Flooring Installation and Care

At Mountain Craft Wide Plank, we take pride in creating a quality, customized product
that will be beautiful and perform exceptionally for years. We want our products to be an
excellent investment for our customers. Following the guidelines below will give your
hardwood the best chance of meeting and exceeding your expectations and providing
years of worry free service.
● Follow provided NWFA (National Wood Flooring Association) instructions for
staging the material to acclimate. Each plank of flooring should have air
circulating on all sides of the plank
○ Use MCWP provided kiln-dried drying sticks to accomplish this
● Garages, attics, basements, covered porches, etc. should not be used to store wood
flooring prior to use, even if you plan on acclimating the flooring prior to
installation. Hardwood flooring should always be stored in a climate controlled
environment.
● Use MCWP provided moisture meters to measure ambient humidity in the home
or building in which the hardwood will be installed.
● It is essential that the hardwood flooring installer measures the moisture content of
the hardwood multiple times leading up to installation. Per NWFA
recommendations, the moisture content of the hardwood and the subfloor should
be within 2% of each other. Increase your sample size of moisture content
readings. More readings is better than fewer. The NWFA recommends taking at
least 40 readings from wood in different stacks, different sizes, different locations
etc. There is no standard “acclimation time.
” Always follow the “2% rule” rather
than relying on a particular duration of acclimation time to determine readiness for
installation.
● Permanent Air conditioning and/or heating systems should be in place and running
for at least 5 days prior to the hardwood flooring before you install hardwood
floors.
● All“wet work” such as drywalling, painting, or mudding be fully complete prior to
the installation of hardwood flooring to ensure that large volumes of excess
moisture are not added to the environment.
● Refer to provided technical documents from the NWFA and product
manufacturers regarding fasteners, glue, and fastening methods.
● All planks greater than 5” in width should be installed using two forms of
fastening, such as a glue + nail method.
● When installing hardwood flooring, a distance of ¾” should remain between the
flooring and all obstacles, such as walls, kitchen islands, etc.
○ This may necessitate undercutting drywall and/or using a shoe mould in
conjunction with baseboard to ensure that there is not visible gap.
○ Baseboards, shoe moulding, etc. should be installed high enough to allow
for movement in the wood floor. It should not be extremely tight against the
flooring below it so as to impede natural movement of the floor.
● When installing a multiple width floor, stage material is such a way that the
installer can monitor the inventory of each width. This will ensure that a random
“pattern” remains random, and that there will be a relatively even distribution of
widths throughout the installation area, assuming this is the desired result. If
installing in a pattern, this staging method will also provide useful as the needed
size will always be readily available.
○ When staging material,
“shuffle the product” by pulling from different
bundles and mixing material from different bundles together, to ensure that
the product is truly random. This will avoid a scenario in which there are
distinct “sections” of the floor, such as most of the heavy character planks
in one part of the flooring. There will be an even distribution of character,
color, size, etc.
● Mountain Craft Wide Plank hardwood flooring is checked piece by piece for
quality multiple times in the manufacturing process. If, however, you find a plank
of flooring to be lacking in quality (crack through the plank, knots that render the
piece unsound, etc.) please set the piece aside and do not install. MCWP generally
provides a few extra sq. feet of flooring on each job. This, combined with the
waste factor used when making the order should leave you with some extra pieces,
thus making it unnecessary to install inferior quality planks.
● When installing, stagger joints of Hardwood Flooring, illustrated in image below
● Before, during, and after installation of flooring, be sure to monitor humidity in
the home. Per NWFA specs (found in provided instructions from NWFA), the
environment in which the hardwood is installed should be kept within a range of
30%-50% humidity. Use MCWP provided moisture meters to help with this.
● During a new construction or remodel process in which new hardwood floors are
being installed, use a temporary floor covering (such as Ramboard) to protect the
new flooring from tradesmen and associated tools, construction materials, etc.
○ When installing this covering, be sure to cover the entire floor, and use
painter’s tape to attach the row of covering to itself, never taping directly to
the hardwood floor
● For flooring with a conversion varnish finish:
○ Follow the recommended maintenance schedule recommended by the
NWFA, at this link: https://www.woodfloors.org/maintenance.aspx
■ When mopping, always using a lightly damp, never a soaking wet
mop.
■ Usually a mop that is simply damp with water will suffice. If
necessary, dilute a small amount of mild soap in your mop water. Be
sure to wring mop out to just a “damp” level.
● For flooring finished with Rubio Monocoat:
○ Follow the recommended maintenance routine recommended by Rubio, at
this link:
https://www.rubiomonocoatusa.com/blogs/blog/how-to-care-for-your-rubio
-monocoat-finished-floor
○ ONLY USE RUBIO MONOCOAT SOAP OR RUBIO SURFACE CARE
SPRAY, the recommended cleaners that are manufactured by Rubio. Other
commercially available cleaners or any other cleaners may damage the
finish. One bottle of Rubio Soap (concentrated Surface Care Spray) and a
spray bottle will be provided with each purchase of a floor finished with
Rubio Monocoat. Future purchases of the necessary cleaner are the
responsibilities of the customer.
● Be aware that real wood, in particular some species such as cherry and maple, can
change color over time with exposure to sunlight and air. As a result, it may be
wise to periodically move area rugs or other items that will completely block light.
This natural change is one of the characteristics that makes real wood unique and
beautiful
● All hard surface flooring, including hardwood flooring, can be scratched. To avoid
excessive scratches and wear, consider a rug or doormat in particularly high wear
areas (such as in front of a frequently used exterior door.)
○ Be conscious of the traffic patterns of dogs and consider an area mat where
a dog may spend an excessive amount of time (such as in front of a door
through which the dog is let out multiple times per day.)
○ Be sure to use felt (or rubber or other non marring material) pads on the
“feet” of furniture, tables, etc. These are inexpensive and will provide
important protection for your wood flooring.
● If you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at
304-777-4280
Mountain Craft Wide Plank loves to see pictures of your installed flooring! Even simple
pictures with your phone are beneficial to us. If you have some pictures you would be
willing to share, email them to mountaincraftwideplank@gmail.com. All of the photos
you send are much appreciated.
Being a small business that produces consumer products, reviews on a variety of
platforms are very valuable to us. We love to get feedback from our customers! If you
feel inclined, below is a link to leave a review on our Google Profile. If you would like to
leave a review on a different platform, that is wonderful as well. Thank you for your time
and consideration.
Google Review: https://g.page/r/CUGA8BohXMy-EB0/review