When choosing the right kind of flooring for your house or office, wood flooring is an option that you simply can’t go wrong with. All hardwood floors look absolutely beautiful and can match with any decor you want. However, there are different kinds of wood flooring and knowing them might help you pick the right one for your house or office.
Finished or Unfinished Hardwood Flooring?
If you want a custom stain applied before the final finish, then unfinished hardwood flooring seems like the choice that would fit your preferences best. Even if you want to match the color of existing flooring, unfinished hardwood flooring is the right option. When hardwood flooring is installed, it is then covered with several coats of protective finish to make it more durable and strong.
If you’re wondering whether you should add unfinished or finished hardwood flooring in your kitchen, we suggest you go with unfinished flooring. This is for the only reason that the finish will penetrate the seams between boards. As a result, water is prevented from seeping between boards and therefore damaging the flooring.
If you’re thinking of purchasing prefinished hardwood flooring, it will be quite for you to install the flooring. As it already comes sanded and sealed from the factory, the floor is basically ready to walk on immediately.
Solid or Engineered Hardwood Flooring?
Solid hardwood flooring is all made up of wood. It usually is 5/8 to 3/4 inches thick. What’s more, you can sand and refinish it as many times as you want thanks to its solid wood property. The disadvantage of solid wood though, is the fact that it’s quite sensitive to humidity. For this reason, it’s not recommended to be used in places like basements.
Engineered hardwood flooring, on the other hand, is a mixture of real wood and layers of plywood underneath. It’s quite a stable material and it’s perfect for any area of your home, including places like basements. In addition, you can sand and refinish it once or maybe twice in total.
Which one should I choose?
Now, you might be wondering what species of hardwood flooring is the right one for your home. Well, we have to tell you that there are so options available in the market that it might get really hard to choose one. Oak flooring, cherry flooring and maple flooring are all good choices to name a few. Bamboo, walnut, ash, mahogany are some other choices you might want to consider.
You might also be interested in reclaimed hardwood flooring, which can be found at salvage yards. If you’re renovating an older house, salvage flooring is a great choice.