When people think of a ‘wooden floor’, they often think of a solid wood floor, perhaps one that they’ve seen in an old house or perhaps in a grand banqueting room of a hotel. There’s no doubt about it that solid wood is the ultimate luxury floor. They have been a dominant feature in period homes for centuries, and homeowners and designers alike have been keen to take advantage of the traditional properties of a solid wood floor and combine it with a range of looks, from traditional, country, ‘shabby chic’ and ultra modern.

• Ultimate luxury floor
• Extremely hard wearing
• Range of beautiful finishes
• Choice of widths to enhance your design

What is a solid wood floor?

A solid wood flooring is supplied as planks that are taken from one piece of timber. The tree species that are normally used for flooring include oak, beech, maple and walnut and they are available in an amazing range of colours that vary from very pale to almost black. They come in a range of widths and thicknesses which also make a surprising effect on the ‘look’ of a room. Very narrow planks in a big room, will give a very different result than wide planks in a smaller room, and vice versa.

Are they easy to install?

Unless you are a very experienced person who is comfortable dealing with advanced DIY projects, laying a hardwood flooring is almost certainly best left to the professionals. A solid wood floor is a luxury product, and when laid by a carpenter or joiner will look stunning. However it is a natural product and its characteristics need to be taken into account. For example, the wood planks need to acclimatise in the room where they are going to be used – real wood ‘moves’ according to temperature and humidity. So your floor needs to adjust to your central heating habits, but it will also expand and contract according to the weather. This is why it is important for an expansion gap to be left around the outside edge of the floor. Solid wood floors are generally fitted by ‘secret nailing’ or being glued to the sub-floor. Individual manufacturers often supply particular tips on fitting.

How do you maintain them?

A quality solid wood floor that is well looked after will pretty much last forever. And as the popularity of them has surged in recent years, manufacturers are making it easier for their floors to look good at the beginning and for them to maintain their looks. Wood needs ‘feeding’ with oil, but most wood planks are now pre-finished at the manufacturing stage.

Dirt, dust and grit are the main enemies of wood floors as they grind away at the surface underfoot and make thousands of scratches, so regular brushing and vacuuming is essential. In fact, it’s best to try and ensure that as little dirt as possible actually makes it into the house – put good quality door mats outside and inside doors to the exterior, to try and keep this to a minimum.

Assuming over a period of time, the floor does actually get dirty, you can use specialist wood soap cleaners that will lift the dirt from the surface. This are excellent and are used in the just the same way that you would mop a tiled or lino floor, but you must use the water sparingly – an excess of water will soak into the floor and cause it to swell and possibly stain – not what you want!

Periodically (depending on what sort of traffic you have through your rooms), a wood floor will benefit from being oiled again. When the wood is ‘fed’ with oil it will look as good as new again, which is one of the main advantages of a solid wood floor. Any damage can be sanded away, stained, waxed and oiled and again, it will be back to its original condition. A solid wood floor is an investment that you certainly won’t regret. Enjoy!

You can buy wholesale hardwood flooring directly from the major manufacturers such as Dupont, Armstrong, Mohawk, Hartco and others. Usually hardwood flooring at a wholesale price is reserved just for wholesalers or for flooring retailers. However, many companies do offer their customers the chance to purchase wholesale hardwood flooring at prices far below the retail price, even though they may not actually be as low as wholesale.

One of the ways you can save money by buying wholesale hardwood flooring is to look at the selection of laminate hardwood flooring. The difference in the price of laminate flooring as compared to solid wood will make it seem as you are buying wholesale wood flooring. With the recent advancements in the manufacture of laminate flooring, it is much harder to tell the difference between laminate and hardwood. You can kill two birds with one stone – you get the flooring you want at a wholesale price and you get the look of hardwood that you always wanted.

Hardwood flooring wholesalers often offer customers the chance to buy hardwood flooring at a wholesale price. These events are usually an annual event when the wholesalers want to clear out their warehouses to make room for more stock. You buy the wholesale hardwood flooring as is, which could include some damaged boards or there may only be a small supply of certain woods or finishes. You do need to make sure that you buy enough hardwood because if you do spoil a few boards or run out before you get the room completed, you may not be able to get the hardwood to finish it.

Even when you are buying wholesale hardwood flooring, the sales staff will help you choose the right colour to suit your furniture. If you are not sure how to calculate the amount of hardwood flooring you need, hardwood flooring wholesalers will do this for you and many of them also have delivery service available as well. Wholesale wood flooring sales usually draw large crowds of homeowners who are either building a new home or considering a remodelling project.

Wholesale hardwood flooring is available in all grades of hardwood. This is an excellent way to get the best quality hardwood for your flooring needs at prices you would expect to pay for the lesser quality boards. Even if you plan a flooring project in the future, you can buy the wholesale wood flooring and store it until you are ready to use it. However, hardwood flooring wholesalers will not accept a deposit with this type of sale or agree to keep it in the warehouse until you are ready. You do need to have a place in which to keep your wholesale hardwood flooring.

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 .