Different Types of Wood Flooring You Should Know About
Selecting the kind of hardwood floor which suits the best to your living area and DIY abilities is a vital step to take while planning on the installation of the new floor. You should be wary about not confusing the floor type with a variety of the wood. We tell you about three major kinds of hardwood floors you can consider. Read on!
SOLID WOOD FLOORING
This sort of flooring further has three subdivisions. Every type is available easily in both pre-finished version as well as unfinished version. Unfinished flooring needs to be sanded and finished once the installation is done. However, Pre-finished version is both sanded as well as finished in the factory itself and hence just needs to be installed.
The three subdivisions under solid flooring are as follows;
• Strip flooring
This kind of flooring is classified by the width and the thickness of the planks of wood used. Strip flooring has a preset width. However, the thickness may be subjected to variations. Strip flooring has a varied thickness ranging from five-sixths of an inch to three fourth of an inch.
• Plank flooring
This sort of flooring is available in two thicknesses. However, it is different from strip flooring as it has varied widths. On the contrary, the thickness is preset with dimensions like half an inch and three fourth of an inch. The widths vary from three inches to eight inches.
• Parquet flooring
Parquet flooring looks very different when compared to other typical hardwoods. They are designed after geometrical patterns having individual slats of wood fastened together mechanically or using an adhesive.
ENGINEERED WOOD FLOORING
This type of wood flooring must not be confused with the laminate wood flooring. Engineered wood flooring is done by fixing multiple layers of plastic laminate with actual wood. The major difference between laminate flooring and this sort of wood is that the former does not contain real wood.
ACRYLIC IMPREGNATED FLOORING
This type of wood flooring is blended with color and sealant throughout the whole thickness of that wood. Hence, what is generally a finished surface is actually consistent on the whole wood. This sort of flooring is most generally used in projects that are commercial. They aren’t much used for residential purposes. This kind of floor is very tough and it is greatly resistant to scratches and moisture.
As per the association of Wood Floor Covering, once the flooring is installed, it becomes highly difficult to figure out the difference among solid wood flooring and other types of wood floors. Solid wood strip flooring is the widely opted choice of flooring though engineered flooring has also turned popular, owing to its low costs.
So, what sort of wood flooring would best fit your needs? There are plenty of things you must concentrate on while you are selecting the right sort of wood flooring to install in your home. Solid wood flooring may need a tad bit more maintenance when compared to engineered flooring but they can be sanded and refinished anytime. When maintained well, solid wood floors retain their quality better compared to engineered woods. Besides, choosing between parquet, plank or strip is a matter of personal taste. If you wish to have thin elongated wooden planks, the plank wood flooring is an apt choice. If you plan to have a decorative look for your floor, possibly a geometric pattern, parquet floors are the ones you must be opting. However, you need to know plank flooring would need extra work while installing, and the cost can go higher compared to strip flooring.