Hardwood flooring is a great choice for any home. It offers significant benefits such as higher resale value, natural beauty, and an endless variety of colors. From furniture to appliances, almost every piece can be purchased in hardwood. Hardwood flooring can be sanded and refinished multiple times extending its life for decades.
When you’re ready to buy a hardwood floor, you’ll want one that looks good and feels great. With today’s manufacturers, you can find a variety of choices that satisfy your style and provide years of beauty.
This article provides some vital information you need to know about hardwood flooring so you can make smart decisions about your home.
There’s a Wide Variety of Wood Species and Styles to Choose From
There are so many choices when you think about natural hardwood flooring. How can you know if you’re making the right decision? The look, feel and quality of the wood will certainly affect your selection. Knowing which wood species will work best in your space or for your design is the first step to selecting the perfect floor.
Then, once you’ve selected a species, there’s still a range of styles to pick from: rustic wide plank flooring, distressed old-world look, contemporary unfilled planks with straight edges or natural finish, quartered oak floors strips and bonded Brazilian walnut laminate.
Natural Colours Vs. Stained Colours
Simply choose the desired colours that work best in your home. Natural hardwood comes to you unstained, so you can take your time in deciding how to build your own custom colour palette.
Light coloured hardwood flooring colours are very versatile, allowing you to pair them with almost any kitchen cabinet style. Dark stained colours will look great with a wide range of kitchen cabinets styles, too.
As you shop for hardwood flooring, consider if you would like your floor to have a natural and consistent look, or prefer something with more character to enhance your decor.
Hardwood Grain and Grading Gives Character
Most people think that all hardwood floors look the same because they have yet to learn about all the differences in their appearance. The appearance of finished floors is influenced mainly by two things: grain pattern and grading. It’s helpful to know something about how your family of wood was grown and how it was milled.
Although most wood floors are made from a species of hardwood, each type offers unique characteristics and qualities that make them ideal for different types of spaces.
Installation Techniques Create a Unique Design
Hardwood floors are the perfect choice for those wishing to give their home a one of a kind look. A variety of installation techniques can be implemented and offer different effects and levels of intricacy.
The options are endless. Whether you prefer an antique oak flooring to complement a country kitchen or a solid hardwood floor in a modern loft, there are just so many possibilities. You can choose from different species and grades of wood.
You can add alder, cherry, or maple river-washed streaks to warm and personalize your home’s look. And you can create completely unique designs using installation techniques that accentuate even the most subtle features of your space or surroundings.
Wood Is a Cost-Efficient Choice for the Home
Wood can be a very cost-effective way to add warmth and style to your home. It can provide a high-end, sophisticated look and feel that complements your decorating budget. Hardwood floors are timeless and will last for generations. You can enjoy a special quality that can’t be duplicated with new products made from alternative materials.
Again, wood is less expensive than most other surface materials; this could be considered both a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the viewpoint of the homeowner. For one, wood is more natural and environmentally friendly than most other surface options; for another, it typically requires a lot more maintenance than those surfaces.
You Can Get Prefinished Hardwood Flooring
If you have always wanted to get hardwood flooring but were worried about the time and effort it would take to stain, seal and finish them then there is good news for you. Prefinished hardwood floors are those that have already been finished by the manufacturer giving you a stain-free, ready to install product. It will take a lot less work for you thus avoiding the need for any complicated refinishing or staining projects.
Prefinished hardwood flooring is a good option if you are installing hardwood flooring in your home for the first time. Whether it’s a solid wood or engineered hardwood floor, you can get a prefinished floor that will require no finishing. This type of floor is ready to install right out of the box and much easier than installing unfinished flooring and then sanding and finishing it later on.
Wood Floors Allow for Added Comfort and Convenience
Wood floors add a unique, beautiful look to a home. This flooring choice allows for added comfort and convenience with its ability to keep your feet warm in winter, while remaining cool during the summer months. On top of that, wood floors are easy to clean and one of the most durable carpets you can choose.
Hardwood floors are desired due to its appearance, comfort, and durability. Varying in grain pattern, each type of wood has its own unique look. Although most people think of hardwood floors as a luxury product, they can also be much more affordable than most believe.
Wood Darkens Over Time
Over time, wood floors will become darker from exposure to wear and tear. Because of its natural grain, every piece of hardwood flooring reacts individually… even in the same series. Fingerprints, liquids, and just everyday living can leave obvious signs on your flooring, but buffing it with some fine-grit sandpaper will restore it to its original state.
Hardwood Flooring Add to the Resale Value of New and Existing Homes
Hardwood flooring is a timeless investment that will add value to any home by increasing the property’s appeal, adding comfort, and protecting it from expensive damage.
Hardwood floors are very popular choices among homeowners and they install rather easily as well. They are available in a variety of thicknesses and woods of which many are available pre-finished. So if you want to enhance the look of an older home or you want a more traditional feel to a newer home, hardwood flooring is perfect for either purpose.
Wood Floors Improves Air Quality
Wood floors greatly improve air quality inside a home. Not only do they eliminate the possibility of having toxic glues and chemicals near your family, but they also absorb moisture and eliminate airborne pollutants around them.
Some of the best wood floors come from hickory and oak trees, because although they are strong woods, their natural oils and unique structures make them very pliable.
Wood floors use less polyurethane and finishes containing formaldehyde than other flooring types, making it a natural choice for those concerned about excessive indoor pollutants.
Environmentally Friendly Unlike carpets that are made from synthetic fibers, wood can be recycled and used to create new flooring or furniture. Just make sure you dispose of old hardwood flooring materials at a reputable recycling center where they will recycle the hardwood by-products into new flooring.
A Cleaning Routine Is Key to Keep Floors in Top Condition
Hardwood flooring is beautiful and durable, but only if it is properly maintained. Hardwood floors can last for decades or even centuries with the right care, which should include a regular cleaning routine.
Picking the right cleaner for the job is important too, as there are cleaners that work great for vinyl and linoleum, but make hardwood floors dull and streaky.
Use Proper Maintenance to Prolong the Life of Wood Floors
Hardwood floors are a terrific aesthetic improvement to any home or work space, but how do you prevent cracks and damage to your wood flooring? The most important thing to remember is that hardwood floors need to be maintained properly. Proper maintenance ensures hardwood floor durability, which means they’ll likely outlive you.
When you install wood floors as part of a remodeling project, you will need to know about wood floor care, in order to keep your investment looking beautiful for many years.
Final Thoughts
Ok so you have read our article and now you know why hardwood flooring is the best choice for your home. The right kind of flooring can do wonders for any home. It improves its visual appeal, impresses guests, makes the home more comfortable and even boosts its resale value. Some materials are more expensive than others, but a good wood floor can last for many years and still look great.
Wood flooring is a good investment for many homes, particularly ones with high foot traffic. We hope that this article has helped you to decide which hardwood flooring to invest in.
