7 Things You Should Know About Hardwood Flooring ~ Fresh Design Blog

The flooring you choose can make a huge difference to the look and feel of your home, so you need to select flooring that will give your rooms the bespoke style and comfort you want.

You should also think about practical considerations when choosing flooring. For instance, it may be important for you to have flooring that can be easily cleaned or flooring that is highly durable and will last a lifetime.

One option that you’ll undoubtedly want to consider is hardwood flooring. Though, before you start searching for hardwood flooring options, you should know the following seven things. 

1. Hardwood Is Dense and Strong

If you want a highly durable floor, hardwood flooring is your best option.

Unlike softwood flooring, the trees that are grown for hardwood flooring grow much slower, which results in the wood being much denser and stronger than softwoods.

So, hardwood flooring will last a very long time and will require less maintenance than other flooring options. Though, the precise durability will vary by tree species.

2. You Can Choose from Various Types of Hardwood

Oak is widely considered the best hardwood for flooring, due to the fact that it’s very hard and has amazing aesthetic appeal. People also like to use oak flooring in combination with stylish solid oak furniture.

But there are a number of different hardwoods that you could choose for your flooring, so spend some time familiarizing yourself with the different types to see which would suit your home best in terms of visual appeal and practicality.

You could select solid hardwood floors like maple or cherry, which are often popular choices, or you could go for hardwood like ash, walnut, or mahogany.

3. Hardwood Is Warm to the Touch

Hardwood is a moderately warm type of flooring material and it stays at a fairly even temperature throughout the different seasons.

Furthermore, hardwood is compatible with most underfloor heating systems.

4. Hardwood Can Make Noise

One of the few drawbacks of hardwood flooring is this: you may occasionally experience problems with squeaks in the floorboards.

Sometimes, hardwood can even make noises that are loud enough for anyone in the room beneath to hear.

However, if you use underlay padding like foam or cork, you can resolve this potential issue.

5. You Can Choose Either Solid Hardwood or Engineered Hardwood

When shopping for hardwood, you’ll see both solid hardwood and engineered hardwood are available.

The former is, as you’ve probably guessed, completely solid wood. As such, it can easily be sanded and refinished many times. Though, it can be susceptible to changes in humidity.

Engineered hardwood flooring is made up of real hardwood on the surface but it has layers of other wood, usually plywood, underneath. That layered approach gives the flooring excellent stability. Also, some engineered hardwood flooring can be sanded and refinished, but only once or twice.

6. You Can Choose Unfinished or Prefinished Hardwood

You also have a choice when it comes to the finish of the hardwood you use.

If you want to stain the hardwood to create a unique hue that matches the colour scheme of your room, you’ll need to buy unfinished hardwood flooring.

Also, unfinished hardwood flooring is a good choice for kitchens and bathrooms because the finish of the flooring will penetrate and seal the floorboards’ seams to help stop water from seeping between the boards. 

The other option is prefinished hardwood flooring, which comes already sanded and sealed. If you want to lay your flooring quickly, prefinished hardwood flooring is a good option.

7. Hardwood Flooring Can Vary Greatly in Price

The cost of hardwood flooring will vary depending on the type of hardwood you choose, the amount you need to buy to cover your space, and the company you buy from. It’s worth shopping around to get the best deal for your needs. 

Featured image credit: Photo by Sidekix Media on Unsplash

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