Thursday, June 22, 2017
Madera, a Brooklyn-born hardwood flooring company, is launching Titan -a sustainably harvested and locally made white oak floor of awesome proportion.
Titan is crafted of Pennsylvania White Oak, custom milled on a project to project basis. The logs are sawn and milled using traditional woodworking techniques, extracted from the forests by logging horses, rather than mechanical skidders which often damage the forest floor. The choice of only the tallest, straightest trees makes it possible to achieve these extraordinary dimensions. The 12” wide board finishes well over 1-1/8” thick and up to 16 foot lengths. The giant floorboards once installed are sanded and finished on site using natural clear oils that enhance the oak’s natural beauty. Pennsylvania White Oak from the Northwest of the State is full of character and warmth, while featuring rich, striking colors with dynamic variation.
The White Oak trees themselves are part of the ecological restoration of western Pennsylvania, an area that was decimated by the booming oil industry up until the mid-19th Century. These mature trees need to be properly harvested for the overall health and diversity of these magnificent forests. This forest-to-floors approach is modeled after the farm-to-table movement of the food industry, creating a direct link between the architect and client to the source of the wood.
As an alternate to our American made Titan Floor, Madera also provides Titan Balanced which is a 3-ply engineered European Oak hardwood floor. Titan balanced offers the same awesome dimensions as Titan but with superior stability. These trees are sustainably harvested from Germany’s Black Forest. German oak has a more open grain with less variation, simple textures and cooler, more subtle tones. This floor can be finished in advance at a state of the art floor finishing facility. Madera chooses to only use finishes that are understated, expressing a natural elegance that draws on inspiration from Scandinavian culture and design. The German Oak top and bottom surface is balanced by a softwood interior, which prevents bowing and shifting as temperature and moisture levels change. These monumental planks are up to 13 feet long, 14 inches wide, and over ¾ inches thick. Titan Balanced is stocked locally for projects with shorter lead times and design constraints and is most suitable for projects with more varied climates.
