We do not provide installation services but have no fear as there are many high-quality contractors in your state and the majority will be eager to provide a free estimate over the phone or in the comfort of your own home. We recommend that you check out our helpful article titled 7 Tips For Choosing A Floor Installer.
Below are a few questions you will want to consider before placing your order:
1. What type of subfloor (usually plywood or concrete) will the floor be installed over?
2. Do you already have a specific plan to float, nail, or glue down the floor, and if so, why?
3. What other types of flooring will the floor be butting up to? Will you require transition pieces and how many?
4. How much flooring will you need to complete the job? Have you added waste?
5. When do you plan to start, and when do you need to receive the flooring material?
6. What kind of traffic do you expect on the flooring? Do you have kids, dogs, is it a commercial space?
7. Will you be installing the floor yourself, or hiring a professional?
We highly recommend reading our Shipping Policy for a comprehensive explanation of our shipping processes.
We ship most freight orders (over 125 lbs) out within 4 business days of purchase, the average being 2 business days. For faster shipment of freight orders, we offer an Expedited Shipping option at checkout however please note that this simply means that we will ship the order out the next business day - it does not shorten the transit time once shipped. For small parcel orders we offer express UPS shipping options at checkout as well; please note that for express shipping services the order must be placed by 2pm EST in order to ship out that same day, otherwise we will process the shipment the next business day. We do not ship out orders, nor do the shipping companies deliver them, on weekends.
For residential lift-gate freight order deliveries, once the flooring order arrives at the local freight terminal, they will call you to schedule your delivery appointment, which is usually a 2-6 hour window on the day of your choosing (weekdays only) when possible. All deliveries are curbside as the freight companies do not offer inside delivery.
- You can send an email with your desired materials list or purchase order to [email protected], and our support team will email you a quote with a payment button.
- You can call our support team directly at (866) 710-7070 and place your order over the phone.
We highly recommend you review our Shipping Policy, which has a lot of great information and a short video about the shipping process. When your order ships out we’ll send you a notification email with all of your shipping information. Once the shipment arrives at the local freight terminal near your delivery location, the terminal staff will call you to schedule a delivery appointment* (weekdays, usually a 2-6 hour window). Make sure you don’t miss the delivery appointment or the freight company may charge a hefty re-delivery fee. *if you have selected commercial/freight dock delivery, freight may be delivered without needing an appointment
Once the order arrives, ensure you mark any damages you see on the driver’s bill of lading (they’ll then usually give you a copy). You don’t have to open and inspect every item, just look at the outside of the pallet – that is where the shipping damage will be. Ensure you write the number of damaged items and detailed notes, then take photos of the damaged items and email all of this information to your Ambient representative to ensure we can ship out free replacements.
Important note: If your delivery location is located on a road that cannot be accessed by a semi-trailer truck, you may be required to pick the freight up at the local terminal or meet the driver at an intermediary location.
We accept the following payments:
1. All major credit and debit cards.
2. Personal and bank checks (please note there may be a 14-day shipping delay).
3. ACH payments.
4. Paypal. In fact, PayPal Credit offers financing.
None of our products are brought inside the delivery location by the driver. All small parcel shipments are at the discretion and policy of the shipping company. All freight shipments are curbside delivery with lift-gate unless you specifically request freight dock delivery. Curbside delivery means they lower the pallet on the street at the end of the driveway. The drivers are not required to enter the property boundaries, although if not hazardous sometimes they’ll back up the driveway (if it’s flat and short) and drop the pallet on the driveway.
Someone must be on-site to receive the delivery and inspect it for exterior damage, and then note any damage on the driver’s bill of lading (otherwise we can’t send free replacements). We highly recommend that you do not pay laborers to sit around and wait for the delivery, as the freight companies do sometimes miss appointments and they do not reimburse for such lapses. In some cases at the time of checkout, our website will allow you to add "Garage Delivery" for an additional fee, but this includes rolling the materials pallet into a carport or garage only, and terms and conditions apply.
While it can be a bummer if your shipment arrives damaged – it is not the end of the world! We can easily send you free replacements for anything that was damaged in transit - all we ask is that you do not refuse the shipment and mark any damages on the receipt provided by the driver. After that, please take a few photos of product while it is still on the pallet and email them to [email protected] so we can make a record on your account. Then, please examine the items further once you've brought them inside to determine the extent of the damage, and take photos of affected areas if you require replacements. Once we receive the details and photos we will send out the replacements right away. Most of the time, installers will be able to work around the damage instead of waiting to get replacements. For more information please see our Shipping Policy page.
Occasionally you will have an item with a visible defect either in the stain, finish, or milling. Like most building materials suppliers our effective defect rate is under the industry-standard 3%. However, if you are finding that more than 3% of the product you have ordered has defects, please let us know as soon as possible so we can resolve the matter quickly.
We recommend that you review our handy Return Shipping Guide to see the detailed steps to return your order.
Yes, we may be able to accommodate this, but please note that we may still apply a small shipping and handling fee to your order. Please reach out to your sales representative for details.
The links to the policies below can also be found in the footer of our website, and we encourage all customers to review these policies before purchasing.
Absolutely! We’ve shipped our products to such far-flung locations as Guam, Kenya, Tanzania, Bahrain, Great Britain, Kuwait, France, Mexico, Canada, Hawaii, and many more. Please note that international shipments may require you to procure the services of a freight forwarder at the port of discharge; most port authorities can provide recommendations for reputable freight forwarders that service your home port. Also, minimum order quantities may apply to some countries. Call your Ambient representative today at (866) 710-7070 for shipping quotes to your country!
A dye lot is similar to a 'batch number' and is an alphanumeric code assigned to each different batch of flooring as it is manufactured.
For bamboo or eucalyptus floors: Since these floors are made from a natural material, there can be variation between lots/batches. The flooring sample(s) you received will have a sticker on the back that tells you the lot number that the flooring came from, and referencing this number when placing your order will ensure that the floors you receive come from the same lot that your sample was cut from. If you're ordering moldings to go with your flooring, please note that these products are manufactured separately from our floors and are not assigned lot numbers. It is our policy to fulfill every order (that contains floors and moldings) with the moldings and trim pieces that best match the dye lot of the flooring ordered.
For LVP floors: Since vinyl is not a natural product like wood, there is significantly less variation between lots or batches of flooring. Although it doesn't hurt to reference the lot number listed on your sample when placing your flooring order, it isn't 100% necessary to reference it.
We recommend that you always carefully measure your walls to determine how many moldings you'll need, however a quick ratio used by many installers is to order 30% of the total flooring square footage. For example, if you’re installing 1,000 sq ft of flooring you'll need roughly 300 linear feet of perimeter trim moldings. It also depends on how many cuts need to be made, but that rough estimate will get you started. For additional help with measurements for your project, check out our Square Footage Calculator (+ more)!
To check the length or other dimensions of our floor moldings, we recommend you check out our moldings & trim page - here you can click any item to go to its product detail page, which will contain a dimensions diagram with all the information you need.
At Ambient, we value the brave men and women that serve in our nation's armed forces and law enforcement agencies. We offer a 5% discount off all products for active-duty members of our U.S. armed forces and full-time local and state law enforcement. Clearance items and odd lots do not qualify for this discount and it cannot be combined with other promotions. Call (866) 710-7070 for additional details.
We do not recommend installers. However, you have several options available to you to locate a good installer:
- Ask friends and family. Someone you know has had wood flooring installed within the last 5 years. Ask neighbors, friends, family and coworkers if they were happy with their wood floor installer and if so get their name. Contractors appreciate word-of-mouth referrals and some may even offer a "neighborhood" discount. Yelp is also a good way to find installers; look for those with a minimum of 3-5 reviews.
- Do your homework. If a contractor disparages a certain product and tries to convince you to buy one of their own floors, be wary. Sometimes this is done because of a bad experience with a low quality brand in the past, and other times they're trying to earn an extra commission from a product distributor.
- Get at least 3 estimates. Most installers will give you a free estimate over the phone or charge a small fee (from $20-$50) to do an in-home estimate. Try to cover all bases and ask as many questions as possible to get a good sense of their experience and knowledge.
- Pay a fair wage. Doing price comparisons is vital for you as a consumer. The vast majority of floor installers are honest, hard-working men and women that charge a fair wage and are working to support their families. If they go above and beyond it doesn't hurt to give them a tip at the end of the project.
- Request a warranty. The best installers are confident in their installation skills and will offer a warranty to back up their workmanship.
- Plan ahead. You'll want to assume that most installers are booked up with jobs for the ensuing 2-3 weeks, so the earlier you start getting estimates the better off you'll be. Also remember that most of our bamboo floors require at least a 3-day acclimation period, so you'll need to factor that into your plans as well.
WHAT IS SPLINE? During the installation of tongue and groove hardwood and bamboo flooring, oftentimes it's necessary to reverse the direction of the floor. In order to due this many installers use what's called "flooring spline" to join the groove sides of two planks together so that they hold firmly in place.
WHERE CAN I BUY IT? You can purchase spline right here on our website. Otherwise your installer may be able to cut/router their own spline on the spot using one of the excess waste flooring planks, on a table saw. Another common method is to use a 3/4" hardwood spline and adjust it down using a palm sander for a proper fit.
HOW TO INSTALL SPLINE
1) Install a temporary "placeholder row" of sacrificial planks (you will pull these up later) following a straight chalk line (to keep subsequent rows straight). It's best to use planks that have imperfections on top, however, the edges should be mostly square. This row will serve as the "brace" against which the subsequent rows will butt up against.
2) Install 3-5 rows of flooring planks in the same direction.
3) Carefully remove the first "placeholder row" of sacrificial planks using a pry bar. Now you can glue in the spline, allow it to set, and then you're ready to start laying flooring in the other direction. For a tighter fit, glue, and nail the spline. Titebond T&G glue works great.
They’re basically the same, they just have slightly different shapes and dimensions. Please check this video out about the difference between shoe molding and quarter-round. We sell quarter round in bamboo but not eucalyptus, and we also primed white version. To see if we carry matching quarter round for a specific floor just click the image of that floor on our bamboo flooring category page to go to its product detail page then scroll down to the Add Moldings strip near the bottom of the page where you’ll see all matching moldings we carry for that floor.
For flooring and plywood we strongly recommend ordering a sample before placing your final order, so you can ensure that the shading will be to your liking. Our flooring and plywood samples have a dye lot number sticker on the back of them. Our website checkout process will ask you to type in this dye lot number before final payment; alternatively, if ordering via email or over the phone simply mention this lot number to your Ambient representative and we will update the order with it and ship that exact lot number. If we don't have that lot number available (it has sold out) but we have a matching lot, we will ship the matching lot. If we do not have a matching lot, we will not ship your order until you approve samples of the new lot.
Please remember that photographs on our website are taken from a variety of devices and under many different lighting conditions, and are viewed on a wide range of computer monitors and contrast settings, thus we do not guarantee that any floor will match the photographs on the website. If you order your flooring sight unseen (without receiving samples first), Ambient is not responsible for light or shading variation or differences and thus not responsible for return shipping costs (which can be expensive and can vary greatly depending on where you live and the size of your order).
If you receive the order from the exact lot number you requested, or you order sight unseen (you do not provide a dye lot number at checkout), and you decide after it arrives that you want to return the order, you will be responsible for return shipping charges. For flooring orders, please see our 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee for more information.
No. The only stair pieces we sell are stair treads and stair risers (and we only sell them for certain colors, not all floors). Below are a few common methods installers use to match up your existing wood stair railings and stair parts to match your new bamboo or eucalyptus flooring.
1) Choose railings made from a different species of wood that match your floor color, or are a complementary color.
2) Sand down and stain your existing wood railings to match.
3) Paint your railings white, black or any other complementary color that suits your interior design. White railing are the most common as they match up with white baseboard, quarter round and crown moldings.
Below is an overview of the types of moldings and trim commonly used for flooring installations. You can also check out our Moldings 101 page!
T-Molding: This is used to transition between two floors of equal height or within 1/8 inch in height of each other.
Threshold: This is used to transition between two floors of unequal heights. The bottom of this molding is commonly cut (ripped) as needed depending on the height of the lower floor. Also commonly used at exterior doorways and sliding glass doors.
Reducer: This is used to transition down to the ground.
Quarter Round: Some installers call this shoe molding and although they serve the same purpose and are usually interchangeable they are slightly different dimensions-wise. This molding goes all the way around the installation and is often paired with baseboard but not always. It's used to cover up the expansion gap left around the perimeter of the installation.
Baseboard: This is used to cover the expansion gap all around the edges of the installation and is sometimes used with quarter round for a finished look.
Stair Nose: Also known as bull nosing, this piece is used to transition down to a lower level such as a landing, and at the top of a staircase.
Stair Tread: This is typically one entire piece to cover the stair step, we sell most of them in 48" lengths and some in 72" lengths. Many of our treads come with two rounded sides and rounded front, so that they can be used on open staircases.
Stair Riser: This is the vertical piece on the staircase in between each tread and they're usually 48 inches in length but we also carry some 72 inch versions. We stock them for our most popular colors, and we also sell the white stained poplar risers which are very popular and usually more affordable than the matching wood risers.
Register Vent/Dampener Covers: We have mostly flush mount register vents with a removable inner grill, but we also carry drop in vents in some colors. We carry the most common vent dimensions of 4x10 and 4x12 but also some 4x20 versions in popular colors.
Cove Molding: These pieces are glue up under stair treads and noses to give a more finished look, where the nosing/tread meets the vertical wall or riser. Most treads and noses aren’t finished underneath, so when you look up at them from below they’ll look nicer if you add a cove molding.
Spline: Bamboo spline helps transition when you change direction in your flooring planks. It allows you to place two planks (tongue sides) together and continue your flooring installation.
When it comes to installing moldings and trim, there are two main methods:
Molding/Trim Installation - GLUE DOWN: We recommend Titebond Wood Glue, as it is a tried and true product for installing moldings and trim. Liquid Nails Construction Adhesive is another product that can be used for gluing these pieces to flooring and/or walls. When installing moldings on LVP floors, be sure to use an adhesive that specifies it will bond to PVC/plastic or vinyl surfaces. Most adhesives will not bond to either the vinyl or the PVC, so ideally you want something that will bond to most surfaces like this product.
Molding/Trim Installation - NAIL DOWN: This method is most often used for trim pieces like quarter round or shoe molding. To nail down your moldings, we recommend using a 23-gage micro pin nailer, which can be rented at most local big-box stores.
REMEMBER: For moldings that click into place (into click-lock floors), there is no glue required as the moldings simply click into the flooring planks.
For legal businesses that qualify as a trade account (must be in the building trades), or you plan to order more than $10,000 cumulatively in building materials in the future on multiple projects, we encourage you to apply for a trade account on our B2B page. Our wholesale discounts vary depending on sales volume and can range from 5% to 35% off our retail prices. We also offer container level pricing for large projects at extremely competitive prices, and can manufacture a large array of products not featured on our website such as custom thicknesses, lengths, widths, colors and surface treatments (minimum order quantities apply).
Our industry-leading Accuseal Ultra® Finish System is so tough, we apply it to all of our floors and moldings, and it is backed up by an unbeatable lifetime warranty. This finish is a UV-cured acrylic urethane with aluminum oxide added in for additional durability; it is a proprietary process that endures scratches and abrasion better than almost any other floor on the market. These floors can last for decades without wearing through and needing to be being refinished (loss of luster may occur as with all floors in very high traffic areas and does not qualify as wear through).
Please note that it is always recommended to use Scotch Delicate Surfaces tape on wood floors and moldings, as other types of tape can peel away even the toughest hardwood floor finish!
We use the same Accuseal Ultra Finish on our moldings as on our floors, however, due to the rounded nature of some moldings, the finish is sprayed on instead of layered on in a finishing line.
Overlap moldings can be used in almost any installation situation; The only difference between overlap moldings and standard moldings is that part of the overlap molding sits atop the flooring surface, which creates a small ridge.
