Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors offer the unmistakable charm and beauty only found in authentic, real wood. They never go out of fashion and add value to your home. Today interior designers and decorators are using hardwood flooring as a base layer for their overall color scheme. A colorful rug can be added to complete and enhance the overall color scheme.

There have been many advancements in the manufacturing of wood floors that has allowed homeowners to use hardwood flooring in places that were never considered in the past.

Hardwood floors come in a variety of different textures, colors, and sizes. Besides the normal North American hardwoods (like maple, red oak, and white oak) manufacturers are now offering exotic hardwoods. This is giving homeowners more options that will allow them to express themselves and give their space a more unique look. Another trend that is developing is the use of wood with a historic past such as restored wood from a late 19th century home. This option attracts people who don't like ordinary hardwood and would rather have a one of a kind hardwood that will really add flavor to their space.

Homeowners who are looking to purchase hardwood floors have three different types of wood floors to choose from. The end result may look the same but there are advantages for using each, depending on the application.

Once installed it is very hard to tell these three types apart. Both the engineered hardwood and the long strip hardwood floors have many thin layers (plies) of wood that are glued together. By gluing the plies together it gives better stability within the plank, this allows it to be used on sites that have more moisture such as basements and concrete slabs. Solid hardwoods react to moisture and contract in the low humidity months of the winter causing unpleasant gaps, this limits there use and they cannot be used in basements or on concrete slabs.

Another choice that you have to make is whether you want to install pre-finished or unfinished hardwood that has to be finished in your home. The difference between the two is pre-finished hardwood comes in a greater variety of finishes and saves hours of labor and clean up. The unfinished hardwood allows you to have a really custom, job-site finished and completely smooth, uniform surface. Another advantage to pre-finished hardwoods is that it comes with an extended warranty, which is not the case with unfinished hardwoods.

Overall hardwood flooring is a great option to install in your home.