Hickory Flooring in Murfreesboro, TN

If you want a wood floor that stands up to a busy family, we'd point you to hickory. We lay it in Murfreesboro homes in solid boards or engineered planks. Below you'll find how the wood behaves, what we do with it before it goes down, and what we write into your quote.

Is hickory a good fit for your rooms?

Silvics of North America, a U.S. Forest Service guide to trees, says no commercial wood matches the true hickories when you add strength, toughness, hardness and stiffness together. The same guide names flooring as one of the main jobs hickory lumber does, along with furniture and tool handles.

A Forest Service review of shagbark hickory, a common kind of hickory tree, calls the wood a good fit for uses where it has to take impact and stress. That's why we suggest hickory for a mudroom, a family room or a kitchen where chairs get dragged every night.

Pecan or true hickory

The Wood Handbook from the Forest Products Laboratory, the Forest Service's wood research lab, says true hickories grow across the eastern half of the country. It names shagbark, pignut, shellbark and mockernut as the ones that matter most for lumber. The pecan hickory group is bitternut, pecan, water and nutmeg hickory, and the handbook says heavy pecan hickory goes into flooring as well as tool handles.

We put the group, and the species when the mill tells us, on your written quote, so you know what you're paying for.

Two colors in one floor

The handbook says true hickory sapwood, the outer wood just under the bark, is white and often quite wide, while the heartwood from the middle of the trunk is reddish.

We lay rows out loose from several bundles before we fasten anything, so you see that mix on the floor, and we move boards around if you'd like the color to look calmer in one room, such as a formal dining room.

Hickory, moisture and shrinking

The Wood Handbook says true hickory shrinks a great deal as it dries. The Forest Products Laboratory also says wood settles to match the humidity of the air around it, and that a wood floor can crack if it picks up moisture and then shrinks once the heat comes on.

We take that seriously. We open the bundles inside your house so every face of the wood meets the indoor air, and we take moisture meter readings on random boards the day they arrive and again before we lay them. We leave a gap at each wall under the trim so the floor can move.

The EPA suggests keeping indoor humidity under 60 percent, and ideally between 30 and 50 percent. We'd aim for that range in the rooms where we lay hickory, with your air conditioner or a dehumidifier doing the work in summer.

Tearing out the old floor

Your old carpet, wood or vinyl has to go somewhere. The City of Murfreesboro's solid waste FAQ says the city won't pick up anything set by the curb and only empties what is inside your garbage cart. Rutherford County says construction and demolition debris can't go to its convenience centers and has to go to the county transfer station.

We tell you in the quote whether we haul the old floor away or whether that stays with you.

How we work in your house

Because hickory is so hard, we fit fresh saw blades and swap sanding paper often to keep cuts clean and the sanded surface flat.

OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency, says wood dust turns into a possible health problem once sanding and cutting throw wood particles into the air. We hang plastic over doorways, set the saw up outside or in the garage when we can, and vacuum as we go.

Your quote, in writing

We measure first, then send a written price. It depends on the square footage, how many doorways and closets we cut around, the species group, grade and board width, and whether the old floor or a weak subfloor has to be dealt with. If the boards come unfinished, we also sand and finish them in your home, and we count that in too.

Before you sign with anyone, check the quote lists:

• True hickory or pecan hickory, and solid or engineered.
• Board grade, width and thickness.
• When the boards will be delivered and how their moisture will be tested.
• The finish brand, sheen and number of coats.
• Who moves furniture, and who hauls the old floor to the transfer station.

Questions about hickory flooring in Murfreesboro

Call about your hickory floor

Phone us, or fill in the quote form with your ZIP code and the rooms you have in mind. We'll come out, measure, walk you through hickory groups, grades and finishes, and send a written quote. For our other flooring services, visit the Murfreesboro Hardwood Flooring home page.