Hardwood Flooring in Anthem, AZ

If you are looking into hardwood flooring in Anthem, you are probably in a house built some time after Del Webb began developing the community in 1998. Its 5,856 acres spread below Daisy Mountain and Gavilan Peak, about 30 miles north of downtown Phoenix, with Interstate 17 as the main route between the two. Many of its homes are now well past their first decade, and the carpet and tile that came with them are often the first things owners want gone.

Three subdivisions, three sets of rules

Parkside, Country Club and the Village are Anthem's three subdivisions, and every one of them elects a separate HOA board. Interior flooring often falls outside architectural review, but associations can still set rules on contractor hours, parking, dumpster placement and where old material can go. Before we schedule, it is worth a look at the guidelines for your section. We can put our scope, schedule and waste plan in writing so you have something to hand your association if it asks.

A slightly different climate than the Valley floor

At 1,864 feet, Anthem runs a little cooler than the Phoenix neighborhoods to the south and gets more rain, with an estimated average of about 12.3 inches a year. That is still a dry place for wood. Indoor air spends long stretches well below the humidity a floor is milled for, and then the monsoon (June 15 through September 30, per the National Weather Service) brings a stretch of higher humidity. A wood floor shrinks in the dry months and swells during the wet ones. We plan for both: acclimating the flooring in your home before installation, leaving proper expansion space at walls, and steering most slab installs toward engineered hardwood, which moves less than solid boards.

When water gets in

On July 31, 2012, a storm dropped 5.01 inches of rain on Anthem in about 90 minutes, and the flooding that followed damaged homes. It was described as a one-in-1,000-year rain event, so it is not something to plan your life around. But water reaches floors in more ordinary ways too: a failed supply line, a leaking dishwasher, a sliding door that lets in rain during a summer storm. When it happens to a wood floor, we:

• Look for the source first, because replacing boards over an active leak wastes your money
• Check how far moisture has spread with a meter, not by eye
• Replace cupped, stained or delaminated boards with matching stock where we can
• Blend the repair into the surrounding finish, or recommend refinishing the room if the color difference would show

Choosing a floor for an Anthem house

Many homes here have open great rooms that run from the entry to the kitchen to the patio door. A continuous floor through that space looks best, but it also means one product has to handle sun from big windows, foot traffic from the garage and spills by the sink. We usually suggest a wire-brushed or lightly textured engineered white oak in a matte finish. It hides everyday scratches and dust better than a glossy floor. For stairs, we can match treads and nosing to the main floor so the look carries upstairs.

Owners for the long term

Owners occupy 84.9% of Anthem homes, per the Census Bureau, and 87% of residents had not moved over the prior twelve months. We pick products with that in mind: an engineered floor with a wear layer thick enough to refinish down the road, and finishes that can take a screen and recoat in a few years instead of a full sanding.

Next step

Ring (480) 565-7673 and pick a day for us to come out. Expect measurements, flatness and moisture checks on the slab, and a quote on paper afterward.

Call (480) 565-7673