Interior designers and builders agree that the first element to consider when beginning to finish a room is flooring, because it sets the mood.
According to professionals, more and more people are bypassing tile and carpet and instead choosing wood. But what kind of wood should you go with? Solid hardwood? Engineered wood? Reclaimed antique wood? There are a lot of options out there, but making the right choice according to your tastes and circumstances is easier than it appears. Following are some important factors to consider, as well as advice from the experts.
Which Wood-Flooring Type Should You Choose?
Solid Hardwood: Although solid hardwood expands and contracts and sometimes creaks, its natural beauty will always add value to your home. Further, it can be re-sanded and refinished, so it’ll retain that value.
Engineered Wood Floors: These floors are made of thin sheets of wood that are glued together and refinished at the factory. This results in a more stable product than solid wood, because it resists buckling and warping. Whereas solid wood can only be nailed to a subfloor, engineered wood floors (although developed to be glued over concrete) can also be nailed or floated.
Reclaimed Antique Wood: For customers with a unique vision, this is the best flooring option. Reclaimed antique wood is custom made one plank at a time according to customer specifications. It is especially stable because it can cut from the center section of a beam.
Finished vs. Unfinished
One of the benefits of solid hardwood flooring is that it’s available finished or unfinished. Go with an unfinished option if you want to match an adjacent floor. Then it can be custom stained to blend. Finishing the floor on site will insure a more uniform color and finish. An unfinished wood floor, however, may take several days to install, stain, and finish.
Whether solid or engineered, finished wood is factory sanded, stained and finished, so it’s easier and faster to install, not to mention much less messy because there’s no on-site sanding or finishing. Finished wood is durable and is therefore a great option for high-traffic areas. And don’t forget that it’s less expensive than unfinished wood.
Important Things to Consider
More and more people are installing radiant heating in their homes, where the heat source is under the floor. If this is your heating system, then engineered wood would be a better choice than solid hardwood because of its durability. The National Wood Flooring Association backs up this claim, recommending quarter-sawn or rift-sawn wood in this circumstance, again because of durability. According to the NWFA, strip flooring is preferable over plank flooring, since narrow boards expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity less than wide ones.
Stoddard recommends engineered wood flooring for seaside homes, because it’s scratch-resistant—and less like to be damaged by tracked-in sand—and requires less maintenance. For any interior that’s not environmentally controlled—such as a cottage or summer home or below-grade installation—engineered hardwood flooring remains the best option.
Some Simple Design Tips
When personalizing a room, understated detail is important. A great look is to use a lighter wood overall and then either add a dark border or drop in a maple medallion that looks like an area run.
More and more people are mixing woods from room to room. For a cozy room such as a den or bedroom, a dark wood like walnut or cherry would work well. But a lighter wood, like maple or birch, would brighten up any kitchen.
For formal, traditional, or historic homes, darker wood works best. But if your home is country, casual, or contemporary, a lighter wood might work well. Design your floor to complement fabrics, furnishings, and accessories.
Current Trends in Wood Flooring
If you’re looking for the latest trend in flooring, consider hand-scraped wood or an “exotic” wood from a far-off land. Woods such as Brazilian cherry, Santos mahogany, and Amendoim have delightful grains and colors. All are available both in solid hardwood or engineered wood.
The old look and simplicity of woods such as Old Groove Eastern White Pine is becoming increasingly popular among owners of historic homes on the Eastern seaboards. For owners of historic homes on the Eastern seaboard, woods such as Old Groove Eastern White Pine are prized for their old look and simplicity. Lately, dark woods have significantly increased in popularity, with walnut in the greatest demand.
DIY & Maintaining Your Wood Floor
Almost 30 percent of homeowners install wood flooring themselves. If you’re handy with a nail gun and saw, then you can do it. There are also many resources to help you available online and at your local bookstore.
Once your floor is installed, you’ll be pleased to discover that wood flooring is extremely low maintenance. A regular schedule of sweeping and vacuuming is all you really need, a chore that will be made much easier if you keep a step-off mat at every doorway to collect any incoming dirt. One thing to remember is clean up any standing water immediately. It’s not a bad idea to keep an extra box of wood in case you need to replace a strip.
Fortunately, natural hardwoods survive many household mishaps much better than laminates and synthetics, since the grain and pattern of solid hardwoods go all the way through. Scuffs and burns that would be permanent in a synthetic surface can be repaired with relative ease.
Avo Barsoumian has been in the home flooring and interior design industry for over 25 years. He is the owner of Carpet Wagon, a family owned flooring installation company in Orange County. The carry the best in elegant hardwood flooring, beautiful laminate flooring and plush carpeting. It doesn’t matter whether your searching for nylon carpet for your new apartment or price of carpets to redecorate your older house then Carpet Wagon has exactly what you’re looking for.
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