Are you renovating your house? Is hardwood flooring going to make your refurbished home more elegant? But do you know about the types of hardwood floors and their features. If you do, it will help you in selecting ideal hardwood flooring. In case, you don’t, read on.
The hardwood mainly depends on what effect you actually want. If you’re looking for traditional look, black walnut would be a great choice. It is also known as American walnut and is being used for ages. Beauty is not only the feature of black walnut hardwood flooring but its durability as well. You would hardly find any stains on the hardwood even if you’re using the same floor for years. If you compare American walnut with other hardwood laminate flooring such as oak, cherry and mahogany, you’d find it bit softer. Therefore, not ideal for high traffic areas.
Another option for fine and stylish hardwood flooring is cherry. There are few people who use laminate flooring decorative papers to give feel of cherry to the hardwood. But real is real and red tint of the hardwood will make your home unique. The best thing in using cherry as hardwood flooring is that you can use it an area with high level of traffic or moisture. If you don’t want to typecast your hardwood flooring, go for reclaimed wood which you can get from old wooden buildings, wagons and wooden barrels. Since you’d be using different types of wood for the flooring, uniqueness will definitely be there. The fact that makes people to avoid reclaimed wood is that it is quite expensive and you’d find it quite difficult to use.
Despite existence of various types of wood used for flooring, majority of people use oak for hardwood and laminate flooring. Durability and resistance makes it one of the most popular hardwood types. Even in oak, you have numerous options. White oak and red oak are among the most popular ones. Red oak gives a light pink effect whereas white oak has quite light color. If you’re opting for white oak, you’d need to look after it with proper care. Oak will be the best choice of you’re looking for hardwood for heavy traffic areas.
There are several benefits of oak but there is a drawback as well. Oak is not a good option, if you’re installing hardwood in kitchen or bathroom because it cannot resist moisture for longer period of time. This is the only drawback otherwise oak is very beneficial, if you’re installing it in a place where there is no or very less moisture. Moreover, installing oak hardwood is a very easy process. These days manufacturers has come up with pre finished hardwood floorings. Buy hardwood floors and install on your own. It can save hefty amount of money. However, if you consider the time in installing the laminate floor and want a perfect touch in your hardwood floor, you should hire a professional. You’d need to pay some extra bucks but a wonderful floor that too in very less time is guaranteed.
