Benefits of Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood floor is made from solid timber, engineered, and designed for flooring. Hardwood floors lend an old world charm to the room, which definitely looks very aristocratic and elegant. These floorings are also called solid floorings. When hardwood flooring was first introduced it was not an instant hit! But with the passage of time these floorings have become the most sought after floors of all times because of its richness, warmth, and natural beauty. The grains, patterns and colors all add to its charm and goes with any décor of your room.

Instances of hardwood floors can be dated back to the medieval ages when two- foot wide planks of elm or oak were used as flooring in the multi-storied castles. But it was very expensive for the common people to afford. Parquet flooring became quite popular, though the hefty price tag kept it away from the common people. Hardwood floor was used by all only after mass production in the nineteenth century. If properly installed with sealers and finishes, it can actually last a lifetime.

Hardwood flooring comes in a variety of options, shades, species and other characteristics these days, the best part is that it is all natural non-allergenic. There are two basic types of hardwood flooring depending on construction-solid wood floors and the engineered wood floors. The solid wood floors (prefinished and unfinished) while installing needs proper expansion allowance along the vertical walls. The engineered wood floors can be glue less and somewhat similar to laminated floors and less effected by weather changes.

The other types of hardwood floorings we get are unfinished hardwood floors, which are also sometimes called the job-site finished floors and the Pre-finished hardwood floors also called factory finished. But with time and experiment there are varied options available like the prefinished domestic, prefinished exotic, stained prefinished, handscraped to name a few. The solid wood floors can be cut into three styles- flat sawn, rift swan and quarter swan. Nowadays many of these floors come with absorption strips, which are used to reduce cupping and generally manufactured with a tongue and groove for easy installation.

There are some limitations for the solid hard wood flooring as these cannot be installed over the concrete floor or in the basements and cannot be used with radiant floor heating. The engineered hardwood flooring has several benefits over the solid one along more stability. Engineered wood can use floating installations, which make repairs easier. Maintenance is easy with everyday normal cleaning techniques. But its better to keep a few things in mind like- direct exposure to sunlight will fade the color; dragging your furniture over the floor will leave scratches, oily soaps tend to build up and create problems when its time to put a maintenance top coat. With few regular care tactics you can be sure that your hardwood floor will last a lifetime.

My Flooring Direct is a premiere provider of discount hardwood flooring from around the US that delivers to consumers direct from the manufacturer.