Hardwood flooring can rejuvenate your home and help it reclaim the appeal and vibrancy it once boasted. Popular among those who are looking for ways to breathe new life into their residences, wood floors fit seamlessly within any room. They add style and grace while creating a comfortable atmosphere. The key is choosing the right type from the plethora of options.
In this article, we ll provide a short list of 5 helpful tips you can use to select wood floors that not only complement your rooms, but complete them. You may discover that you have more options available and more potential hurdles than you realized.
#1 Know Your Choices
When most homeowners begin exploring hardwood floors, they re surprised to learn how many choices they have. For example, you ll need to select between solid and engineered wood (technically, laminate flooring is not considered wood). If you re considering solid material, you ll need to choose between strips, planks, and parquets.
Strips vary in thickness, but not in width. Planks vary in width, but are generally only available in two thicknesses. Parquets are patterned boards that offer a unique appearance.
#2 Consider Wood Variety
In addition to the types of hardwood flooring available, you ll also need to consider various wood varieties. Some are lighter while others are darker. Some are extremely durable while others are softer.
For example, red oak and white oak are both known for being dense and therefore, strong. They can resist years of wear and tear. In contrast, cherry wood is soft and pliable. While it s not a good choice for high traffic areas in your home, it can add a splash of style when used judiciously. Beech is popular because it is resilient enough to absorb impact. Douglas fir is soft and as such, makes a good ornamental wood.
#3 Think About The Finish
Hardwood floors can come with a surface finish or a penetrating finish. The former is more popular. The strips, planks, and parquets are stained and then given a topcoat of polyurethane for protection. From that point onward, keeping them in good condition is mostly a matter of limiting their exposure to moisture.
With the latter, the finish soaks into the wood and a special wax is used to give it a sheen. Here too, you ll have choices to make. You can select a low or high sheen, or a satin appearance. The wax must then be applied on an ongoing basis, making a penetrating finish more difficult to maintain.
#4 Price To Your Budget
Wood flooring is typically priced based on square foot, so you should measure the room (or rooms) in which you re planning to install the floors. Even then, pricing to a budget can be difficult for a number of reasons. First, prices can change without warning.
Second, listed prices only represent the cost of the wood itself. When you notice that a particular wood variety is priced at $3 per square foot, that figure rarely includes the cost of materials needed for installation. If you re installing the hardwood floors on your own, you ll need to rent a nailer or stapler, and buy nails or staples, respectively.
Third, if you re installing a floating floor, you ll need to buy an underlayment to place between the flooring and the subfloor. That can add another $1 per square foot.
#5 Plan For The Cost Of Labor
Suppose you ve decided to forgo the pleasure of a do it yourself installation. Instead, you ve chosen to hire a team of installers. You might also need to hire someone for paint touch ups and caulking. This is an area in which your project s cost can balloon. Labor costs can add up to $3 per square foot.
Hardwood flooring is a fantastic way to revitalize your home. Keep in mind there are more than a few choices you ll need to make along the way. Educate yourself about your options, budget conservatively, and plan ahead. By doing so, you ll help ensure that your remodeling plan will be a stunning success.
Author Resource:-
This article has been provided by the staff of Footprints Floors, a Denver-based flooring company that values ethics, hard work, and a job well done. Check them out online at http://www.footprintsfloors.com
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