Phyllis Corner

There used to be a time when wood flooring was the only option available to most people. Today however, an extremely large number of flooring options are available ranging from marble and vinyl to wood look-and-feel-alikes like laminate and cork. But still till date, solid wood flooring has managed to retain its charm and those looking for class, comfort and style still choose wood floors for their homes. In spite of its high cost when compared to most other flooring options, hard wood flooring remains popular for a number of reasons, the most important of which are listed below.

There are a number of advantages associated with wood floors, some of which are:

• Wood flooring is a good investment. Good quality solid hardwood flooring increases the value of your home and if you plan to sell it, you can easily add on an amount equivalent to one and a half times what you have spent on the floor.
• Solid hardwood flooring is extremely versatile and makes for an easy transition between decors, going from modern to country to Victorian without the need for changing the floor.
• Wood flooring lasts much more than a number of other flooring materials like carpets, vinyl and even laminates. With a number of refinishes thrown in between, a good quality wood floor can easily last for thirty years or more.
• Hardwood floors make a house look classy, stylish and expensive. Wood floors are impressive and give even normal homes a sophisticated, designer look.
• Wood floors are a healthier alternative to carpets that trap dust and other allergens and are the best choice for people who suffer from allergies and asthmatic conditions.
• Wood flooring makes for better acoustics than that provided by cheaper laminate flooring. Wood floors do not make the kind of noise that is created by even heavily padded laminate flooring.
• Hard wood flooring is extremely easy to clean. All you need to do is vacuum it once a week and mop it with a wet cloth to clean off dust particles that might scratch your floors. Compare this to carpet shampooing, regular vacuuming and the continuous use of chemical solvents and detergents, and you can easily conclude that wood floors are the easiest to maintain.
• Apart from providing good quality insulation and strength to a building, hardwood flooring looks warm and rich. Wood floors age gracefully and have character, something that is lacking with the majority of flooring options available nowadays.
• Wood flooring never has and never will go out of fashion. On top of this, the wide variety of wood floors available nowadays make sure that you can find wood flooring for whatever décor and color scheme you are planning to have in your house.

At the same time, wood flooring does have its own share of disadvantages, but they pale in comparison to its advantages. The only disadvantage involved with hard wood flooring is that you might find the initial expense involved a bit too high. While at first you might find hard wood flooring much costlier than other kind of floor options, in the long run, wood flooring proves to be much more cost effective than other flooring materials like laminates, vinyl or carpeting because a single hardwood installment has a life as long as four to five times the life of a good quality carpet or vinyl installment.  All you will need to do is sand it and refinish it regularly and your wood floor will prove to be much more economical than all other kinds of flooring options in the long run.

How To Choose A Wood Floor For Your Home

Currently, you can find an extremely large variety of wood flooring in the market and choosing one that goes with both your budget and your décor might not be as easy as you think. Wood floors are available in colors ranging from almost white to jet black and come with different grades and different finishes. Apart from your budget, your choice should be based on your décor. You can go for unfinished planks that you can stain and finish as per your décor in order to get a customized floor at a lower cost. Otherwise you can choose to go for finished planks or strips and get your flooring installed without any fuss.

As far as the grade is concerned, higher grade woods come with minimum amount of imperfections, but you select a lower grade wood if you want your flooring to look natural and have more character. Carry the floor’s measurements whenever you go wood shopping and ask the salesperson to tell you about the costs that would be involved in installing the varieties of hard wood that you like. Select a wood color and grade that is versatile, cost effective and easy to maintain.

Installing Your Wood Flooring

Wood floors can nowadays be installed in almost all rooms ranging from the living room to the bathroom. Wood floors with urethane finish which can be installed in kitchens and other water prone areas are easily available in the market nowadays. However, it is still advised that you do not get hard wood flooring installed in high moisture content areas like basements and the floors next to the bath tub or the sink. If you are going for wooden flooring in the kitchen and bathroom, then you can select vinyl or tiles in the colors coordinating with your wood flooring for the areas where water spillage is more.

Both engineered and regular flooring is available in the market and depending upon your skills, budget and the kind of flooring you select, you can choose to either install the flooring yourself or hire professionals for it. In either case, you are advised to get as much information as possible and learn about the different types of installation methods that you can use for you house.

Tags: solid wood flooring | solid wood flooring | hard wood flooring | hardwood flooring | wood flooring | wood floors

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm and is filed under Kitchen decor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.