Wood flooring can be a great addition to your home, but it may not be the number one choice of many contractors and building contractor. This article will look at both wood flooring and laminate wood flooring to help you decide.
The main aspects to be considered while installing hardwood floors are the general color tone (dark brown, medium brown, light brown, reddish brown, golden brown, natural or other colors); the wood floor type (solid, engineered or floating); where is the floor going to be installed (above ground level, at ground level or below ground level); what the floor will be placed on (over concrete slab, plywood sub floor, oriented strand board, previous vinyl or wood sub floor) and so on.
There are different styles of wood floorings: parquet, which is a popular series of flooring pieces arranged in a geometric design; plank hardwood flooring, which are linear and wider planks of wood; and strip, which is linear flooring that is not as wide. Engineered wood floors are also categorized as parquet (series of flooring pieces arranged in a geometric design); plank hardwood flooring (linear and wider planks of wood); and strip (linear flooring that is not as wide) styles.
They can also be very stylish in patterns like tile, realistic stones and hardwood visuals. Having originated in Europe, laminate wood floors are becoming a good alternative for hardwood in North America. Compare that to most hardwood trees and you will see the difference.
If you’ve always longed for hardwood floors, you’re in good company. If you only know that you want hardwood floors gracing your home, read this quick and dirty guide so that your head won’t spin when you talk with your contractor. If you want a home that is beautiful, if you want a home that stops people in their tracks when they walk in, then you need to put down exotic hardwood flooring.
Installation
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions during the entire installation and doing it yourself is possible when installing your wood flooring. This means that you will save a pretty penny on installation fees since you can easily do it yourself. Installation guidelines are different for different kinds of wood flooring: radiant-heated sub floors, glue-down flooring, nail- or staple-down flooring, floating flooring, etc.
Just be sure to ask your floor manufacturer for specific installation instructions before you begin. The installation of hard wood flooring on your own has both pros and cons.
Wood floor installation can be done by the supplier and sometime by the manufacture. If you are paying to have your wood flooring installed – here are some questions to be considered: how long the installation will take, if the contractor has a license and the warranties and guarantees. The cost of product – you will see cost ranges from $4 to $8 per square foot, excluding installation costs.
Methods
Nail down, staple down, glue down, and free-float are some of the different installation methods for wood flooring. In case of a plywood sub-floor, any of the installation methods can be chosen but if one has a concrete sub-floor, the nail or staple down method is certainly not recommended.
Laminate Flooring
If you are considering using laminate wood flooring in some or your entire home and are wondering about the difference between laminate and wood, you may get a lot of different opinions. Laminate can be installed over virtually any surface, but wood cannot be installed over some surfaces. Water-resistant glue is recommended by most laminate flooring brands.
Bamboo
Engineered bamboo-this is much like the laminate flooring. The world’s best laminate flooring is available at a number of on-line retailers or your local home improvement stores. One particular choice that is increasing in popularity in North America is laminate flooring.
As with engineered and laminate woods the multi-strip planks are precision cut to make installation easier and faster. These benefits motivate many homeowners to use laminate wood flooring while renovating their homes. Laminate flooring cost less than wood flooring and also involves less installation time as compared to a hardwood floor.
In my opinion, wood flooring is great, but laminate flooring is becoming one of the fastest-growing products in the flooring industry. Today’s laminate floors are created using a photographic image of wood, marble, or tile that is bonded to fiberboard, backed with melamine plastic and coated with aluminum oxide. You may want to check out some samples before you take on your next wood flooring project.