StewartFloor Blog

The hardwood flooring business has changed dramatically over the last 4 years just like everything else has.  Brazilian Hardwood Flooring has increased in pricing due to currency issues with the weak dollar, less supply overall as the internal South American markets have shown unprecedented demand and less resources due to a correct crackdown on illegal activities which some participated in.

This is actually a very exciting time because these woods are being respected for what they are and not simply a low cost alternative or similar price alternative to domestic woods.  The reality is that these are more expensive woods today and you definitely have to want to pay the premium in order to attain these gorgeous dense rich hardwoods.  It seems correct that these woods have now truly become more boutique as stewartfloor believes they always should have been.  Why stain a wood when nature can provide the coloring you want naturally?

We continue to develop new species and will have some new options arriving in the coming months, stay tuned for announcements.  We also have some exciting new developments we are working on for our prefinished materials stateside.  All of our material we prefinish in North America arrives to Premiere Finishing & Coating and they unload our containers.  From there, they custom apply specific stewartfloor finishes and pack into our stewartfloor boxes.

We are direct container importers and own every square foot we sell.  If you bought from another online company, you may very well have received stewartfloor product in stewartfloor boxes as we have worked with many of these companies over the years.  Why not buy direct?  Call us today, we only import South American flooring manufactured in South America, we offer no Chinese manufactured products.

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Stewart Floor video shows our sourcing reach to all corners of Brazil, Paraguay & Peru.  From the forest to the log, sawmill to container shipment and onto prefinishing and installation in your home.  Stewartfloor is proud to be a part of your families memories.  We are happy to provide you with free expert advice, after all, we own everything we sell as we purchase containers direct from our small group of family owned manufacturing partners, import with our own USDA permits and deliver product to you.  We don’t just have a nice website, this video shows you the effort we make to bring the beauty of the forest direct to you in a responsible manner and with a proven quality product.

Featured in this video are various Braziian Hardwood Flooring species from Brazilian Cherry being prefinished to Santos Mahogany and Tigerwood installations.

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If you think that most American consumers can ‘only’ afford Chinese engineered flooring, you’ve already lost! Products need to compete on quality and value not simply who has the lowest price. Low prices do not inherently equal value, in fact, many times they can be the worst value. As engineered flooring is the most technically challenging to produce correctly, manufacturing techniques need to be evaluated. America doesn’t deserve blind allegiance, nor do we deserve to face unfair trade practices. We must compete on quality, ingenuity and value. The fact is that a foreign company cannot own the majority of a company in China, this is great for the Chinese as the transfer of intellectual property is great and you help create your largest competitor. Where is the environmental community activists and social justice defenders when it comes to China? Human rights, work place safety etc. I don’t remember seeing fences in America or Europe or South America to prevent workers from jumping to their death. We are much more open to the world’s products than they are to ours. American consumers have the greatest choice because we are the most open.

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If you are in the market for a solid prefinished exotic wood floor, I’d encourage you to review my website, www.stewartfloor.com. We offer Brazilian Cherry, Brazilian Teak, Brazilian Walnut, Tigerwood, Amendoim, Tiete Rosewood, Patagonian Rosewood and Santos Mahogany.
When you do business with stewartfloor, you are purchasing from a direct container importer. We have 14+ years in exotic woods and purchase from a select group of manufacturers in Brazil, Paraguay and Peru. Our background is based in our experience servicing major flooring distributors around the country in container volumes. We do not buy from other importers inventories and sell product to you once you’ve paid us like so many on the internet do. You are talking directly with the owner at stewartfloor.

All of our products are Lacey Act compliant, we have our own Customs Bond with the USDA to import our products and we use only German & Swedish finishes on our products.  In other words, we really have “skin in the game.”

There is no middleman at stewartfloor and we know exactly what we are selling because we actually own it, have our own quality control in South America and have longterm relationships with only a few quality suppliers. We own and maintain hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory in 4 warehouses across the United States.

We have many satisfied clients and you will find some of their testimionials in the blog section of our site.

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You have many options today for purchasing Exotic Hardwood Flooring. Many of these companies sell all kinds of wood flooring, at stewartfloor, our nearly 14 years of experience in wood flooring are with Exotic species.  We are experts on the direct sourcing, quality control programs with our manufacturers, container shipments, warehousing and delivery to you.  We own everything we sell, we don’t take your payment and go purchase the flooring from someone else and than ship to you.  We are fully invested in what we do.  We have stock currently in 3 warehouses around the country.  Why buy from stewartfloor?

1.  Consistency.  Our products are consistently manufactured and supplied by a small group of family owned operations throughout several countries in South America.  This means we have consistent products which fit together year after year.

2.  Inventory.  We are known for having stock available for immediate shipment.  Stewartfloor is known as one of the largest importers and stock holders of hard to find species such as Amendoim.

3.  Quality proven over years of selling flooring distributors, retailers and homeowners.  Stewartfloor has our own quality control personnel in South America providing additional technical support and control to our manufacturing partners.

4.  Environmental Responsibility.  As direct importers we have our own customs bond and only import products which have correct legal documentation.  It’s less expensive to not do things right, but this is not how we do business at stewartfloor.  All of our products conform to The Lacey Act in order to help prevent illegal logging.

5.  We have been experts in Exotic wood species for nearly 14 years!  We understand the proper installation and characteristics of these species.

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During my recent visit to Brazil I found many interesting opportunities.  One of them was the plantation teak I had  mentioned earlier in the summertime.  The plantation is highly impressive and shows what can be done and how quickly these plantations mature.  I also found some other very interesting species which had been planted some years ago in Brazil as a test and out of curiousity, such as Khaya Ivorensis or commonly referred to as “African Mahogany.”

The future is bright and we are on our way.

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The Woodman is here to tell you if you are in the market for an Exotic Wood Floor – don’t procrastinate.  The wood supply in South America is very tight and this is true for these species regardless of where the final product is being produced – South America, Asia or Europe.  In addition to this tight supply, the economies in South America have done very well over the last few years and are strong buyers internally of these species now.

Stay tuned for more exciting news coming soon.  Leave the work to us, we have longterm relationships with quality manufacturers and all of our products are Lacey Act approved.

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Hello from the Woodman.  Today I thought we should touch on wood flooring finishes.  Have you ever noticed the plasticky effect of most wood floors?  Have you ever wondered why wood is the only “natural” product in which we create this false look?  You don’t see this in stone or metal for example.

The “standard” wood finish or at least the one that consumers have been pushed into accepting is what we call a full fill finish.  This means that the pores and grain of the species are filled to achieve a completely smooth face.  Depending how open grained a wood is, this becomes technically difficult as in the process of trying to “Fill” this grain you can have other finishing challenges come to the forefront.  Additionally, it doesn’t achieve it’s true “natural” effect as this finish is sitting on top of the wood rather as being one with the wood itself.

Stewartfloor has developed our exclusive atelier finish to bring the naturalness back and with easy care.  Our atelier finish is an open pore, very low gloss finish.  Think about it, have you ever seen a shiny piece of fresh cut wood?  No, because this isn’t a natural look.  Our exclusive atelier finish brings the best attributes of aluminum oxide and an old world oil finish for the look and ease of maintenance you desire.  Gloss has it’s place in furniture and this is where the finishes for flooring developed from, but these finishes create more light reflection, show significantly more wear and are more difficult to keep looking their best.  This has practical implications as well as significant design considerations.

Discover the difference today and see for yourself the natural difference.  Atelier finish currently available in Brazilian Teak/Cumaru, Tiete Chestnut/Sucupira and Santos Mahogany.

Santos Mahogany Atelier Collection

Santos Mahogany Standard Industry Finish

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Well, at least someones economy is doing well!  The Brazilian economy has grown consistently over recent years and as you may know, they are 100% energy independent – feeling jealous anyone?  Given the way our governments manage trade policies and incentives on others exported goods and given the success of Brazil over recent years, the U.S. Government has now finally revoked the duty rebate on these products.  What does this mean?  It means that the price has gone up by 3.2%!

Supply remains very challenging this logging season.  If you are in the market for a new gorgeous Brazilian Hardwood floor, please don’t wait as supplies are difficult and as the old adage goes “It’s a supply and demand thing.”

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Hello from  The Woodman!  If you are shopping for Exotic Hardwood Flooring call us today.  Looking for true expert advice on product & installation?  Yes, imagine that, someone who really has expert knowledge on what they sell and provides you with world class service before and after the sale.

As a direct importer, there is absolutely no middleman at stewartfloor, you will find exceptional quality, service and stock availability here in North America.  We purchase in bulk and hold stock so you can save money on the finest Exotic Hardwood Flooring delivered to your doorstep.

We are happy to provide industry referrals as well as testimonials, some of which are located on our website.  We don’t advertise in order to keep our prices down, but we hope you will compare the products from those national companies with ours and see the difference for yourself.

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