The elegant look of a solid wood floor can add warmth and character to any room in a home. The natural characteristics of wood add depth and a visual appearance that many other types of floors try to duplicate. With the demand for hardwood flooring growing manufacturer’s are enhancing their ranges to meet this demand, with better quality finishes and superior construction techniques.

Hardwood floors come in a wide variety of wood species, colours and widths. Besides the classic hardwoods (like red oak, white oak, maple and ash) many manufacturers now offer exotic hardwood species from all over the World. Exotic hardwoods give homeowners the chance to better express their own personal decorating tastes with a more unique looking floor. With so many different types of hardwood flooring now available it is sometime hard to choice which is best suited to you.

Different Types of Wooden Flooring

Solid wood floors are one solid piece of wood that have tongue and groove sides and come in either pre-finished or unfinished styles. Solid wood flooring is sensitive to moisture and it is not recommended to install these floors below ground level, or directly over a concrete slab. These floors are for nail-down installations only. You can refinish, or recoat solid wood floors several times, which adds to their appeal and to their long life. There are solid floors that are over 100 years old and are still in good condition.

All solid wood floors will react to the presence of moisture. In the winter heating months, moisture leaves the wood causing the floor to contract which leaves unsightly gaps between each plank. In the summer months when the humidity is higher the wood will expand and the gaps will disappear. If there is too much moisture it may cause the wood planks to cup, or buckle. This is why it is important when installing a solid strip floor to leave the proper expansion area around the perimeter and to acclimatize the wood prior to installation.

Engineered wood flooring – These floors are constructed from several wood plies that are glued together. The centre core is generally a softer wood material and is used to make the tongue and groove. A hardwood finish layer is glued on top of the centre core and another softer wood ply is attached underneath the core. This top ply is also called the finish layer and can be constructed of almost any wood specie.

Wood always wants to expand in a certain direction. In the presence of moisture solid wood planks will always expand across the width of the planks, rather than down the length of the boards. To avoid this problem, manufacturers of engineered flooring place each ply in the opposite direction of each other. This is called cross-ply construction. Once the wood layers are glued together the plies will counteract each other which will stop the plank from growing or shrinking with changes in the humidity. Engineered wood floors are designed for the floating installation and can be glued together or some now come with a click system.

Veneer wood floors are very similar to laminate floors. The only difference is that with a veneer flooring to top wear layer is a thin piece or real hardwood instead of a photographic image as in laminates. Veneer flooring is usually around 8mm in thickness with the top hardwood layer being around 0.7mm. Advantages of a veneer floors are that they are fast and easy to install and you have a real hardwood floor.

Factory Pre-finished Wood Flooring

Most factory finished hardwood floors have several coats of finish applied to the wood’s surface. As example, many wood floor companies are applying 5-6 coats of a ultra-violet (UV) cured urethane. This would be extremely difficult for someone to duplicate on a job site finish, not to mention how many days it would take. This is one of the reasons why many flooring mechanics, flooring retailers, and builders are pushing pre-finished hardwood floors. Instead of taking several days to install and finish a new hardwood floor a pre-finished hardwood floor is generally done in one day. The most common finishes are:

UV-cured – Factory finishes that are cured with Ultra Violet lights versus heat.

Polyurethane – A clear, tough and durable finish that is applied as a wear layer.

Acrylic-urethane – A slightly different chemical make up than Polyurethane with the same benefits.

Aluminium Oxide – Added to the urethane finish for increased abrasion resistance of the wear layer, which is becoming extremely popular on the better grade wood floors.

Acrylic Impregnated – Acrylic monomers are injected into the cell structure of the wood to give increased hardness and then finished with a wear layer over the wood.

Unfinished Wooden Flooring
If you want a custom stained hardwood floor, or a wood floor to match existing trim than a unfinished hardwood floor is your answer. Unfinished means you start with a bare hardwood floor and than the floor is sanded, stained, and finished in the home. This can be quite a mess and the process does take several days, but your floor will have a finish to you requirements.

Installation Options

Nail Down – Secret nails are used with a wood flooring nailer and mallet to attach the flooring to the sub floor. Solid Strip floors or Plank floors can only be installed on wooden sub-floors or on batons.

Glue Down – Engineered wood floors and parquets can be glued down. This is when you spread the recommended glue all over the sub floor and lay the flooring into the glue.

Floating – This is when a thin underlay is placed between the wood flooring and the sub floor. A recommended wood glue is then applied in the tongue and groove of each plank to hold the planks together. Engineered & Veneer floors can be floated. This is a very fast, easy and clean method of installation.

Please consult the manufacturer installation instructions before installing any flooring.

Species

Ash

White to light brown, occasionaly with irregular dark streaks. Course textured grain, fairly straight, however decorative effect achieved when plain sawn. Good quality Ash is outstanding for toughness. Ash undergoes a medium degree of colour change over time by ambering to a more straw tan colour as it ages.

Beech

Whitish to plain brown, occasionally with a dark coloured core. One of the strongest European timbers. Usually heavy and straight grained and of plain appearance. European Beech undergoes a medium degree of colour change with a slight orangey ambering over time.

Birch

Curly grained and strongly figured. Sometimes marketed as white or red birch, colour varies from light to dark reddish brown. As flooring it is highly resistant to wear.

Cherry

Pale, pinkish brown which darkens somewhat on exposure to light. The grain is straight and a fine and even texture. A very decorative wood, especially in a natural grade. Cherry undergoes a fair degree of colour change from it’s fresh milled pale pink colour to a darkish reddish colour when fully aged.

Hevea

A golden straw colour with flowing speckled graining. The timber of Hevea Brasiliensis has been planted in Malaysia for the past hundred years mainly for its latex. Since last 20 years Hevea tree has became a valuable source of timber besides produces latex. Hevea tree is harvested for its timber after attaining the age of 25 – 30 years old.

Iroko

A very strong and durable timber of attractive appearance. Colour varies from a pale yellow to dark brown with a pronounced darkening from it’s colour to a medium brown colour as it ages. This valuable structural timber is ideal for flooring.

Jatoba

The heartwood is salmon-red to orange-brown, becoming russet to reddish-brown when seasoned. The grain may be straight but is more commonly interlocked. the hardwood is frequently marked with dark streaks and sometimes shows a golden lustre.

Kempas

A rich brick red colour that will darken to a red-brown when exposed to sunlight. Can have numerous yellow-brown streaks, which are associated with the pores of the wood.

Maple

Creamy white in colour with a reddish tinge. Less expensive grades have dark brown markings. Grain is usually straight and of fine and even texture. Maple undergoes a medium degree of colour change, with slight ambering from a cream/white to a more golden cream colour over time. A timber with good strength properties and resistance to wear, it makes excellent flooring.

Merbau

Yellowish to orange-brown which darkens to a medium to dark red-brown on exposure to light. A timber of very good appearance and generally free from defects which makes it very suitable for good quality flooring.

American Red Oak

Red Oak is America’s most popular wood floor choice offering a medium range of colour variability from lighter tan tones with pinkish highlights to darker browns. Red Oak undergoes a medium degree of colour change over time with a slight ambering of the pinkish tan brown colour you get when freshly milled.

American White Oak

White Oak has a medium high degree of colour variability and ranges from light tan colours to medium tan colours with a grayish cast to medium brown colours. White Oak undergoes a medium degree of colour change, with a slight ambering over time.

European Oak

Oak is one of the most widely used timbers for flooring in the UK. Renowned for its durability and decorative appearance, Oak makes an ideal floor. Its colour ranges from a light tan to a deep brown and undergoes a medium degree of colour change with a slight ambering over time.

American Walnut

Growing in popularity due to its stunning appearance American Walnut has a wide range of colour variability from a contrasting cream coloured sapwood to tan to medium brown to chocolate brown heartwood.Walnut exhibits a medium high degree of colour change with the dark brown heartwood lightening over time to a more golden brown with the muting of the colour variation found when freshly milled.

Does the term laminate flooring include engineered wood products? What about real wood planks? If not then what are the differences between these three products?

Although all three are flooring materials, real wood flooring materials are made out of wood only, cut from trees, these are available factory finished or raw.

Engineered wood flooring material, this is often mistaken for laminate flooring material, but it is not, and the technical process that both materials undergo explains why.
The first layer and core of engineered wood flooring is commonly made of maple, oak or cherry. But the overall product is fortified with the use of technology coupled with better urethane adhesives.

Engineered wood products have become more popular than solid wood planks because they cost less, and they provide the same look, and can easily be re- sanded and re- finished unlike some solid wood planks. As for the installation of engineered wood flooring it is like laminate flooring as it can be stapled, free floated or glued down, which is not the case for real wood flooring.

What is laminate flooring materials composed of. Most quality laminate planks have three layers, with high density fiber board at the core. The first layer is usually clear and made of melamine plastic material that is fused to the core with the use of heat. Todays laminate flooring material can easily handle spillage, stains, chips, dents and scratches.

The second layer is called the design layer. It contains the image of ceramic tiles, stone or wood imprinted on high quality photographic paper. Some manufactures use a fine surface of wood for this layer.

For the better quality laminate flooring materials, expect to find a third layer, which gives the laminate added sturdiness and strength. The thickness of a laminate floor is not an indication of its quality, more attention should be given to the materials used and the process it under went and the pressure applied.
As to the third layer, melamine is more stable than paper, and has the ability to bring the boards back to their original position. During production all three layers are fused together with the use of intense heat, making them stronger and dense.

Laminate floors can easily absorb noise, this is because a padding material is generally placed under the laminate material. Wooden or wood floors do not have this option.
When real wood or engineered wood floors lose there luster, for maintenance they can be polished back to their natural state. Where laminate floors are concerned, you can purchase touch up and chip repair kits. You can also replace the damaged plank, hows that for maintenance.

Change of weather and heavy traffic do not change the quality of the design of laminate flooring. This makes it ideal for heavy traffic areas such as kitchens, dinning and living rooms.

On the other hand great care has to be taken in deciding where to place wood floors, the sun, rain, spillage and excessive traffic can effect the look of real and engineered wood flooring, causing discolouration over time. And while it is true that you can polish and wax wooden floors, you do not have to do a thing with your laminate flooring.
Inevitably, the choice of purchasing engineered wood flooring. Real wood flooring or laminate flooring , lies with you.

Engineered wood flooring has its own special merits. But laminate flooring materials have come a long way from being inferior substitutes. Todays laminate flooring materials have benefitted immensely from superior technology and state of the art processes. The consumer has a wider range of realistic designs, from stone, wood and ceramic to choose from. Laminate floors are durable, easier to maintain, install and repair, compared to the other two products.

When you plan for your floor, consider the quantity of traffic, the desing you want and also your finances.

With laminate flooring you will have the pleasure of aesthetically pleasing floors that also fulfil all you needs. We at flooring mania hope this information was helpful to you .