October 2015 Floor of the Month

Wickham Hardwood Natural Yellow Birch Cottage Collection 5" Wide 3/4" thick 100% Canadian Made Solid Hardwood takes the stage for the Owen Flooring, October 2015 Floor of the Month!

Natural Hardwood Flooring is personally one of my favourite looks when it comes to hardwood flooring. The timeless look of natural wood is always in style, it was popular back in the early 1900's and continues to be sought after today. To me the biggest plus of having a natural hardwood floor is that when is gets marked or scratched (and it will) the marking will also be natural showing far less noticeable over a darker floor.

Wickham Cottage Collection Birch

Wickham's Cottage Collection  will give your home a distinctive look as it is made up of a combination of 50% Select grade & 50% Rustic grade wood flooring. With it's broad country style boards and its natural features like knots and variation in graining, you will feel like you have brought nature right into your home!

Janka Hardness Scale

So why Yellow Birch? isn't Yellow Birch soft? Actually No! The hardness of wood is rated on an industry wide test called the Janka hardness scale. Janka shows yellow birch at 1260 and Northern Red Oak at 1290, this is not much different considering Walnut is only 1010 and Hickory is 1820, therefore when asked if Yellow Birch is soft, I often respond with "do you think red oak is soft?" Actually often times wood marks and scratches have nothing to do with the hardness of the wood, but everything to do with the quality of the finish. Another thing you should know about Yellow Birch is that it is more pliable than harder products made with Hickory or Maple and when purchasing a solid wide plank floor, this is very important. With changes in humidity, pliability is probably the most important aspect of buying solid wide plank flooring because When Harder woods like Hickory expand and contract they tend to split unlike Yellow Birch that can move better with South-Western Ontario's humidity changes. Another big reason I love Birch is that it has one of the most beautiful natural grains of any of the Hardwood's and simply looks stunning as a floor. Another thing I love about this product is that the wood is grown, cut, milled and finished into a floor, right here in Canada and that means we are supporting Canadian industry and keeping jobs close to home! Oh and I almost forgot this Canadian Made Solid Hardwood Product, retails at Owen Flooring for only $4.99 sf.

So if you are looking for a beautiful new wide plank hardwood floor, consider the Owen Flooring October 2015 Floor of the Month Wickham Hardwood Cottage Collection Birch!

Sept. 2015 Floor of the Month, DalTile Cotto Contempo

DalTile Cotto Contempo takes the stage in Sept 2015 as The Floor of the Month! This is the first time that a Porcelain Tile has won this award. So the question is "Why DalTile Cotto Contempo?   

Expansive as it is stunning, this gorgeous, upscale glazed porcelain marries a bold cotto look with elements of cracked cement. Equally at home in an urban loft or country villa, Cotto Contempo’s contemporary, large-format tiles are a great choice for floors, walls, countertops and more. With its earthy, dimensional hues and multi-faceted color variance Cotto Contempo offers stunning, modern style in four colors to indoor and outdoor spaces.

This beautiful textured tile has three sizes

13x13, 12x24 & 20x20 and is available in four different colours. This stunning tile also has corresponding mouldings to match, like bullnose and covebase mouldings making baseboard and stair-noses never look so good!

So it is no wonder that this beautiful multi tone, multi size texture porcelain tile takes the stage in September of 2015 for the Owen Flooring Floor of the Month!

August 2015 Floor of the Month Twelve Oaks Master Artisan White Oak Chandler

Gord displaying the Ultra Long & Extra Wide White Oak Chandler

After having a record breaking July, Owen Flooring is following it up with an even better August and our exclusive Twelve Oaks Master Artisan White Oak Chandler is certainly topping the charts for quality and style, making this product the Owen Flooring Product of the Month. 


The White Oak Chandler in general has a white washed, wire brushed look that is certainly trending in the industry right now. This heavy character engineered wood flooring product is Extra Long and Ultra Wide, with a board length of over 6ft and a board width of 7.5 inch on a rustic White Oak species. I personally have never seen a product with this length and width that looks so beautiful. Like the Twelve Oaks Lake Huron Collection this product includes tongue and grove construction, making it available to be installed by using the nail down, float, or glue down method. This product also includes a Smooth Authentic PPG Alluminum Oxide Reinforced Finish, allowing it to have a 35 year wear layer warranty. This product also comes E1 certified, meaning it has low emissions and is environmentally responsible.


The features of this product do not stop with it being a quality product with a stunning look that is environmentally responsible! This beautiful product retails for $7.49 sf which is virtually unheard of for a product of this nature.

Therefor a combination of Quality, Style & Price makes the Twelve Oaks Master Artisan, White Oak Chandler the winner of The Owen Flooring August 2015 Floor of the Month!

July 2015, Mirage Old Maple Rock Cliff

It is always very easy for me to pick a Mirage product as my top pick for the month because Mirage is known to be the absolute best hardwood flooring on the market today! After Floor Covering News, Floor Focus & FCW all released that Mirage was voted #1 for Quality within Hardwood flooring manufacturers yet again this year, it only seems suiting that a Mirage product wins the Owen Flooring Floor of the Month for July 2015.

Gord Showcasing Mirage
Old  Maple Rock Cliff 

So other than the obvious quality aspects of the Mirage product, why does Old Maple Rock Cliff take the stage as the Floor of the Month? Well for starters this product is a part of the Imagine Collection what I believe to be one of the best flooring lines in the history of flooring. This product is available in a half in engineered product either 5 or 6.5 inches wide and is made with the best available baltic birch core on the market today from Wisa Plywood. Although the core is made in Finland the ultra thick Maple wear layer is completely processed right here in Canada along with the assembly of the product, and this product being Canadian Made means allot to us here at Owen Flooring especially right after celebrating Canada Day on July 1. 

Mirage Imagine Collection Old Maple Rock Cliff

The main reason this product takes the stage for Floor of the Month is the colour of the product, we have had so many customers asking for light grey tones that work with their paint colours and light Kitchen Cabinet selections and Rock Cliff seams to more often than not be a great fit. Another reason is this product has a finish that is 5 times better than the leading competitor along with distress marks all over it. These distress marks really disguise any markings that dogs, kids and many other challenges that everyday that life throws at us! 

Mixing the absolute best in Quality, a fantastic unique style, with a beautiful grey tone that suits nearly any home, are our main reasons that the Mirage Old Maple Rock Cliff from the Imagine Collection win the award for Floor of the Month at Owen Flooring. 

For more info about Mirage Hardwood Flooring, check out this Blog post What Hardwood Flooring Brand Should I Choose?