Fabric Remnant

Selecting The Right Flooring For Your Home

Interior designers and builders agree that the first element to consider when beginning to finish a room is flooring, because it sets the mood.

More and more professionals these days are choosing wood flooring over tile and carpeting. But what kind of wood should you go with? Solid hardwood? Engineered wood? Reclaimed antique wood? Despite all the options, making the right choice for your tastes and circumstances is easier than it appears. Following are some important factors to consider when making your decision, as well as some helpful advice from the experts.

Which Wood-Flooring Type Should You Choose?
Solid Hardwood: This wood expands and contracts and sometimes creaks, but its natural beauty add value to your home. Further, it can be re-sanded and refinished, so it’ll retain that value.

Engineered Wood Floors: These floors are made of thin sheets of wood that are glued together and refinished at the factory. This results in a more stable product than solid wood, because it resists buckling and warping. Whereas solid wood can only be nailed to a subfloor, engineered wood floors (although developed to be glued over concrete) can also be nailed or floated.

Reclaimed Antique Wood: For customers with a unique vision, this is the best flooring option. Reclaimed antique wood is custom made one plank at a time according to customer specifications. It is especially stable because it can cut from the center section of a beam.

Finished vs. Unfinished
If you’ve chosen to install solid hardwood flooring, remember that it’s available finished or unfinished. This is really helpful if you’re trying to match an adjacent floor. Then you can go with an unfinished option and stain it to blend. By finishing the floor on site, you will insure a more uniform color and finish. Remember, however, that an unfinished wood floor may take several days to install, stain, and finish.

On the other hand, finished wood (both solid and engineered) is factory sanded, stained, and finished. Thus it’s much easier to install and requires less time, not to mention that there will be no on-site sanding and finishing. Finished wood is an especially good option for high-traffic areas because of its durability. Another plus is that it’s less expensive than unfinished wood.

Important Things to Consider
One feature that’s becoming more common is radiant heating, where the heat source is under the floor. When this is the case, then engineered wood is preferable over solid hardwood because of its durability. Durability is also a central factor in the National Wood Flooring Association’s recommendation of quarter-sawn or rift-sawn wood in this circumstance. The NWFA claims that strip flooring is preferable over plank flooring, because when there are changes in temperature and humidity, narrow boards expand and contract less than wide ones.

If you live near the beach, Stoddard recommends an engineered wood. Not only is it scratch-resistant and less likely to be damaged by sand tracked in from the beach, it requires less maintenance. Engineered hardwood flooring is clearly the best option for any interior that’s not environmentally controlled, such as those in cottages, summer homes, or below-grade installations.

Some Simple Design Tips
Pay attention to the understated details when personalizing a room. A great look is to use a lighter wood overall and then either add a dark border or drop in a maple medallion that looks like an area run.

Mixing woods from room to room is becoming more common. Choose darker woods, like walnut or cherry, for a den or a bedroom. Kitchens, on the other hand, need lighter, brighter woods such as maple or birch.

Darker wood is a better fit for homes that are formal, traditional, or historic, whereas country, casual, and contemporary homes are better suited to lighter woods. Be sure to choose flooring that will complement all your fabrics, furnishings, and accessories.

Current Trends in Wood Flooring
The latest trends in flooring include hand-scraped wood and “exotics” from far-off lands. Brazilian cherry, Santos mahogany, and Amendoim all boast delightful grains and colors, and conveniently are available in solid hardwood or engineered wood.

The old look and simplicity of woods such as Old Groove Eastern White Pine is becoming increasingly popular among owners of historic homes on the Eastern seaboards. For owners of historic homes on the Eastern seaboard, woods such as Old Groove Eastern White Pine are prized for their old look and simplicity. Walnut has fast grown in popularity as dark woods become more and more “in.”

DIY and Maintaining Your Wood Floor
Installing a wood floor yourself is definitely an option. Almost 30 percent of homeowners do it themselves. If you can operate a nail gun and a saw, then you can do it. Many resources are available to help you with this project, including instruction books and information online.

A great benefit of wood flooring is that it’s extremely low maintenance. Keep a step-off mat at any doorway, and then all you need is a regular schedule of sweeping and vacuuming. Remember to never leave standing water on a wood floor. It’s a good idea to keep an extra box of wood in case you need to replace a strip.

Natural hardwoods stand up to many household mishaps much better than any laminate or synthetic flooring, since the grain and pattern of solid hardwoods go all the way through. Scuffs and burns that would be permanent in a synthetic surface can be repaired with relative ease.

Avo Barsoumian has been in the home flooring and interior decorating industry for over 25 years. He is the owner and manager of a popular home flooring company in Los Angeles. The offer the largest selection of elegant hardwood flooring, beautiful laminate flooring and plush carpeting under one roof. It doesn’t matter whether your searching for carpet rolls for your new town home or cost of carpeting to remodel your older home then Carpet Wagon has exactly what you’re looking for.

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