Choices in Wood Flooring

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Choices in flooring nowadays are more varied than ever, running the range of finishes, styles and installation options. Innovation of product is obviously blurring the lines among many categories of flooring, and the materials which are raw used to make flooring types contain corn sugar, gin bottles and the staves from some old wine barrels.

Wood

Hardwood flooring is renowned for its durability and natural beauty. Its common good looks go with any interior design or architectural theme, and it is a very good choice to make visual room-to-room permanence for homes with some open floor plans.

The availability varies with market conditions, and popular imported varieties contain purpleheart, African pedauk and Brazilian cherry. To ensure the wood flooring you buy is harvested from managed and sustainable forests, look for certification from the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forest Initiative.

From technological advancements – coatings for prefinished hardwood have benefited, and finishes can include additives such as aluminum oxide, ceramics and acrylic monomers that create extremely tough surfaces.

Also, hardwood has to be nailed to a subfloor. An advantage of hardwood is that it can be refinished a lot of times over its lifetime.

Installation Areas for Hardwood Flooring

A hardwood floor could be installed on grade or above grade in the following subfloors:

• Wood Subfloors either OSB board or plywood. Keep in mind that wood subfloors have to be free from movement and structurally sound.

• Concrete subfloors. The thing is when you are installing hardwood flooring on concrete, it has to be at least thirty days old, and must have passed all those moisture tests.

• Over radiant heating systems, hardwood flooring can be installed, only if recommended and approved by the manufacturer.

• Also, hardwood flooring can be installed over stone, tile, vinyl and bamboo. These surfaces have to be checked for integrity of previous hardwood installation.

Unless it is approved by manufacturer hardwood floors aren’t recommended in areas where high moisture is present.

Hardwood Flooring Installation Material

Installing hardwood floor requires some basics materials:

• Carpenterâ square.

• Broom.

• Chalk line.

• Crow or Oull Bar

• Hammer.

• Spacers.

• Jig saw.

• Tapping block.

• Utility towels.

• Utility knife.

• Soft rubber mallet.

Hardwood costs three to eight dollars per square foot, and exotic varieties may be as high as fourteen dollars per square foot. Expect to pay five to twelve dollars per square foot for professional installation.

Engineered Wood

Backed by layers of cheaper plywood, engineered wood features a top veneer of real wood. So, this construction makes the flooring steadier and much less vulnerable to changes in humidity and temperature than solid wood.

For basements and kitchens, engineered wood is a good choice, and also for installation over in-floor heating systems.

Over a cushioned pad, engineered wood can be glued, installed or nailed as a floating floor. Some manufacturers are producing those clickable – self-locking, engineered wood flooring that installs without nails or glue. Clickable flooring comes as parquet or planks squares and makes a good DIY project. And prices are similar to solid wood.

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