Wood moves. Plan for it.
Utah is dry, and it swings. A house in Sandy can run 15% relative humidity in February and 45% in July. Hardwood responds to that whether you planned for it or not.
That is why we acclimate. Flooring sits in the room it is going into, out of the box, for three to five days before we install a single board. Skip that step and you get gaps in winter or cupping in summer, and by then there is no cheap fix.
Moisture testing, every time
We meter the subfloor and we meter the wood, and the two numbers have to be within range of each other before we start. On a concrete slab we test the slab itself, because a basement slab in Murray can hold enough moisture to ruin an engineered floor from underneath.
If the numbers are wrong, we stop and tell you. Installing anyway is how a floor fails in year two.
Solid or engineered
Solid hardwood can be sanded and refinished several times over its life. It is the right call above grade, over a wood subfloor, in a house you plan to keep.
Engineered is more stable across humidity swings and it can go over concrete, which makes it the better answer for basements and for slab-on-grade construction. Good engineered flooring with a thick wear layer will take a refinish or two. Thin-wear-layer product will not, and we will tell you which one you are looking at.
Layout
Boards run the long direction of the room, or perpendicular to the floor joists, and when those two conflict we walk it with you and decide together. In an open plan we run the flooring continuously through the whole space rather than changing direction at every doorway, which is what makes a house read as one floor instead of five rooms.
Where we install
Hardwood installation from Logan to Nephi, including Murray, Sandy, Midvale, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Millcreek, Taylorsville, West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton, Draper, Lehi, American Fork, Bountiful, and Layton.
Already have hardwood that needs help? See hardwood refinishing.