MIRAGE ENGINEERED HARDWOOD FLOORING
a beautiful high-tech floor for over radiant heat and concrete sub-floors
Mirage Engineered 3/8" Hardwood Floor: Santos Mahogany
Mirage Engineered Flooring has been specifically
designed for environments where it is often not possible to
use the traditional solid wood floor... but designed it in
such a way that it looks, acts and can be sanded exactly like
its 3/4" thick solid wood cousin!
So how did they make
the Mirage Engineered Hardwood?
It has been designed with an extra thick layer of dry sawn
real wood that can be sanded 3-5 times as with the solid wood
"Classic" Mirage line of flooring.
Because the real wood layer is so thick they
had to laminate it a to a very strong Baltic Birch plywood
core. This is NOT a regular plywood with lots of holes and
only a few layers. Baltic Birch plywood has been used for
years by industrial pattern makers building templates for
new car parts and industrial components, thus it's tuff. It
counterbalances the tendency of the thick wood layer to want
to cup and offers maximum floor stability, with a glue down
installation option.
All four edges are machined with a perfect tongue
and groove fit and micro V-joint, and then sanded in 24"
wide panels to get a perfectly smooth surface that you'll
enjoy even with bare feet. It then gets boxed with 5 different
lengths of floor in each box, so that it lays and looks like
a traditional floor for either glue down or nail down applications.
Cross Section of a Mirage Engineered
Floor
So why would you use it?
- If you have a radiant heating system in place. This is
the only type of real wood flooring that can maintain its
dimensional stability over infloor heating.
- you would like to install a real wood floor over a concrete
slab, like in condominiums or offices. Classic solid wood
floors need to be nailed in place, which is not possible
on a cement slab, thus you must look at floors that have
installation methods more appropriate to cement's limitations
where nailing is not an option.
- you'd like to have a real wood floor in your basement,
a below grade installation. Moisture conditions in below
grade applications, as well as the cement subfloor issue
as discussed above, prevent the use of a "classic"
wood floor in these locations. A Mirage Engineered floor
is perfect in this situation.
- You'd like to consider installing a border. Using engineered
simplifies the installation. Instead of attempting to nail
very short decorative pieces or corner highlighter blocks
and having the nail crack the tongue you can just use a
little glue.. works perfectly.
- You need a thinner floor, either because you have no clearance
under the dishwasher or you'd like to match up with an existing
3/8" thick ceramic tile.
- You'd like to install a wide plank flooring.. not a particularly
wise decision if you live in a geographic area like Sudbury,
Ontario that swings from 30% to 60% in relative humidity
over the course of a year. Wide floors have much fewer nails
holding the boards in place (in rows 5" apart rather
then 3" apart). As such they are very prone to cupping
and buckling with seasonal fluctuations. With an engineered
floor you can glue it down and get 100% surface adhesion
to the subfloor.... a great installation method to improve
your possibilities of success if you insist in installing
wide plank flooring.
- You'd like to make an environmentally sound decision.
Mirage Engineered flooring uses only 1/3 of the decorative
wood per square foot, as compared to a solid wood floor.
An issue particularly important when talking about exotic
woods like Sapele, Santos Mahogany and Jatoba.
- Pricing: Typically between $6.00 and $8.00 .. a superior product at a more than competitive price
Any of these stories are a great reason to select a Mirage
engineered hardwood flooring.. and that is besides the fact
that it looks beautiful and installs with just about finger
tip pressure.
Product Options:
- available: in 3/8" thick by 2 9/16" and 3 5/16"
wide
- wide plank option: 1/2" thick by 5" wide
- Available in all the same woods and colour choices as
the classic line as well as a number of exotic species,
thus whatever decorating decisions you make on the main
floor, they can be carried into the basement
- Exotic Woods: Sapele, Jatoba, Merbau, Santos Mahogany.
- Can be glued or nailed.
Specialty Products:
In their line of maple flooring, Mirage also makes a wide
plank floor that has been overdyed with two tone stains to
create an exciting set of visuals. It includes natural wood
defects like knots and bark pockets... a perfect rich underlay
of colour and figure to compliment any country living decorating
decisions.
5" Maple "Toffee"
Mirage Hardwood Engineered Floor
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