I have been shopping around for hardwood flooring for several months, and I notice Three Towers Flooring is so much cheaper than your competitors. On average between $1 and $2 per square foot less expensive. Why is that?

Three Towers Flooring is not buying from manufacturers and distributors and reselling to the public, as do most of our competitors. We ARE the manufacturers and we sell directly to the public. As our parent company is an international shipping and forestry consortium, we have the financial wherewithal to buy the most popular exotic and domestic species in big volumes, and because of our buying power we actually pay much less for our wood than even the largest Canadian manufacturers. We buy container and truckload volumes of unfinished jatoba, santos mahogany, cumaru, ipe, tigerwood, oak and maple each and every week. Furthermore, rather than locating our showroom in a high rent retail district and having our customers pay for our overhead, our showroom and warehouse are both located in our company owned industrial facility in Rexdale. Its a strategy that has proven both effective and profitable for us.

Are your installers insured?

All of our installers are fully insured and bonded. We have a comprehensive insurance coverage of up to $5 million covering just about any type of injury or property damage that may occur. You might indeed save 10 or 20 cents a foot by hiring your neighbors friend, or someone you met at at your Christmas party, but what most customers are not aware of is that you may be held legally responsible if an un-insured installer is injured while installing flooring in your home and your own house insurance may not pay you in the event that an unlicensed tradesman causes damage to your house.

Is any of your wood made in China?

Absolutely not. All of our products are proudly made in Canada. Though the Brazilian woods obviously are sourced in South America, the flooring is all graded and prefinished in Ontario. Our oak and maple comes from Quebec, with exception of quartersawn white oak, which comes from Indiana and Ohio. We have nothing against China, we just don't feel that the quality of made in China products is something that we want to associate ourselves with at this point. Although Chinese Flooring was popular a few years ago, most customers found out the hard way that Made in China flooring is poorly manufactured and had to re-do their floors, and with all that is going on in the news these days about lead content in Chinese products, it is now becoming a health concern as well as a quality control concern. Chinese Flooring is now mostly available at big box stores, or flooring retailers who look to sell only the cheapest products.

How can I tell if a product is made in China?

There are a few easy ways to tell. First of all the sizes. North American made products are usually sold in 3 1/4, 4 inch, 4 1/4 and 5 inch widths. Chinese sizes have weird widths, like 3 5/8", 4 3/4", etc. Secondly, the standard thickness of North American products is always 19 mm or 3/4 inch. Chinese flooring is thinner, like 17 mm or 18 mm thickness. Thirdly, just turn over the floor board and you will see that Chinese flooring is usually painted on the back side, as it is not properly dried in China so they think that by putting some varnish on the back that this will help keep the wood dry.

Can I install hardwood flooring myself?

I like exotic woods such as Jatoba and Ipe, but is it possible that I can get those woods without any color variation?

The beauty of exotic woods is their natural color and different grain patterns. On Jatoba it is indeed possible to maintain a uniform color when purchasing a stained product, such as Cordovan Leather and Baroque Chestnut for example. Santos mahogany has less variation than Jatoba and Ipe, but there is no such thing as an exotic wood without variation. If you are afraid of variation, than exotic woods with natural finish are NOT for you. You should only consider stained flooring.

Should I do prefinished, or unfinished flooring?

Prefinished flooring is faster, and less mess to install. Our installers can install between 500 and 1000 square feet per day. So if you are considering a renovation, in order to sand and finish on site, you will have to remove all existing furniture prior to installation. In this case prefinished flooring might be more convenient and less hassle. If however you are building a new home, or you have just purchased a house and not yet living in it, and you want an upscale, elegant finish than you may want to consider finishing on site. The main advantage of on site finish, is that there is no bevels in between the floor boards, just a smooth uniform finish. Most new construction and custom homes that we do are indeed sanded and finished on site. It is true that prefinished does have a stronger finish, but with some of the new finishing products on the market, the onsite finish will indeed rival the prefinished as far as durability. In my opinion, the look of on site finished is much nicer than prefinished. But, that is just my own personal opinion.

How do I clean my hardwood flooring?