The natural patterns and warmth that wood creates make wood floors favorable in numerous environments. These are definitely more impressive than any carpet would be.

Besides, it’s almost impossible to really clean your carpet, as stains and dust can settle deep into the fibers. On the contrary, it’s relatively easy to clean and maintain your wood floors. It’s sometimes just enough to wipe them clean.

Wood flooring comes in various colors, patterns, widths and finishes.

Stains give a natural feeling to any room. You can select them in a way matching different decors. However, stained wood can be sanded and re-stained several times to restore original colors or create new ones.

Wood species have their particular grains, color, and veining. Your choice entirely depends on your own preferences. People usually choose oak and maple species, but a common choice is also beech, cherry, walnut or some exotic woods.

Installing is also important. When laying down your wood floor, have in mind the size and shape of the room. If you install the boards lengthwise in a long room, it may look even longer, and a nice idea should be installing them diagonally.

You have a choice amongst variable widths of boards. And your preference should depend on the effect you want to create. Thinner boards make a room look longer, and wider boards make it seem shorter.

Do not forget about the accessories you are going to need, such as edgings, stairway nosings, vent flashings, and moldings to join with the walls. Their stain and finish should match your flooring’s stain and finish.

Check out what flooring types and styles are available on the market to choose the one that fits your needs.

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There are a lot differences between laminate and hardwood floors but both of them have their strong points depending on the situation.

Let’s start with the price. Solid hardwood will cost you much more to buy and install than laminate flooring. Hardwood floors are difficult for non-professionals to install, while laminate installing is very easy.

Laminate wood flooring is made from composite wood pressed together at high temperatures.  And a photograph of hardwood is used to cover the composite wood to form the laminate, thus is cheaper.

Hardwood flooring is made from harvested trees and depending on how exotic the trees are the price is different.

Since it is real wood, a quality hardwood floor can last for a lifetime with proper care and refinishing, while life expectancy of laminate floors is less than 15 years. Having hardwood floors will definitely increase the price point of your home if you decide to sell.

What about scratches? Since laminate wood flooring is made from pressed wood, it is more resistible to scratches, moisture and wear than hardwood flooring. Hardwood is susceptible to scratching, moisture and wear especially in high traffic areas.

Laminate flooring has higher stain resistance and is definitely easier to clean and maintain than hardwood. It also has smaller fading effect and behaves moderately well in moist areas such as bathrooms. As a natural product hardwood can fade in the future due to sunlight, while laminate flooring is UV protected.

Laminate flooring cannot be refinished, while hardwood floors can be easily sanded and refinished many times. This is why hardwood floors can be easily repaired if they become damaged, while laminate boards have to be replaced rather than repaired.

It is not recommended to install solid hardwood flooring below-grade, while laminate can be installed below-grade.

We hope the above information was helpful for your decision to choose laminate or hardwood floors.

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Continue reading to get familiar with the main types of wood flooring.

Solid and engineered wood flooring

Solid hardwood floors are one solid piece of wood from top to bottom and are generally ¾” thick.

One great benefit of solid wood flooring is that it can be sanded and refinished multiple times.

Solid hardwood floors are, however, more sensitive to humidity and temperature changes than engineered wood floors. Too much moisture can cause the wood to expand and contract. So, they should only be installed on or above ground level, over a wood sub-floor, and must be nailed or stapled down.

There are different styles of solid wood flooring to choose from: strip, plank and parquet flooring.

Unlike laminate wood flooring, engineered wood floors are real wood floors that are manufactured by laminating multiple layers of different wood veneers. The top layer is of high-quality wood, while sub-layers can be of different species. The grain of each layer runs in different directions, which makes the floor very stable and reduces the expansion/contraction caused by changes in humidity and temperature.

However, engineered floors can be sanded and finished only a few times. But their biggest advantage is they can be installed on any level in the home, including over wood sub-floors, concrete slabs and in your basement. In addition, these floors come in a wide variety of widths, lengths, thicknesses and colors.

Unfinished and factory-finished wood flooring

Hardwood floors can come unfinished or pre-finished. Unfinished flooring must be sanded and finished after installation while pre-finished flooring is sanded and finished at the factory.

If you want your installer to do sanding and finishing upon the job site, you can purchase unfinished wood flooring. This option may be preferred if you need to match existing flooring or if you’re looking for a specific color.

If you buy factory-finished wood flooring, you just have to install it with no need to sand and apply a finish, as the finish has already been applied by the manufacturer.

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Unlike carpets, it is much easier to keep a hardwood floor clean. So, if you are thinking of replacing your carpet for hardwood floors, nowadays, there are three styles of hardwood floors available on the market. You can choose among strip (linear), parquet and plank flooring, which are all available in a variety of species, colors and widths.

Strip flooring is what you need, if you want to create a linear effect that gives you the illusion to find yourself in a larger, more open space. Strip flooring board width varies between one and one-half inches to two and one-fourth inches. This style of flooring is often considered to be “traditional” wood flooring.

Plank hardwood flooring is also considered a linear flooring, but it is wider than strip flooring, thus creating a more casual look. Plank flooring board width typically ranges from three inches to seven inches. You can find planks in almost every type of wood, from softwoods to hardwoods and exotics to rustics. However, choosing this style of flooring you will have concerns about what effect moisture will have on the floor.

Another style of hardwood flooring is parquet, which is wood flooring pieces. These hardwood pieces can vary in size and usually generate a geometric look. Parquet flooring is available in many modern or classic patterns and it can be very simple or complex in design. Parquet tiles are intended for glue-down installation over wood or concrete sub-floors.

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This type of flooring is strong enough, and even if you drop something heavy on the floor, you do not have to worry about it getting scratched.

Unlike carpets, timber is practical and does not trap dirt, pollen and other allergens, making it the ideal choice for asthma sufferers. Besides, timber floors are easy to clean. You don’t have to take any special maintenance than regular mopping or sweeping.

In addition, there is a variety of timber species to choose amongst, regarding colors, hardness, grade, grains, natural expansion, and board width/length.

You might prefer a grade showing natural knots, gum vein and insect markings, or perhaps a smoother grade to capitalize on the color of the timber. Furthermore, natural color variation is one of the most appealing features of timber.

If you are looking for an eco-friendly solution, you can even use recycled timber for your floors.

Along with other timber advantages, it’s also relatively easy to install timber floors on your own. In terms of duration, the amount of time you will need depends on the size of the floors which will be fitted and your experience. An average size room will normally take a couple of days.

However, wood flooring is very vulnerable to humidity and moisture, and you have to take care against rot and insect attacks in order to prolong your floor’s life. Also, restoration of the old finish will be needed once every 4-5 years to preserve the natural look of the floor.

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All types of wooden flooring have their advantages and disadvantages. We hope this article is going to help you easily choose the material for your wooden floor.

Let’s look at some summaries.

Hardwood timber flooring:

Hardwood timber floors are wooden floors of high quality. That is why their price is also in higher range.

The main advantage of this type of floor is its authentic wooden look that makes the feel about it really natural. According to the desired look of the floor, the timber can be cut in three ways: flat-swan, quarter-swan, and rift-swan.

Solid wood floors are also remarkable for their stability and durability. They can come pre-finished, but often require sanding & finishing after installation.

Timber floors are very easy to maintain and clean because stains and dirt does not stick to them. Unfortunately timber floors are very vulnerable to humidity and moisture, which can deteriorate the wood. So, use a slightly damp mop when cleaning.

Laminate flooring:

Laminate floors are reasonably priced synthetic multilayered products made by laminating a digitally-printed image onto a glued high-density fiberboard. Photographs of wood grain are used to represent real wood, so there is a wide variety of patterns and colors.

The main advantage of laminate floors is that they are easy to maintain and also scratch resistant because of the wear layer. Stains and spills are relatively easy to clean.

Installation is easy to do yourself. You just roll down a sheet of underlayment material, and then snap the planks or tiles of the floor into one another.

Even with the most realistic picture used to simulate hardwood, however, laminate flooring is not real wood.

Bamboo flooring:

Bamboo flooring is a relatively new technique. It is meant to be eco-friendly. Bamboo grows faster than regular hardwood trees which makes it a highly renewable resource.

Bamboo is known for its durability and stability. It’s slightly more water resistant than hardwood floors and mainly come pre-finished.

Choosing bamboo you get a natural look of your floors at a cheaper price.

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