Tips for Hardwood Flooring
At Cherry carpets we have put these tips for hardwood flooring together to help you choose your new flooring. Nowadays, a range of flooring materials is available in the market including plastic laminate, carpeting, vinyl and ceramic tile. Wood is still the preferred choice for many owing to its natural beauty and the warmth that it generates. Wood flooring comes in a range of sizes and styles, but can be broadly categorized into two fundamental varieties: solid wood and engineered wood. These categories again come in different types, based on the wood species and colour. The style that will suit your floor ultimately depends on a number of factors. These include the room itself, size of the floorboards, wood species, category of subfloor, convenience in installing and price.
Tips for Hard Wood Flooring – Let us look at the two types of hardwood flooring, which would enable us to select the suitable one.
Solid Wood Flooring
It is usually available in the form of parquet squares, wide planks and narrow strips. The most popular is strip flooring, wherein the strips are available in 1-1/2 and 3 inches width. The planks usually find use in open spaces or large rooms, and measure 3 to 7 inches in width. Parquet flooring is either tailor-made from individual wood strips or comes in the form of preassembled tiles. It is a great choice if you want the flooring to include some attractive weaves, geometric shapes or herringbone patterns.
A large number of homeowners tend to choose unfinished, conventional hardwood strip flooring with options of maple or red oak owing to its attractiveness and affordability. But it should be noted that unfinished wood calls for sanding, staining, along with a clean topcoat finish. On the other hand, prefinished wood flooring requires no sanding or finishing, but is a bit expensive compared to unfinished flooring.
Tips for Hardwood Flooring – Engineered Wood Flooring
Quite popular as a do-it-yourself type of flooring, this material constitutes three or more wood coatings fastened with one another in the form of long planks, with a slender solid wood veneer comprising the top layer. Engineered wood flooring leads to a structure which is much more stable compared to solid wood flooring. Therefore, it is less prone to warping, shrinking or splitting.
The usual width of engineered wood planks is 3 to 7 inches while the length is 7 to 8 feet. The majority of these planks are available in the prefinished state, but in some places you may find the unfinished ones.
Engineered wood flooring is a great favourite of DIYers because no gluing or nailing is required. The planks simply snap together, which makes the installation rapid and neat. If you are looking for a reliable and good value flooring supply check out Tile Superstore.
We hope you have found these Tips for Hard Wood Flooring useful and good luck with your final flooring choice.