Wood floors not only look great, but they add value to your home if you decide to sell in the future. There are three major installation processes for hardwood flooring. If you want an expensive, stylish look, parquet flooring creates a geometrical design with the grain of the wood. You can also choose strip wood flooring, which has long, thin strips usually less than four inches wide. The third choice is plank flooring, which is linear, but uses pieces of woods that are much wider than strip wood floors. No matter which process you use to install the floor, there are many wood choices, as well as multiple finished you could use to make the floor look beautiful. Which style is right for you? Explore all of your options before you make a choice.
Oak: Oak is one of the most common woods used for flooring. There are two types - red and white. Red oak has a slightly more pronounced grain, but both are fairly warm, easy-to-use flooring choices. With red oak, you'll get a strong grain pattern if you use a colored stain, because of it's porous characteristic. This species of wood is great for areas of the home that get high volumes of traffic, since the surface is fairly durable.
Maple: Maple floors are extremely durable - this is the type of wood most commonly used for bowling alleys. It has a very subtle grain pattern, but doesn't stain uniformly easily. It is also cat to cut, since it is so dense and durable. Maple floors are best left to professionals for installation and refinishing.
White Ash: Ash is fairly average when it comes to durability, but this type of wood is very easy to staining and board as easy to install, making it a great product for homeowners interested in DIY flooring project. Ash is sometimes harder to find that other wood products, so you might have to dig deeper into your wallet to install this type of floor in your home.
Mesquite: If you want a darker wood floor, mesquite is a good option to consider. This floor is strong, but can split easily during the nailing process if you aren't careful. Mesquite has a lot of character and ages well with little maintenance.
Birch: Birch ranges in color from pale white to dark reddish-brown. It's fairly easy to install, and holds up well in areas with heavy traffic. Most people choose birch because of the unique grain patterns, which can be wavy and curly in some boards, looking almost textured.
Bamboo: Interested in a sustainable option? Bamboo is a good choice because this plant grows very quickly, so harvesting the wood isn't hard on the ecosystem. Bamboo is light, but takes stain well, and some companies even sell colored bamboo plants for flooring.
Cork: Like bamboo, cork is a great option if you want sustainable flooring. Cork is actually a type of bark, so it isn't a traditional “hard†wood, but it doesn't kill the tree when it is harvested, so it's a great renewable r
Posted by: TrustedPros
