What is the best type of wood flooring?

Choosing the best type of wood flooring can be tricky. Virtually all hardwood flooring types can beautify any room in your home, whether it’s the kitchen, basement, or sunroom. However, you must consider the existing condition of your current flooring and the level of durability you need.

For instance, are you going to choose unfinished hardwood flooring or finished hardwood flooring? The difference is that unfinished hardwood flooring allows you to apply a custom stain to it before the finishing. This helps if you want to change the colour of the wood, especially if you’re trying to match the same colour as your current wood flooring. Once you install the flooring, you’ll need to sand and seal it.

Finished hardwood flooring already comes pre-stained, pre-finished, pre-sanded, and pre-sealed. That means you won’t be required to do anything other than installing the wood flooring. This is an awesome choice for people who are not handymen and don’t want to hire somebody to customise their flooring. 

You also must consider whether you want solid hardwood or engineered hardwood for your flooring. If you’re installing the wood flooring in a room which has a lot of moisture accumulation, such as a basement, then you’ll want engineered hardwood flooring. This type of flooring is made with a veneer attached to several wood layers. You’ll receive great stability and moisture resistance from it.

Solid hardwood flooring is just pieces of wood that are no more than 0.75 inches thick. They’re weak against moisture and humidity, so it’s better if you install it in drier rooms of your home. The upside is that you can refinish and sand the solid hardwood flooring as many times as you want. This is something you cannot do more than once or twice with engineered hardwood flooring.

As for the wood species that you choose, the basic choices are oak, maple, and cherry. But if you want to go with something more exotic, you can choose bamboo, ash, mahogany, or walnut. Each wood species has its own unique appearance and level of durability. If you must go with a safe choice, then go with oak or maple. Otherwise, choose something tropical and durable like bamboo.

Selecting and Installing Hardwood Floors

Are you renovating your house and stuck having to choose between engineered hardwood flooring and solid hardwood flooring? This is a common problem that many homeowners face because they’re both so similar.

Most professional flooring companies will tell you to choose engineered hardwood flooring. It is comprised of a hardwood upper layer that is bonded to lower base layers which prevent floor shifting. Solid hardwood flooring is comprised of planks that were cut from solid wood pieces. There are no separate layers to these planks like there are with engineered flooring.

The only downside to engineered flooring is its surface cannot be refinished or sanded down because it’s too thin for these actions. If you install the engineered flooring someplace with a lot of people or heavy items consistently on the surface, then the flooring won’t last very long. Engineered flooring is better for environments with fewer people.

Solid hardwood flooring has a more durable surface because the entire piece is one wooden layer. You just need to worry about the contraction cycles of the wood. However, you could install the solid hardwood planks over concrete or plywood to make it more like engineered flooring.

The Installation Process

After you’ve chosen the hardwood flooring that you want, the next step is the installation of the flooring. Usually, you nail or staple down the solid hardwood flooring and glue or mechanically fasten down the engineered hardwood flooring. It all depends on the thickness, construction, and width of your wood planks. If you’re installing a hardwood floor for the first time, you might want to have a more experienced person assisting you.

The first step is to acclimatise the wood planks in the room where the installation will take place. This means leaving the wood in the room for a couple of days in order to get accustomed to the environment and its moisture content. Try to keep the humidity between 35% and 55%. 

Read the instructions of the installation carefully. Some video tutorials online are also available to assist you. Clean and dry your subflooring before the installation. If you already have ceramic or marble tiling on the ground, then you can just install the engineered hardwood flooring over it with adhesives. If you’re nailing down solid hardwood flooring, then put vinyl tiles or a vinyl sheet down first.

For expert advice get in touch with the TimberZone team to help you with the installation of your wood flooring.

Engineered Hardwood Flooring vs. Solid Hardwood Flooring

It is common to think that one type of hardwood flooring exists. After all, wood is wood, right? Well, there are two different types of hardwood flooring: engineered hardwood flooring and solid hardwood flooring. If you were to look at them after they’re installed, they would look almost identical. But there is a difference between them. What is it?

The difference between engineered hardwood flooring and solid hardwood flooring relates to how their planks are constructed. The planks of engineered hardwood flooring contain several wood layers, while the planks of solid hardwood flooring are just whole solid hardwood pieces.

The wear layer represents the surface of the engineered hardwood flooring. This is the layer which everyone sees, and people walk on. It is made of either walnut or oak wood and is anywhere from 2.5 to 6 millimeters thick. The other layers of the flooring are base layers which provide it with durability, stability, and strength. You can expect the base layers to be made from eucalyptus or plywood rather than hardwood.

When the planks of the solid hardwood flooring are first prepared, the wood is taken directly from the trunk of a tree. A chainsaw is the preferred tool of choice for this task. Once the wood is taken, it is cut, sanded, and sized appropriately as planks for the flooring. A finish is also added onto the top of it too, although you can choose unfinished hardwood flooring if you want.

Which is Better?

Now you’re probably wondering, which type of flooring is better? The answer depends on where the flooring is being installed in your home or building. Basically, any room or environment with fluctuating temperatures and regular humidity would be better off with engineered hardwood flooring. After all, this type of flooring is designed and manufactured to adapt to moisture or changing temperatures in the air. Kitchens and conservatories would be good examples of rooms which should have this flooring in it.

As for solid hardwood flooring, that might be better for living areas and hallway entrances. Any area with a lot of people walking back and forth each day would be better with solid hardwood flooring. The wood must be sanded and finished repeatedly, though. If you don’t mind the extra maintenance, then solid hardwood flooring is the more durable choice.

For more information on the differences between Engineered Hardwood Flooring and Solid Hardwood Flooring get in touch with the TimberZone team today.

Choosing Hardwood Flooring For Your House

Real Wood Flooring are quite popular today. Wooden flooring adds a classic and appealing look to the interiors of the home. Apart from the timeless elegance and classy look, wood flooring gains character as it ages with grace. Since man learned the art of settling down, wood is the primary choice, when it comes to housing. Be it flooring or furnishing, wood has dominated the sector since the dawn of civilization.

Today, there is numerous choice of hardwoods available for flooring. Not to mention, the type and designs that are available are truly scintillating for the onlookers. There are tons of reasons to choose Hardwood Flooring for your house and even more reasons to love Hardwood Floors. For instance, the beautiful markings and grains that are present on every plank of wood, the natural colors, and the variations add an endearing appeal to the flooring of the house. The best thing is the uniqueness that wood has to offer is impossible to find in any man-made options for flooring.

There is no doubt to the fact that it is natural and everlasting

High-quality Hardwood Flooring adds a lasting appeal and richness to any room of the house. It creates a warm, elegant, and pleasing setting within the interiors of the house. This is probably because Real Wood Flooring is so versatile that it goes anywhere in the house. Real wood is a good choice for the main living areas of the house, including the bedroom, the basement, and even the kitchen.

Unbeatable durability with quality Real Wood Flooring

Real Wood Flooring in the UK comes with stain-resistant finishing. Even though wooden flooring is prone to scratches, with modern amenities, the modern-day real wood floorings are stain and fade-resistant. Maintaining the wooden flooring is easier than before, with no wax care. Moreover, the glossy and matte finishes lend the wood a more pleasing look.

Lends character and depth to the house

Every piece of a wooden plank has marks and grains that are naturally present, which adds to the timeless appeal of the whole flooring together. Every marking is different from one another. As the wood ages, it develops a natural sheen which creates a unique appearance. The naturally appearing sheen on the flooring adds depth to the house. Irrespective of the fact that your house is traditional or contemporary in style, there are countless options in the market today to choose from Real Wood Flooring that best matches the interiors.

Last but not least, real wood floorings bring warmth, elegance, richness, and quality to any home. Moreover, you must know that all-natural wood harbors no allergens. So your house is always free from bacteria, which may be hovering if you choose other options that include carpets and cracks in tiles. Since we spend at least  60% of our time indoors, it is good to know that the air we breathe in is free of any bacteria and germs.