City Floor Supply carries a wide range of hardwood flooring products from Century – a leading wood floor manufacturer. We thought you might want to know about one on the many unique qualities Century hardwood floors have to offer — their finish.

All of the pre-finished floors supplied by Century feature a water-based aluminum-oxide, UV cured finished. Aluminum-oxide is an industry standard in use for pre-finished floors. Aluminum-oxide extends the life of the floor finish, however it can also make wood brittle if not applied properly. Since wood naturally expands and contracts, a wood plank with too much aluminum-oxide will create a spider web or fractured pattern in the finish. Century puts just enough aluminum-oxide in the wood for the finish to last, but not so much that it spider webs.

Some of the Century products also have 3M Scotchgard in their finish. Scotchgard protects against any sort of stain from liquids (provided the liquid is cleaned up before it dries). It also prevents dirt and grime from building up and dulling the sheen of the finish. Scotchgard is infused throughout the finish film — it’s not simply applied to the top layer of the wood. Don Settles, a Sales Representative for Century Flooring had this to say, “When I first got a sample of our flooring with the finish we developed I poured oil, mustard, and nail polish on the floor. As long as the spill is cleaned up in a proper manner, the 3M Scotchgard stops liquid from damaging the finish.”

These floors are designed to last. In an industry standard abrasion test of over 200 cycles, the Century floors retained 80% of their finish. Century is so confident in their product that they offer a 25 year warranty. In fact, Settles said, “I’ve yet to see a warranty claim with our new finishes on finish wear.”

Century has also put a lot of effort into making their company and products eco-friendly. All of their hardwood floors are CARB compliant. They were one of the first flooring companies to achieve Phase 2 of CARB’s policies. Century also submits their floors to the FloorScore process. This is an independent process to test the wood in 78 different categories for volatile organic compounds (V.O.C.).

We all know the benefits to pre-finished floors. They are easier to use than on-site finished floors, the amount of dust created during the installation process is reduced, there’s no foul odor from applying finish, and your clients can walk on their brand new floor sooner rather than later. With Century floors, you get all the advantages of pre-finished floors plus the benefits of their specially designed finishes.