Hardwood Flooring Options
Hardwood flooring does not simply refer to one type of flooring,
but rather covers a group of floor covers including solid wood,
engineered wood, laminates, and synthetic/plastic laminates. When
choosing your hardwood flooring you need to understand these different
types and where they are best suited.
Solid Wood Hardwood Flooring
The first type of hardwood flooring that one can get is solid wood
flooring, which also consists of a number of different sub-categories
including strip, plank and parquet. Solid wood flooring lasts a
number of generations if sanded and refinished over the years, but
also tends to expand and contract depending on the humidity of the
area in which it is placed. When laying solid wood hardwood flooring
contractors normally leave a small gap between the floor and wall
to compensate for this.
Engineered Hardwood Flooring
Engineered hardwood flooring is made by combining a number of different
types of woods and wood grades together under heat and pressure.
Although these types of hardwood flooring are less likely to be
affected by the humidity, they often do not last as well as solid
wood hardwood flooring as they can be sanded a lot less, if at all.
Engineered hardwood flooring is created in plies with a covering
called the wear layer. The thicker the wear layer, the more often
the product can be refinished but it will also cost more.
Wood Laminates
Another type of hardwood flooring is the wood laminates where a
plywood base is covered with a layer of veneer. These also do not
last long compared to solid wood hardwood flooring and the manufacturers’
warranties generally only cover five years.
Plastic/Synthetic Laminates
Synthetic laminates of hardwood flooring come consist of a fiberboard
center and are covered with a high-pressure laminate. They cannot
be sanded but the manufacturers’ warranties generally last
for 10-15 years. When plastic laminates wear out they do need to
be replaced.
How to Choose your Hardwood Flooring
When deciding what hardwood flooring you are going to use there are
a number of things which you will need to consider. The first will
probably be your budget – how much can you, or are you willing,
to spend on your hardwood flooring? You also need to know where the
flooring will be used and consider what type of hardwood flooring
is best used in this specific area. Always use a professional hardwood
flooring installer to install your hardwood floors and ask them if
you have any questions. How to Choose your Contractor to Install
Hardwood Flooring
When choosing a hardwood flooring contractor you should have as
much detail as possible about the type of hardwood flooring you
want, where it will be used, and any other details that you can
get such as cut, dimension, quality, dimensions, pattern and color.
You should also get hold of the contractor’s references before
making your decision and follow these up to see what others have
thought of them. Before starting work get a proper written contracting
stating how long the job will take, what the warranties are, and
when they will be able to install it.
There are a number of different types of hardwood flooring, each
with their own particular characteristics. When choosing hardwood
flooring you need to consider your budget as well as where it will
be used, as different types of hardwood flooring work better in
different areas. It is also important that you choose the right
contractor for installing your hardwood flooring and ensure that
they come with good references and meet your requirements.
Consider posting your hardwood flooring installation project with
HandyCanadian.com and get matched to local professional contactors.
Once your job is submitted contractors will begin to contact you.
Or, you can use our Contractor Directory to search for and review
our contractor members.
To sign up and post a project, click
here. To search our directory, click
here
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