Hardwood floors make a great addition to your home as they will keep it warm, classy, and stylish. However, you need to make the best choice when installing hardwood flooring in your home.
Sturdy and beautiful, wooden floors give your home unique appeal that is both welcoming and comforting. Well, that is when you get to keep them in great shape. Gleaning from flooring services such as Armstrong-Citywide, most people tend to ignore a few crucial factors when installing a wooden floor.
Which finishing?
Typically, you have to choices with hardwood floors: finished and unfinished options. As the name suggests, unfinished hardwood flooring gives you the leeway for a personal touch. You can apply a custom stain before the final finish to match your existing floor or home décor.
After the staining and installation process, you’ll need to give your floor a few coats of protective finish. Unfinished flooring makes an excellent choice for the kitchen because the finish penetrates and seals the seams between the boards. The bond keeps the water from seeping between the boards and wreaking havoc.
Pre-finished hardwood floorings ship from the factory. They come in a variety of finishes, and you can pick one that suits your needs. One significant advantage is that they make for quick installation, and you can walk on the floor immediately. You are also spared from VOCs and odors after the floor is installed.
What type of wood?
You can choose between solid and engineered wood. Solid hardwood is between 5/8 to 3/4 inches thick. Since its solid wood, you can use it repeatedly. However, it’s susceptible to high levels of humidity and isn’t suitable for use in areas such as the basement.
Engineered hardwood flooring, on the other hand, is like plywood. A veneer of real wood is glued to several layers of wood. Due to the production process, engineered wood is quite stable. It makes an excellent choice for any room in the home, even basements with high humidity. However, you can sand and refinish it once or twice depending on the thickness of the hardwood veneer.
What species?
You will have quite a selection of hardwood species to pick from when going down this route. Cherry, oak, and maple trees make great choices of hardwood flooring, as do ash, mahogany, and walnut. Bamboo, which is technically a grass, also makes the cut. If your pockets are on the deeper side, you can opt for the exotic species, such as mesquite, teak, jarrah, Brazilian teak, and walnut.
In the end, hardwood floorings make a great addition to your floor and will give your home a touch of warmth, class, and style. However, they do carry quite the price tag. If your budget is a bit tight, you should try shopping around salvage yards. While the wood might not be top shelf, it will be in relatively good shape and will cost you about half the asking price of a new floor. Consult a professional if you need more advice.
