Wood Floors Plus

By installing the best wood flooring, you can enhance the beauty of your rooms and increase the resell value of your house . It is an investment that should not be ignored for a homeowner. However, making the right selection is not an easy process, as the latest innovations in wood flooring products has made it extremely difficult to make the best choice. Therefore, it becomes a challenge for you to find the type of floor that will work best for your room and suit your budget and lifestyle. Here you would find ways to explore the world of wood flooring and tips to evaluate the right wood flooring for you.

Types of Wood Flooring

Here are the types of wood flooring that are available so that you can make a comprehensive comparison to come up with the best choice;

• Solid wood flooring: The most familiar form of wood flooring is hardwood flooring. In this flooring, you have solid section of narrow or wide wood planks, which are installed by nailing or stapling. Installation of solid hardwood is a costly option because of its high material costs and involvement of labor. However, there are benefits of installing this wood flooring because like other wood floorings it doesn’t have thin decorative surface veneer and thus it’s suitable for refinishing. Therefore, it’s a long lasting option.

• Engineered wood flooring: Cost of installing engineered wood is less when compared to installation costs of solid hardwood. However, best engineered wood flooring is designed to be durable and very stable. Engineered wood is constructed in layers and doesn’t use a single piece of wood. Grains are used in an alternating process in layers and on the top, there is a thin hardwood veneer. This gives strength to this wood, makes it dense, and increases its resistance to warping. You can use this engineered wood in places like kitchens or basements where it’s not appropriate to use hardwood. 

• Acrylic wood flooring: When you visit a high traffic area like a department store or a restaurant, and find the wood flooring of that place attractive, then most probably you are looking at acrylic wood flooring. This type of flooring is constructed by injecting hard drying polymer with pressure. This increases the resistance of wood to scratches and gouges. This flooring is getting popular among home users and is a good choice for people who have pets or young children.

• Laminate wood flooring: Wood laminate floor is not actually a wood, but it has similar looks. Laminate flooring is the best option if you want an appeal of wood flooring, but you are on a tight budget. The best laminate wood flooring is resistant to moisture and yet inexpensive. The best wood laminate flooring will never show signs of bubbling and swelling, which were usually seen in older style wood laminate floors.

Getting the Look of Best Wood Flooring

When you want your wood flooring to be the best, then apart from flooring material you must also consider the wood construction and finishing. There are several narrow and wide wood plank styles that are available, which you can use to create beautiful designs on the floor. While finishing the looks of your wood flooring, you must make sure that you get a good blend of colors.

Installation of wood flooring requires, high-level of expertise. Therefore, if you want to have best wood flooring in your home, then you must contact Wood Floors Plus because they are the providers of best quality wood material. Check them out to get the best deals for all your wood flooring needs.

Wood floor refinishing is the project you want to engage in when your floor has lost its beauty, luster and color to restore its original glory. The process involves removing your old finish and replacing it with a new finish. Before finally getting to that, there are steps that have to be followed diligently to ensure you get the best results.

Preparing the Floor for Refinishing

Refinishing should be done with the right procedures. And such steps include the following:

• The very first step is to sand off the old finish by sanding or stripping. Stripping is preferable when you want the process to be quick. On the other hand, sanding is the best method of to remove stains, scratches or unevenness from the floor to prepare it for refinishing. For this process, you will need a walk-behind sander as well as a hand held sander, which is very crucial for sanding corners and doorways. You can either buy this equipment or rent from stores like wood floors plus.
• As you do sanding, it is important that you save the sawdust since you will need them later for filling holes, gouges or nicks in the floor. Mix sawdust with a small amount of white glue to make a paste that will be useful even later for covering protruding nails and cables. When sanding is finished, clean the floor, walls and moldings to remove all the dust on them, and then vacuum to clean up any debris or sawdust.

• If it is also possible to do wood floor refinishing without sanding. You can opt for chemical stripping instead, just make sure to follow all the instructions on the label as well as the safety precautions recommended. Let the striper stay for the prescribed time after application, then remove while still a bit dry. Every manufacture always provides instructions on how to remove their chemical stripper. It is important to note that not all of them are removed the same way. While others are removed by rinsing with water, other are removed using turpentine or paint removers.

Applying the Finish

Water or moisture is not good for the new finish, so whichever method you choose to remove the old finish, make sure the floor is completely dry prior to application. Also use a tack cloth, specially meant to pick up and hold dust residue, to clean the entire floor. Once all these are confirmed, you can go ahead to the last stage of refinishing wood floor that is applying the finish or stain/sealant of your choice.

Wood Floor Refinishing Products

The top products that you can use for refinishing include:

• Polyurethane: Can be oil or water based. Has a plastic look and texture. It is recommended for high moisture areas and those prone to high traffic.
• Varnish: Easy to make spot repairs on and comes with a variety of luster (from matte to gloss) the glossier the finish, the more durable and vice versa.
• Sealer: Easier to spot repair compared to the two aforementioned finishes but durable compared to both. Its advantage is that it offers the most natural looking finish as it highlights the wood’s grain.

Once you have chosen the finish you want to use, move forward to the last stage of wood floor refinishing which is applying the finish to the floor. You can apply it using a synthetic brush or engage the services of an applicator pad to spread the finish onto the floor evenly and neatly. Leave it to dry for about 8 hours, after which you can add another coat for best results and to deepen color.

A floating wood floor, or sometimes called snap-on wood floor, is just what it is. It is a wood floor that is installed without the use of nails. Instead of solid wood strips, planks are used for the flooring. The planks are applied either by using super glue or simply snapping them together.

What is the advantage over an ordinary wood floor?
One of the main advantages of floating wood floors over traditional ones is the appearance. Since floating wood floors don’t use nails, they don’t have anything that can block the overall appearance of the floor. This is good if you really want people to see how your floor looks. The absence of nails make the planks go down easily. If you want your wood floating floors installed in less time then you should go for floating wood floors.

Who can install floating wood floor?
Floating wood floor installation is pretty much straight forward. Assuming that you have all the right tools, you can install wood floors by yourself. However, if you are not confident with your skills then it would be best to have a professional do the installation for you. In case you decide to hire a professional, you won’t have to worry about cost since labor for wood floor installation is very affordable.

Which brand should you choose?
There are no fixed standards when it comes to choosing a good brand for floating floor wood. As a general rule, always choose reputable brands that have been in the industry for several years. Also, keep in mind that you get what you pay for in most situations so don’t jump on cheaper brands of wood floors plus without thinking it through.

Installing floating wood floor
If you want to install your wood floating floor by yourself then here’s how:

• Remove existing floor covers and doors. Make sure that everything is clean so you can firmly install the wood flooring. Draw line guides using a pencil.
• Place the underlayment on the floor. The underlayment is the foam padding that is applied under the wood floor. You can use masking tape to secure the pieces on the floor. You should make sure that there are no gaps in between the underlayment.
• Once you have secured the underlayment, you can start putting down the planks. You should be careful with alignment.
• Cut down edges of the planks, if necessary. Excess planks can ruin the specific parts of the wood floor so you should trim them. It may also be necessary to cut down planks to allow space for nearby doors.

The New Snap-on Design
Among the new designs of floating wood floors is the snap-on design. Floating wood floors with this design allow installation without the use of glue or any other adhesives needed to put the planks firmly on the floor. Snap-on wood floors can be installed by simply snapping them together on the floor. Another advantage to this design is the absence of gap in between the planks which can give you a firm and smooth wood flooring.

Conclusion

And those were the basic but valuable information about floating wood floors. If you are searching for the alternative with better aesthetics, cheaper cost, and easier installation, this is undeniably the best bet. If you still haven’t switched yet, this site recommends that you order or purchase some today from your favorite sources – your home deserve the improved overall look, smooth finish, and impressive colors that floating woods can only provide. Just remember to carry this comprehensive guide with you so you can be sure you are making a wise decision.

Hand scraped wood floors have once again become fashionable flooring options. For a while, it was the smooth, flat, and glossy variety that ruled the roost. These smooth wooden floorings were manufactured with machines. Even the laminates and engineered hard wood floorings aped this finish. Now that hand scraped wood floors have once again come into limelight, understanding what such floorings are all about, their advantages, and costs becomes necessary.

Characteristics of Hand Scraped Hardwood Flooring

These wooden flooring planks have more rugged appearance. Wooden flooring that is hand scraped gives the room a vintage ambience. Such floorings became a norm in the 17th century. Scraping was done by hand to reduce the level differences between one wooden plank and the other used in the floor. After power sanders were developed, human labor was reduced, and wooden floorings became increasingly even. Former wood craftsmen who made such floors began experimenting with such planks giving the flooring a distinct look by artistically sculpting, laying, hammering, and chiseling planks.

On average, thickness of such smooth wooden floorings is about ¾ of an inch. In contemporary hand scraped wooden flooring, the imperfect look of the past has returned. The wooden planks of such flooring vary in thickness as well to give the flooring an authentic look. These hand scraped hardwood floors are further classified based on natural wood patterns, or artificial imitations of characteristics found in natural wood. Some of the most popular styles include:

• Denting
• Sanding
• Scooping

Natural wood develops cracks, which is covered in the smooth hardwood varieties. Such cracks are retained or deliberately created to give the flooring an authentic hardwood look. Indentations or unevenness that exists naturally in the wood may be retained, or artificially created on such wooden flooring. Even holes similar to the worm holes in natural wood may be artificially made in such hand scraped wooden flooring varieties.

Other Varieties

There are engineered varieties of this type of hardwood flooring as well. Such engineered wooden floorings with hand scraped texture offer greater flexibility for installation. Distressed varieties of hardwood flooring with artificial indentation and hand scraping are also available in the market. Such distressed varieties are ideal if the interiors require wooden flooring looking considerably old. There are innumerable options of such hand scraped wood floorings offered by online businesses such as Wood Floors Plus.

Advantages

• Notwithstanding the use of hand scraping look on the hardwood flooring, these floorings too have modern finishing. Such finishing, however, does not disturb the natural look of the wooden flooring planks.
• Because of the unique finishing this type of flooring has, it is possible to find such hand scraped wooden flooring varieties of different colors that blend with colors of the room.

• And since they have unique patterns on the outside, you can enjoy a one-of-a-kind design that only this flooring option can give. Unlike machine-crafted flooring, each board comes in diverse designs; which is in contrast with the former which boast uniform patterns on the surface.
• Another noteworthy advantage of these floorings is that some of the minor scratches and blemishes only add to their appearance, unlike in case of smoother varieties of hardwood floorings wherein scratches and stains can become rather unpleasant to the eyes.

Conclusion

As of date, hand scraped wood floors cost anywhere between $4.50 and $8.28, including installation cost. This cost, however, differs from area to area, and the complexity of flooring installation. There may be labor charges for leveling and other damage repairs as well, which can be determined only after inspecting the site. However, there is a margin included in this cost for any repairs or fabrication that may be required on site.

Nowadays, you can have various wood flooring types in any place in your business or home. However, the type that you can use will largely depend on the place in which you prefer to put it.

Ways of Categorizing Wood Flooring Types

The different types of wood flooring that are available can be categorized in many ways. You can use the type of material, floor layout, and material form to group these floors. These classes are the major ones in which you can categorize them. The punishment level that you expect your floor to receive during its lifetime and the traffic will largely determine the most appropriate type of flooring for your home.

When you want to classify flooring wood types depending on the wood material, the most popular are oak, walnut, and maple. You can also use other hardwood types as flooring. In addition, you can use teak as well as other exotic types as flooring material. You can also include pinewood under this category even though it is technically softwood.

You can also classify wood flooring types depending on the form of the material that is used. The types include engineered, acrylic-impregnated, and solid wood. To narrow down your choices, this article has created a rundown of the most common flooring types that belong to the wood category. And the list goes right down below.

Wood Based Flooring Types

• Factory Finished and Unfinished wood flooring
  
  A finish, which is a protective coat for sealing your floor in order to prevent every day wear, is necessary for all wood floors plus. You can purchase factory-finished flooring, where the manufacturer has applied the finish. Just like unfinished wood flooring, this flooring type is nowadays widely available. The finishing and sanding process of these floors has already taken place and hence, the time that is required to install them is less. You can walk on these floors immediately after they are installed.

Unfinished wood flooring is also available for you to buy and your installer will apply the finish at the site where he does the job after sanding the wood. Many finish options are available and you can learn more about them before making a choice. You may meet your needs better by using this option if you want to match your existing flooring or a specific color.

• Engineered, Acrylic-Impregnated and Solid Wood Flooring
  
  Layers of thin hardwood pieces are used to make engineered flooring. This type of material is a perfect option for floor conditions that require support for more weight and force because of the crisscross layering.

The acrylic-impregnated wood flooring combines solid timber and acrylic. This combination gives a floor material that is durable owing to its ability to withstand extremely heavy human traffic.

The name solid wood flooring implies exactly that: a piece of wood that is solid from bottom to top. There can be variations in the thickness of this type of flooring but it is generally 5/16 inch. One of its many benefits is that you can sand and refinish it many times. You can install solid wood flooring on grade or above.

Conclusion

There may be other flooring types available in the market; but currently, these are the choices that most homeowners are using in their own homes. While all of them are feasible choices, the best alternative will still depend on your personal preferences on type of wood used, budget, color, design, and other relative features. Choose accordingly today to give your home a one-of-a-kind makeover it deserves. To start off, you should determine the types of wood flooring that meet your needs effectively or suit your lifestyle by talking to your retailer or installer.

Hard wood is one of the most expensive and most in demand house flooring material because of its durability, environmental profile and restorability. It can be made of timber and some are made from bamboo grass to make hard wood floors.

There are two types of hard wood floors; solid hard wood and engineered hard wood floors.

• Solid Hard Wood – they are made from timber planks used originally for structural purposes installed perpendicular to the beams constructed inside the building also known as bearers or joists. These refinishing hard wood floors have thicker surface and can be polished with sand paper many times compared to engineer wood floor. Several houses in Easter Canada and New England have original hard wood floors that have lasted hundred years.

• Engineered Wood Flooring – Engineered wood flooring consists of 2 or additional layers of wood of on timber plank. The highest layer on the surface, the lamella, can easily be noticed and visible once the flooring is put in and is adhered to the core. The augmented stability of designed wood is achieved by running every layer at a 90° angle to the layer on top of. This stability makes it a universal product that may be put in over every kind of subfloors on top of, below or on grade. Designed wood is that the commonest form of wood flooring used globally. There square measure many totally different classes of designed wood flooring:

  • All timber wooden floors square measure are made of sawn wood and square measure the foremost common class of designed wood flooring. They are doing not use rotary bare-ass veneer, composite wood such as HDF, or plastic in their construction.

  • Veneer floors use a skinny layer of wood with over a core that’s unremarkably a composite wood product.

Cost of Hard Wood

It is no denying that timber woods can cost so much especially when it has become planks and making hard wood flooring. Polished flooring will result to a sparkling glossy finish of wooden floors. If you want to install hard wood for your flooring but not sure yet whether you can afford it, you can ask for assistance in costing at one of the most popular makers of hard wood flooring, the Wood Floors Plus company will assist you on your home planning and renovation ideas. There are cheap hard wood floors available in the market that offers the same durability and quality. More and more companies are offering discounted price on flooring materials. You can choose from laminate, hard wood, refinished bamboo, and vinyl flooring.

Maintenance and Restoration

One of the best benefits of having hard wood is its easy maintenance and restoration. Since floors are prone to scratch, spoils, spills and moisture, there are many products especially designed to protect and maintain the shine and luster of hard wood flooring. There are also wood companies ready to give their services in restoring your floors with professional skills and equipment. This is advised if you have a big house to maintain and a mere bottle from the store could not do the job in maintaining your floors and if you are willing to spend for professional services in cleaning hard wood flooring.

Investing on your house is a good way to spend your money. A well maintained house can be in the long term prove to be profitable because as time goes by, a good sturdy house will become more valuable than it was ever first made. That’s why hard wood floors and other quality housing materials should be your topmost priority when building your house that you would live for the rest of your life.

Wood flooring is by far the most popular flooring choice for both traditional and contemporary homes of this generation. While it is more expensive than other counterparts, still, many buyers can’t resist the homey and country feel of real wood. These days, there is a great deal of types of wood flooring being offered in the market. The best choice, apparently, will depend on your budget, home’s theme, and of course, your personal taste on color and design. When you plan to install wood flooring in your home or office, you need to know the various options available before you. If you are at a loss on which type to choose, the good news is, this page has got them all covered for you.

Wood Flooring Types

The types of wood flooring available in the stores are classified into three major categories: solid wood, engineered wood floors and semi solid floors. This article will let you have a quick glance.

• Solid Wood Flooring

Solid wood is perhaps one of the best types of wood flooring options available. It is a uniform piece of wood right from the top to the bottom irrespective of length or width. The wood can be bought unfinished sans oils or lacquers or pre-finished.

• Unfinished Solid Wood Flooring

Work needs to be done on unfinished floor, once it is installed. It needs to be sanded after installation so that it becomes smooth enough to accept oil or lacquer.

• Pre-finished Solid Wood Flooring

As the name itself indicates, these types of wood flooring are treated in the factory with multiple coats of oil or lacquer before they are put for sale. These types of wood floors come in different shapes, lengths and dimensions.

• Multilayer Wood Flooring

Among the different types of wood flooring options available, multiplayer wood flooring is more in demand because these floors ply backed multi layer flooring is very stable. These floors can also be nailed down like the conventional solid wood floor. This type of flooring is also known as semi solid wood flooring.

• Engineered Wood Flooring

These types of floors are engineered in three layers and therefore very stable and durable. Engineered floors are highly recommended for installation in the homes where any underlying heating methods are being used.

Other Feasible Options

If you look at some hardware or home improvement stores, you’ll see that there are also wood-like alternatives that are much cheaper like laminates. There are different types of laminate wood flooring these days, and each of them is designed to meet the varying tastes of consumers. Since laminate flooring makes use of the simplest floating method, it is easy to install them.

These floors can be fixed most conveniently over vinyl, tile or wood. Moreover, these floors are preferred over other floors as they are resistant to humidity and moisture which causes floors to contract or expand. The various types of laminate flooring are available in tiles, planks and squares. Also, there are varieties in laminate flooring in terms of thickness. Thicker laminate flooring denotes better quality.

There are plenty of other ways to categorize wood floorings. These can be grouped as per the material used in their construction. For instance, there are maple wood floors, oak wood floors and walnut wood floors. Some of the luxurious choices include Pine Wood and Teak.

Final Thoughts

There are so many other types of wood flooring as they can be classified on several factors like the type of materials, the material forms and also in the way these floors are being laid. The type of flooring that you choose for your home depends on the amount of traffic that your floors control each day. In short, you can choose the wood floors as per the budget you have and the type of daily traffic it controls. Wood Floors Plus is a one stop shop to buy various wood flooring options and to get the best value for your money.

In the simplest words possible, prefinished wood flooring is flooring made from timber that is assembled at the site. It is gaining popularity because these days, people want greater personalization as well as advanced aesthetic values in the kind of flooring they opt for. That is how wood flooring prefinished comes into the picture. It is easily customizable and offers value for money.

Types

There are two major types of prefinished wood flooring:

• The first is prefinished solid wood flooring. They are made of planks made from the same block of timber. They are thicker, durable and strong.
• The second, which is prefinished engineered wood flooring, is made of more than one layer of wood. Each layer is placed perpendicular to the one below it to increase stability.

Solid wood floors expand and contract with temperature changes. A gap is therefore left between the floor and wall. Engineered wood floors do not require such gaps and can be installed without professional assistance.

Selection

Selecting the proper wood pieces for flooring is essential to prevent unnecessary maintenance and expenses in the future. Note that wood floors plus comes with numerous advantages, but only if the raw material is selected properly and processed properly. Before the purchase:

• Prepare a list of requirements and shortlist a few varieties based on this list.
• Check prefinished wood flooring reviews to understand the reputation of wood flooring dealers and manufacturers.
• Inspect for any damages, scratches, smoothness, and broken seals. This is simply because the cost and expenses associated with restoration can exceed that of new purchases.

Installation

It is better to employ professionals for installation. However, engineered wood floors can be installed without specialist assistance. Before installation, wear protection for eyes and ears and have basic equipment such as cutting saw, brush, vacuum cleaner, wood sand paper, wood cleanser, de-greaser, pry bar, and fan.

Pre-Installation Procedures:

• Cleaning and de-greasing by using brush, vacuum cleaner, wood cleanser, and de-greaser.
• Smoothening by wood sand paper.
• Finishing the planks by polishing them after they are stained and sealed. Dry out polished planks by using the fan.

Installation Procedures:

• Sizing up the planks so that they fit at the ends with walls, doors, and vertical support columns in the wall.
• Connect the planks by using adhesive or any other fastener. Ensure correct sizes of the planks before joining them.
• Prepare the base and ensure it is perfectly horizontal before placing the wooden flooring above it. Rough surface is likely to make the installation imperfect.

Pros and Cons

Like so many other building materials, prefinished wood flooring has its merits and demerits. As compared to concrete flooring, wooden flooring is:

• More adjustable with climate changes
• Less expensive
• More aesthetic and flexible as the design and looks can be changed and further refined
• Easy to install and maintain

On the down side, are:

• Inadequate refinishing as a result of limited thickness
• Dirt, water, and grime can enter through the seams between planks and cause mold or rot to grow beneath
• Actual surface reflects the irregularities below

Conclusion

It goes almost without saying that prefinished wood flooring is a great way to add great looks to residential and commercial spaces. However, the installation process is detail oriented and cumbersome if undertaken without professional assistance. You have no choice but to get everything right before going for that wooden floor. You also have to read a lot about wooden flooring so as to know what you are getting yourself into. In the end however, your effort will be crowned with a wooden floor you will always be proud of.

There are different choices for your flooring materials and each choice has their own unique aesthetic appeal and functionality. Considering all the available choices, wood is still the preferred choice by many home owners. Different treatments are being applied to the solid wood so that it can last for as many years as possible. The engineered wood flooring is gaining popularity among homeowners who appreciates the classic beauty of solid wood and laminated flooring.

It Is Real Wood?

Laminated flooring uses a combination of wood chip composite at the base and on top is a melamine-infused paper. This is the least of your choice if you want to show off a solid wood finish in your living room. On the other hand, solid wood is real wood on both ends, no matter if you tune it upside down. The usual setbacks when you choose solid wood is its installation and moisture.

If you are not skilled in installing solid wood flooring, you will need to invest further on a skilled professional to do the work for you. No matter how careful you are with your floor, sooner or later moisture wood still get the best out of it, which is why laminated options are always knocking on the other door. This makes you in a very confused situation because you want to have the beauty of solid wood but you can’t control your environment.

This is the perfect timing for the engineered wood flooring to enter the scene. Engineered wood is real wood. It is a sandwich of non-finish plywood at the bottom and finish wood on top. Wood Floors Plus are the experts in your flooring needs and you will not just get the best deal in your wood flooring needs but also other flooring options that will best suit your interior needs.

Is It The Best Option?

There are a handful of reasons that would make the engineered wood flooring the best from the rest. If you are looking for the best engineered wood flooring form its long line of options, then it is safe to say that you have to base it with the flooring species. They can come from;

• Bamboo – cheap and “green”

• Maple – elegant dining and living room look

• Oak – traditional beauty

• Hickory – timeless feeling around the house

Engineered Wood Flooring Reviews

Customer reviews are always needed to better understand the true nature of any product. The description and promises on the brochure does not always accurately deliver since it is always a case to case basis. Product description is just a general overview of what the product can offer and through this, it can at the very least, point the customer to the right direction.

In every customer review you will always have cost as the most, if the first, factor to be discussed. Engineered wood is more expensive than its laminated counterpart. However, engineered wood is more resilient to moisture and you can do the process of sanding 2-3 times in its whole existence.

Just consider the longer time that this type of wood flooring will last, and you will be convinces that it is a better investment in the long run. So if you are looking for cheap engineered wood flooring, your best chance of getting a good deal is online. Online stores can offer free shipment and even professional installation, but the retail price would still be higher.

There has been a lot buzz when the engineered wood flooring was first introduced. Obviously, this flooring material is an evolution that provides several advantages that were missing from its older counterparts. It is designed to provide the short comings of the other flooring options, thus making it the best wood flooring option today, especially of you are doing a house remodeling project.