Wooden Flooring Info

What’s your reason for choosing wooden flooring over carpeting?  Is it allergies?  Maybe just aesthetics?  Or maybe you have kids, and don’t want to worry about stains?

Regardless, it’s a good bet that you’re considering oak wooden flooring if you’re looking at any wooden floors.  Oak wooden flooring is an old standby in the United States because the oak tree is such an ever present symbol of solidity and durability.  Oak wooden flooring in its natural color is also a nice, light color, lending an air of space, even in smaller rooms.  Just be careful when shopping for your wooden floor, though.  There are a few things to watch out for.

First, if you’re looking at particularly cheap wooden flooring, it’s probably laminate.  Laminate flooring is made up of a thick resin, coating a picture of a wood floor, which sits atop more manufactured materials, all with a wood chip mixture as the base.  There is very little real wood but, many times, it’s hard to tell the difference between laminate and solid wood floors.  Laminate is initially scratch and scuff resistant.  However, if a scratch or scuff does occur, you’re stuck with it until you can swap out entire boards.  Since oak wooden flooring is quite tough, there’s almost no real advantage to using laminate over real…except for price, of course.

Second, you have engineered wooden flooring.  Price wise, engineered sits between laminate and solid, although it’s not uncommon to find wooden flooring sales in which engineered is either comparable to or cheaper than laminate.  The top layer of engineered wooden flooring is actual, solid wood.  However, that layer is quite thin.  The rest of an engineered floor is mostly wood as well, though not solid.  Engineered oak wooden flooring can give you the solidity of an oak wooden floor while keeping the price down.  It can even be buffed a few times if there are any scratches or scuffs, though deep scratches or dents can sometimes require replacing boards.

Then there’s your solid oak wooden floors.  There are those who will choose solid wooden floors because they’ve done their research and decided that it’s the best option for them, but I suspect that the vast majority will choose solid simply because it’s “the real thing”.  With real oak wooden flooring, things like worm holes and scars are considered normal, sometimes even desirable.  There are levels of scarring, but to get the kind of smoothness you find in laminate, you’ll pay quite the ridiculous sum.  There’s also “wormy” solid wood, in which there are a copious amount of scarring and worm holes.  This is great for log cabins, but not so good for multi-million dollar suburban mansions.

Keep in mind: just because it’s “the real thing” doesn’t mean it’s best for you and your home.  Look at all your options before choosing your oak wooden flooring, and consider any wooden flooring sales before you make your final decision.

If you are looking for new flooring, consider wooden flooring. Despite the popular belief that using lumber for flooring and building is deteriorating the forests, that is not all true. Reputable companies use the cycle of “take a tree, plant a tree” and are in fact becoming more environmentally responsible. Proper management of this issue allows for the treatment of forests to be viewed as valuable and precious. In this process, every tree that is used for wooden flooring or for building is replaced by one or more trees.

Of course, choosing your wooden flooring provider is not a light task. This commitment can be very challenging to keep and you should only make it after you have explored the diverse types of woods, colors, textures and the price range you can afford along with taking as much consideration as possible. Try to visualize what you want your floor to look like, the style, design, or pattern. Ponder on the reasons and what you what to achieve from your new wooden flooring. If you have inside animals like cats or dogs, consider the abuse your floor might take.

If you are still interested in having a wooden floor, you might want to start brainstorming ideas of what you want your floor to look like. Colors, types of wood, and price ranges all all important factors in this equation. Also, don’t set the bar too high. If you have an idea of what you want, chances are you can get it, but not always for a reasonable price. After you have thought of some designs or patterns you like, try finding samples of them in a hardware store or specialty store. Also try drawing out the pattern you thought of on some paper or on the computer. You can show this to an associate so they can help you find what you are looking for.

After the installation of your new wooden flooring has been completed, remember to take good care of it. By waxing and keeping scuff marks and scratches of your new floor, you new floor will keep looking new for years to come. There are a lot of products out there used for keeping your floor looking shine and new, all the while protecting it. Try buying a few decorative rugs for your pets to rest on instead of the hardwood. There are many beautiful and exotic rugs you can find if you just look around. But most of all, just enjoy your new wooden flooring design!

 August 11th, 2009  admin   No comments