Seasons Hardwood Flooring, Canadian Made!

My name is Kevin Owen owner of Owen Flooring in Chatham-Kent Ontario. I started out as a hardwood flooring installer in 2004 working with a local home builder in the area. I have installed the absolute best hardwood flooring products as well as some of the worst quality products on the market over the last 10 years. When my wife Stephanie and I opened our store in 2012, we decided at that time  that we would only install the absolute best quality products that we know and trust. I met Kerry Watson the representative of Seasons Flooring in the spring of 2012 after installing his flooring for a client in London On.

Seasons NorthPlank Nat. Birch

Kerry introduced me to three lines of Seasons Flooring all with the very durable Husky Coat Plus finish patented by Seasons Flooring. Husky Coat Plus has a 35 year residential warranty, in fact this finish is so strong that even scrubbing it with a 000 steel wool will not scratch it and is 10 times more durable than a polyurethane applied finish. This finish also has an exclusive stain guard incorporated into the top layer of finish, in fact this layer is so stain resistant, it will even resist stains from an indelible marker and iodine. This Husky Coat Finish also offers a much higher UV resistance than most competitive brands. Husky Coat is also resistant to bacteria which might breed and grow in competitive flooring brands.


The first line that was introduced to me was called NorthPlank. NorthPlank is a 3/4 inch solid wood line that is available at value price of $3.99sf-$6.29sf depending on species and board width. NorthPlank is available in Red Oak, Maple & Birch and board width of 2.25, 3.25, 4 & 5 inch and is available in 5 different colours on every species. With NorthPlank you might see board lengths up to 7.25 feet long and I might add this is tremendously long for a solid wood product! To me NorthPlank is the true look of wood with lots of variation showing all the true grain and mineral marks that wood has to offer.

Seasons S&B Maple colour Linen

The next line introduced was the Seasons Select and Better Line. The select and Better Line is still finished with the high quality Husky Coat Finish Plus. This line has the same long board lengths as NorthPlank as well as the same three species available with Oak, Maple & Birch, however is available in many more colours including custom colours if requested. The Select and Better line has less variation for a more uniformed looking floor and retails for aprox $5.50 sf- $6.75 sf.

The third line introduced to me was the Winery Collection of Birch and Oak, this line is without a doubt my favourite line that Seasons has to offer and in fact could very well be my favourite line on the market today. This is a custom ordered floor, meaning your floor is your floor and there will not be another one like it, no matter how far you travel across the World. With eight colours on Birch and four colours on Oak and three different sizes available and even the option of mixing widths, if you are looking for a rustic floor, this might just be the one for you! The Winery Collection has the same Husky Coat Finish, however the people at

Seasons Winery Collection Chateau Lachute

seasons have lowered the gloss level, this simulates an oil rubbed finish with none of the disadvantages and it is called Oil FX. The Seasons Winery Collection is the most expensive line of hardwood flooring available from Seasons ranging from aprox $6.15 sf- $8.55 sf, however this is not unreasonable for the amount of work that goes into each and every custom flooring board.

Seasons International Display with
Winery in the background at
the  Owen Flooring showroom

Over the past three years with Seasons Flooring much has changed! In fact Seasons has released an engineered hardwood floor. The new engineered hardwood line is available with any of the oak and maple Seasons products and is always a special order, however it is still available and a very good product!  Seasons have also just released a Wire-brushed Oak product that is really a beauty, available in traditional wire-brushed look or the new International lines look with a black or white under coat. This product is difficult for me to describe because of just how unique is, however if this product line interests you, please contact me, because I would love to show it to you!

Like I said earlier in this post, I have seen high quality hardwood flooring products and I have seen low quality hardwood flooring products. Seasons Flooring is certainly a higher quality Canadian hardwood manufacturer that manages to sell their quality products at a very good price point. I would not hesitate to install this beautiful product in my home, in fact you might be seeing the Winery Collection on the floor at Owen Flooring very soon.

Ceramic Tile Problems? Choose the right Subfloor!!!

Ceramic, porcilan and stone tile certainly have its problems, or is the problem the subfloor that is under these tiles that is the problem?

Cracking, Buckling, Broken, Grout issues, Cold on the feet, and damp are all issues I have heard about when talking to customers about tile. What if I told you these problems are not related to the tile, and in most cases they are a direct result of the subfloor that is installed below the tile.

The truth is at first I agreed with the common norm, there is and can be many problems associated with tile, however it is so strange to me that all these homes built from the 1970's to now have had tons of issues with their tile, meanwhile humans have been laying tile for thousands of years and today thousands of years later, some of that tile is still in good condition. Therefor I have to ask the question Why?

Well as humans we have gone through 2 major methods of Installing tile subfloor, the historic but quality method called the Uncoupling method and the more modern method called the Direct Bond Method.

Direct Bond Method or more formally known as the Thin-set method is exactly how it sounds, the tiles are installed directly on a subfloor or concrete using a thin-set mortar as an adhesive, shown in Figure B. Cracking, Buckling, Broken and Grout issues become present when the subfloor, floor joist, even cement moves or shifts below the tiles.

Ancient Uncoupling Method This method has been present for thousands of years and has proven to be a much more stable installation method than the Direct Bond Method, however the steps involved are far too extensive to do in todays construction. Thousands of years ago installers would lay an ultra thick layer of sand over top of the sub-floor and the tile would get adhered over the sand, so if the subfloor were to move or shift in anyway the sand was able to move under the tile without causing the same issues as the Direct Bond method.

The Answer? Well obviosly we are not going to come into your home with pounds of sand, so the answer is Schluter Ditra, Ditra XL, & Ditra Heat!



Why? Because these three Schluter Ditra products are uncoupling products designed to work the very same way as the Ancient uncoupling method, with a much lighter and more basic installation method.

How Does Ditra Work? Ditra products provide uncoupling through its open rib structure, which allows for in-plane movement that effectively neutralizes the differential movement stresses between the substrate and the tile, thus eliminating the major causes of tiles to crack, buckle, break and have grout issues.

What About the Tile Being Cold & Damp? Good question! Ditra Heat is a subfloor with heat option built in, although a bit more expensive than the traditional Ditra, well worth it for people that do not like the cold. Also you should know that Ditra, Ditra XL & Ditra Heat are all made with polyethylene composition making it a vapour barrier from dampness from below. Many people that install Dirtra/Ditra XL under their tile believe their tile is warmer because of it, when in reality the Ditra is just stopping the vapours from below, removing the damp feel of the tile floor.

What Is The Most Durable Hardwood Flooring For Pets?

Mirage Imagine Old Hickory Barn wood

Many Canadians are dog owners and dog lovers and if you are like me your dog is part of the family! Does this mean you cant have a hardwood floor? Well... not necessarily, although I do not recommend hardwood flooring to most dog owners, there are some hardwood floors that will scratch less than others, along with other hardwood looking options.

Type of Finish & Finish Lustre 
This is the most important part of this blog post, although others might start by recommending a rock hard type of wood, this is not as important as the quality of the finish, as in most cases it is the finish that scratches not the wood itself. I generally recommend the Mirage Nanolinx HD  because it has proven to be 5 times more resilient than the nearest competition. I would also recommend that you pick a low luster finish like the Cashmere or DuraMatt option from Mirage or Oil FX that Seasons Flooring offers. All of these options are low luster finishes that are designed to look like an oiled finished floor without the maintenance and other disadvantages of oil and is the most practical wood finish for families with children and pets. I personally love the Mirage cashmere finish on a nice wire-brushed product.

Style

Mirage Imagine Collection Old Hickory Seashell 

The Style of a hardwood floor is also a very important decision, personally with pets I always recommend a wire-brushed or distressed product like Mirage Imagine Old Hickory Seashell. Wire-brushing and distressing a floor will actually give you a floor that has been marked, nicked, and well... wire-brushed, this means that if and when your loving dog scratches your floor, the scratch will be less visible because your floor will already be marked up. There are also many other  quality distressed lines available like the Mirage Imagine Collection, Kentwood Floors,  Seasons Winery Collection, Wickham Mountain Home or one of my personal favorites the Vintage Hand-scraped.


Type Of Wood
Yellow Birch, Red Oak, White Oak, Maple & Hickory are all very good hardwoods to use as a flooring product with animals, they are all very hard types of wood. My preference is actually yellow birch & red oak, although they are the softest of the five woods, yellow birch & red oak seems to be the best wood species for flooring because of its combination of hardness and elasticity.

Brands
You will notice that I suggest the Canadian made Mirage hardwood throughout this blog post, if you are wondering why, it is because Mirage is the best hardwood flooring manufacturer in the World and if you read What Hardwood Flooring Brand Should I Choose? Blog I am confident you will see why. I also mention Canadian manufacturers like Wickham Flooring, Seasons Flooring and Vintage Flooring, I do this because these companies are also wonderful Canadian made products that are built to last and are generally more affordable than the #1 Floor in the World, Mirage. If you want more information about Seasons Flooring, check out this blog post Seasons Canadian Made Hardwood.