You have to have been living in a cave for the last year or two to not know that mortgage interest rates are at a record low. Never before in many homeowners’ lifetimes have rates been so low, making dreams come true for both home ownership and upgrading your lifestyle and surroundings.

This is especially the case with home improvements that become a permanent part of the home and will never have to be replaced. One of those rare gems is good wood flooring. As Shirley Pai Hilton of Pacific Imports International will tell you, one of the best ways to invest your remodeling dollars is with a high-quality wood floor. Not only are you and your family able to enjoy its beauty every day of the year, but the value that it adds will remain for the life of your home. Unlike the majority of floor coverings, the right wood floor can be something that lasts a lifetime and beyond.

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Cabinets, tile, bath fixtures, carpeting, windows, roofs, paint — they all need to be re-done in a number of years, due to wear and tear or aesthetics. But a classic wood floor, with proper maintenance, will last the lifetime of the house or beyond. Statistically speaking, many types of wood flooring, even with re-sanding, can last 80 to 100 years.

So let’s start by asking what are the basic types of wood flooring most commonly used in Hawaii?

The most traditional form of wood flooring is called unfinished solid. This is a solid piece of wood that’s been milled into flooring, and will be sanded and coated in your home after it has been nailed down. It’s generally considered the most “high-end” of wood floors due to the ability to customize the end product, but also due to higher installation cost (man must do what the finishing machine usually would in a factory).

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Next on the scene, we have pre-finished solids. This is again a solid piece of flooring, but the sanding and coating is done at the factory using sophisticated methods, such as UV curing, and the only work done in your home is to nail or glue it down. Your floor is ready to live on almost the minute it goes down.

And most recently, there is engineered wood flooring, such as the Kahala Floors line. Engineered flooring involves taking a precisely cut slice of the flooring wood and pre-installing it onto plywood. Contrary to popular assumption, this is not done to be stingy on the wood! Rather, it is done to provide a more versatile, stable form of wood flooring. Engineered woods can be installed below grade (whereas solids cannot) and they can also be floated (whereas solids must be nailed or glued down). Most engineered flooring is sanded and pre-finished in a factory, and with the right brand of engineered, you are looking at a lifetime product that can be refinished several times, just like a solid.

Pacific Imports invites you to attend its next free “investment” seminar, “Wood and Stone Flooring 101,” on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 10 a.m. Feedback on the seminars has been nothing but positive and they will be well worth your time, especially with the private sale for attendees only. For more information and to reserve a seat, call 847-7711.

ADDRESS: 926 KOHOU ST.
CONTACT: 847-7711

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