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Quick And Dirty Guide To Wood Flooring
By MJ Plaster, Fri Dec 9th
If you've always longed for hardwood floors, you're in goodcompany. While soft wooden floors date back to the Colonial era,hardwood floors first burst on the scene in the late 17thcentury. If you only know that you want hardwood floors gracingyour home, read this quick and dirty guide so that your headwon't spin when you talk with your contractor. This ten-minuteread will guide you through the basics of wood species, grades,types and styles. Wood Species With over 50 wood species available for wood flooring, red oakaccounts for more than 50% of hard wood flooring sales. Itspopularity stems from its elegance, durability andcost-effectiveness. Maple ranks second in popularity for newwood flooring. Newer trends indicate a growing appetite forbamboo, cherry, and white oak. Some of the more esotericimported woods used in hardwood floors include Brazilian cherry,Australian cypress, African padauk, and Burmese teak. Color options are plentiful. If color is a priority, and youwant the natural beauty of the wood to shine through, select awood species that most closely matches your color preference. Wood Grades Grade refers only to the beauty of the wood, not to itsdurability or serviceability. Not every grade applies to everywood species. A wood species is graded as Clear, Select orCommon, or it is graded as First, Second or Third. Clear/First,Select/Second, Common/Third grades are not identical, but theyare close enough to present a shared consumer definition. Thesix basic wood grades include:
Clear or First – free from most visible defects anddiscoloration,
contains only minor visible imperfections Select or Second – may
contain slight imperfections,such as color variations Common
or Third – containsknots and color variations, often classified as "rustic" wood
Solid vs. Engineered Wood Many people believe that hardwood and solid wood are synonymous.They're not. If you're hearing the term engineered wood for thefirst time, you most likely think that it is somehow inferior tosolid
wood. That's not necessarily true.Solid wood is milled from one solid ¾" piece of wood. Solidhardwood floors expand and contract more than engineered woodsand are particularly susceptible to moisture. As the woodexpands and contracts, it may buckle or it may leave gaps. Twocommon methods of counteracting these gaps include beveled edgesand leaving expansion gaps—gaps between the wood and thewall—hidden by the base molding. You'll find most of the popular wood species, such as oak,maple, cherry and others available in engineered wood. Sometimescalled pressed wood, engineered wood comes in 3-ply or 5-plyversions—three or five bonded layers of wood. Engineered woodfloors succumb to little, if any expansion and contraction andare perfectly suited for rooms susceptible to moisture. If youwant wood floors in the bathroom, the kitchen or in any roomwhere moisture accumulates, consider engineered wood for itsgreater stability. If you plan to lay a wood floor directly overconcrete, you must install engineered wood to maintainstructural integrity. Wood Styles Once you've determined the species, wood grade and decidedbetween solid and engineered wood, you can move on to the funstuff—the style. Common wood styles include: Parquet Plank Strip Strips and planks are long, linear cuts of woods. The maindifference is the width of the wood. Strips range from widths of1 ½" to 2 ¼", while planks range from widths of 3" to 8".Consider strips if your goal is to create the illusion of alarger room. Series of small wood pieces create parquet'sgeometrical design. Parquet floors complement large, airy rooms.
Select your hardwood floors with care; they can add beauty andwarmth
to your surroundings for a very long time, even alifetime.
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