our
story
Fully-engineered, Canadian-made flooring products that meet exacting standards – and exceed expectations.
We are a team of seasoned engineers and accomplished craftsmen with nearly 25+ years of hardwood floor manufacturing experience in Canada.
Passionate about quality assurance, each of our experts possesses a rich knowledge of forestry, trees and how to best use wood materials. Together, we leverage this deep expertise to produce outstanding unfinished flooring products—whether for flooring professionals or discriminating home owners.
Our accurate technologies, commitment to R&D and understanding of wood, moisture and conditioning variances, assures you a well-designed flooring solution upon which any vision can be expressed.
from the start
A Woodworking Craftsman
The seed of Bratex began more than 40 years ago in rural Poland. Joe, a woodworking craftsman apprentice, had a vision of bigger things for his family and opened a small woodworking shop. The business was simple, providing basic wood drying services and the manufacture of oak parquet flooring.
Joe hand-built his machines from scrap metal, motorcycle parts and whatever else one could find in what was then a restrictive, communist-run country. By 1987 his small business was booming — but government pressure was strong and he was unable to fully reap what he sowed. He decided to leave Poland with his family (via West Germany) to make a new life in Ontario, Canada.
Trusted source for oak — in Oakville
Through modest earnings as a carpenter, Joe saved enough money to buy tools, a “beat-up” moulder, a milling and a lathe machine and open his first Canadian shop in his brother-in-law's yard in Mississauga Ontario. It was 1991— the heart of the recession. Luckily for Joe, the flooring trade in West Toronto was largely Polish and the market was strictly for solid unfinished 2 1/4, 3 and 3 1/4” R. Oak — Joe’s specialty.
Through reliable service and high quality product, Joe's flooring quickly became a trusted source for trades. In time, the business evolved into Duratex and, in a swift move, he acquired Tessa Flooring who at that time pre-finished hardwood flooring. Joe brought both successful ventures together under one roof in Toronto before selling the business to Tembec during prosperous times in the late 90s.
Birth of Bratex — from father to son to engineered hardwood
In 2001, Joe’s son Sylvester followed in his father’s footsteps opening a brand new enterprise: Bratex Hardwood Flooring. Together, father and son built the company’s first machine — a moulder. As engineered hardwood flooring emerged, Sylvester, Joe and Bratex were there at the forefront — and the company continues today to lead the industry in its manufacture, upholding its progressive Canadian values, but never forgetting its old school roots in Polish wood craftsmanship.