In the Know About Hardwood Flooring

When considering what type of hardwood flooring you should use you need to consider how much wear the floor will receive and what kind of traffic will cross it on a daily basis.

The most common hard woods used are walnut, maple, and oak. Some like to use exotic hard woods like teak. Some even choose a soft wood like pine. There are also three forms of wood that you can use, which are:

• Engineered hardwood—this is when the thinner pieces of wood are taken and layered on top of each other resulting in the grains of the layers going in different directions. With this type of hardwood, the criss-cross effect makes the floor able to withstand more force and weight.
• Solid hardwood—this is solid hardwood with no changes.
• Acrylic impregnated hardwood—this type of hardwood is made from a combination of acrylic and solid wood to create a stronger material, which can withstand heavy foot traffic.

When measuring hardwood floor you can measure it in strips in various width from one point five to two point twenty-five inches. Another style is planks, which are wider than strips and are at least three inches wide or larger. There is also parquet flooring, which is an intricate pattern that is made by using pieces of wood to form geometric patterns. Looking at parquet flooring these small strips of wood can have a zigzag design, small squares that alternate directions, or other designs.

There are also different methods in which to install hardwood floors. Some types of hardwood flooring are affixed to the flooring beneath it by using staples, glue, or nails. There are also floating hardwood floors. They are called this because they are not attached to a subfloor, which is an additional layer of flooring that is placed directly on your floor joists. When using floating hardwood floors a foam underlay is put on top of the subfloor. This is done to help absorb sound and protected the other hardwood floor from moisture. The pieces of the hardwood flooring that everyone sees are then laid on top of this. The material is not attached to the floor but instead are snapped together or glued into a tongue and grove fashion. The entire hardwood flooring appears to simply “float” above the subfloor.

You should also consider how it is treated, such as whitewashing, antiquing, or crackling or you can leave them untreated or natural looking. The types of hardwoods available can also vary in the finishing of the material. With finished floors, they can use a top coat that will simply lie on the surface of the wood or the top coat can penetrate deeper into the hardwood flooring. This helps to make your hardwood floor light or dark. The surface finishes used are varnishes and urethanes. If the finish penetrates more than the surface finish does into the hardwood flooring, you may need an additional coat of way to give the hardwood flooring a sheen.