished level works.
A wooden subfloor and a concrete slab both get tested, with different instruments and different thresholds. Skipping that part of the hardwood subfloor preparation is how a project acquires a problem that only shows itself a season later.
A building site is not a finished home
This is the part most worth saying plainly. Jobsite conditions during a renovation are unlike the conditions the house will settle into. Fresh plaster, screed, paint and tile adhesive all dry into the room, doors and windows stand open, temporary heat comes and goes, and the humidity can swing enormously from one day to the next. Timber laid into those jobsite conditions is balancing against something about to disappear.
The sequence that works is simple. Wet work finishes and dries, the building is closed in, the permanent heating or cooling runs, then the boards come in and acclimatise, then they are fitted. In Ontario that sequencing matters particularly, because the gap between a humid summer and a long dry heating season is wide enough to be felt underfoot.
What is in the carton
Icefall is engineered hickory with a 2.0 mm wear layer and a handscraped finish, 7-1/2 inches wide by 3/4 inch thick in random lengths, mostly around six feet. Each box covers 23.32 square feet, a 35 year warranty applies, installation may be nail, staple or glue down, and the product is approved above or below grade.
Planning the programme
Professional installation is recommended, partly because an experienced fitter will tell you honestly when the house is not ready yet. Confirm the specification, the install method, room suitability and your quantities with the Petun Flooring team, and talk to us about timing as well as product.
Look closely at the product photograph, then come and view a board in person before you decide, since no screen settles a flooring choice properly. Icefall is collected in Kitchener and Cambridge, inventory is limited, and bringing your measurements along means we can work out quantities while you are here.
Specifications
Grandeur Hardwood Flooring
Color: ICEFALL
Size: 71/2″ x 3/4 x Random Lengths (majority 6 ft.)
Sqft: 23.32 sf per box
Wood Species: Hickory
Finish: Handscraped
Wear Layer: 2.0mm
35 year warranty
Can be installed above or below grade
Nail, staple or glue down installation
