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What Type Of Wood Flooring Is Perfect For Your Home?

3 February 2015

Allen Griffin

There are a ton of real and simulated wood products on the market today, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Knowing the basics of each type of wood flooring will help you determine what product is the best choice for each room of your home, all while staying within your target budget. Picking a general category is an important part of ensuring that you don't get overwhelmed during the purchase process.

Real Wood

The ultimate choice for any home is real wood flooring. There are a large variety of wood types and thicknesses on the market, and each has its own level of cost and durability.

• Decide on how much finishing you are willing to do. If you purchase unfinished pieces from the manufacturer, you will have to do additional work after installation, but you will have complete control over the quality and style of your finish. If you buy a pre-finished product, spend extra time on your installation to ensure that there is no damage to your brand new floor.
• Thickness of the wood will have a lot to do with the cost of your floor. On the other hand, the thicker the wood, the more it is going to cost. The reason to go with a thicker piece of wood is to ensure that the floor will wear well. In order to thin out the wood, many flooring options will use underlayments to thicken up the pieces. You don't want the top layer to wear through in just a few years.
• Engineered wood flooring is all wood, but it is built in layers. The best part of this is that it makes the flooring very stable and easy to work with. As with the other options, you will have to decide on the types of wood that are glued together. The best part is, because of the layers, you can purchase flooring that has the properties of several different types of wood.

Laminate

Real wood may be the ultimate choice, but it is often outside your budget. In addition, real wood is often a poor choice in areas like the bathroom, where the excess humidity will break down the wood prematurely. The answer to this problem is laminate flooring. Made of composite materials, it is unable to absorb water and is extremely resistant to damage. If you have a choice between a poorly made wood flooring and a solid laminate product, go with the laminate every time. While it might not raise your home's value as much in the short term, it will ear better and be easier to maintain.

Linoleum or Tile

While it may be at the bottom of your preferred-materials list, linoleum is the right choice in some instances. It is cheap to install and wears well, so it is a good choice for children's playrooms or rental properties where you need something that will take the abuse, but you can still easily replace. Wood tile is not a common product, but it does exist. It may be a solid choice if you need something that can really take the abuse but you want something a bit more upscale than linoleum.

Choosing wood flooring involves a lot of variables. The thing you must choose is what material you want your "wood" flooring to consist of. There are plenty of composite materials that can be used along with, or instead of, wood in your flooring in order to fulfill your needs and budget. In order to determine the best material for your wood floor, consider how durable you need the flooring to be, along with the costs and how much maintenance you are willing to put into the floor.

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