Columbia Flooring
Columbia Flooring is a manufacturer of wood flooring products headquartered in Danville, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Columbia Forest Products. The company has four other manufacturing locations throughout the eastern United States, and two more manufacturing plants in Malaysia. Columbia Flooring has been in business for more than forty years.
Columbia Flooring makes a variety of wood flooring products. You can buy laminate, engineered and solid wood flooring from remodeling contractors and home improvement stores. Your choice depends on your budget, whether you have in-floor heat or not, and the look you are after.
Columbia Flooring makes solid and engineered hardwood flooring. Solid flooring is just that - one solid piece of wood. Engineered wood is real wood, but it is not cut in one piece. Instead, up to ten thin layers of wood, called plies, are glued together with their grains running crosswise to each other. Engineered wood is more stable than solid wood, less apt to expand and contract under changing humidity and heat source (in-floor heat isn't as hard on laminate or engineered flooring as it is on solid flooring).
While much of Columbia Flooring's products are made from American woods such as oak, maple, and pine, the company has added several lines of exotic hardwood products since 2005.
Part of Columbia Flooring's strategy for entering the exotic wood flooring market was its acquisition of Malaysia Wood Industries Sdn. Bhd. (MWI), an engineered hardwood flooring manufacturing operation with two plants located in Sungai Petani, Malaysia and sales offices in the US, Europe and the Far East. Prior to the acquisition, Columbia Flooring imported finished exotic wood laminate flooring.
Two designs introduced in 2005 include Santos Mahogany and Patagonian Rosewood laminated flooring. Both are extra-wide board designs. A 9-1/2 inch board is sawn lengthwise into three, three-inch strip planks, which are matched on site to create the appearance of a single extra-wide board.
In January, 2006, Columbia Flooring was chosen to manufacture the popular Laura Ashley line of hardwood and laminate flooring products. The new products include solid and engineered hardwoods in traditional and exotic species. Columbia Flooring also makes, under the Laura Ashly brand, hand-sculpted and wide plank designs in a number of unique finishes. Columbia flooring also launched 8 and 9.5mm thickness laminates in various strip styles, slate, and other designs.
Columbia Flooring's product lines include solid hardwood floors in oak, maple, and exotic hardwoods. The solid flooring can be sanded and re-stained a number of times, typically every 15-20 years. It is a rich, grainy appearance that characterizes hardwood floors. Columbia Flooring's engineered wood products are finished at the factory with DiamondPlate™ aluminium oxide finish that makes them easy to care for and less susceptible to humidity.
Columbia Flooring also produces laminate floorings. These products are multi-layered, featuring a clear, abrasion and stain resistant top layer. Next comes the "design" layer, typically melamine, which can have patterns ranging from wood grains to a slate-like pattern or designs of just about any kind. The core layer is typically constructed of high-density fiberboard, made with a water-resistant glue. Laminate flooring planks are made with tongue-and-groove edges. They are designed for the do-it-yourselfer. Laying a laminate floor is as simple as laying down planks and tapping them snugly against one another. Often such floors are not glued or nailed in place, but allowed to "float" to accommodate changes in dimensions due to temperature and humidity.
Columbia Flooring products are distributed through retail home improvement centers, interior designers, and remodelers.
