Picking out new hardwood flooring is not necessarily the easiest of tasks. If you desire quality floors, then a little more goes into the decisions process. Hopefully, this information will help you better understand hardwood flooring and help you make the right choice for your home.

Finished Vs. Unfinished

Finished (or you might also hear it called pre-finished flooring) means the floors come sanded, stained and sealed. This helps speed up the install process because at this point you lay the flooring and there are no other steps to finishing it. This also will help prevent harsh smells you will experience from staining and sealing unfinished floors.

Unfinished floors will show up to the new flooring site needing sanded, stained and sealed after being laid. The benefit of installing unfinished floors is you won’t have to pick a stain color until the floors are installed, so you don’t have to commit to a floor color right away. Additionally, if a finished floor is installed and damaged while installing it, it is a lot harder to fix.

Engineered Vs. Solid

Engineered flooring is made of many layers of wood glued together with a veneer topper (like plywood). This makes engineered hardwood stable and likely to hold up for a long time. The only minor downfall is that it can only be refinished maybe once.

Solid hardwood floors are exactly as they sound. It is a solid piece of wood usually 5/8 to 3/4 inches thick. Since this is a solid piece of wood, it can be sanded and refinished many times. This type of hardwood does not do the best with humidity changes, so it is not recommended in some basements.

What species makes the best hardwood floors?

No surprise here, the best wood for flooring is very hard (hence the name “hardwood”). Oak, Maple and Cheery flooring are all very solid choices of hardwood flooring. There are a few other species that will work but are not as popular, those are; Bamboo, Walnut, Ash, and Mahogany flooring.

If you have a more sophisticated taste or you want to add some extra value to your home, then there are some species of wood that will really stand out compared to others. Those are Teak, Jarrah and Mesquite.

If you are more of the creative type or looking for a unique look, then reclaimed wood might be an option for you. You can find wood at salvage yards and some local shops might even have access to reclaimed wood. This flooring will probably have blemishes, but this is what will make the flooring unique. If the wear and tear is not the look for you, then these floors can be refinished. This option can save you a lot of money if you are looking for a cheaper route.

Hardwood flooring is a great addition to any home. Hardwoods are a great investment for that reason alone. If you are looking to upgrade your flooring in your home or business, then trust the folks at Concept Flooring to get the job done for you!