Hardwood floors are a perennial customer favorite, but with a vast array of species, sizes, styles, and new features, picking the perfect one for your home can feel overwhelming. USA Flooring is here to guide you through the process, ensuring you find the hardwood floor of your dreams!
Picking the Perfect Hardwood Floor
Hardwood is a diverse category of flooring, offering numerous types of species, sizes, and styles to homeowners. Continuous design innovations and modern technology have introduced new features that make hardwood floors even stronger and more resilient. To simplify your decision, USA Flooring has compiled essential information, tips, and advice to help you select the ideal wood floor.
Navigating Your Needs
When embarking on your hardwood floor selection, it’s crucial to first identify your top priorities. What features are most important to you? Are there any factors you’re unwilling to compromise on? For instance, are you primarily focused on performance features like durability and easy maintenance, or is there a specific aesthetic you’re determined to achieve? Answering these questions will provide a clear starting point for you and any in-store associate assisting you.
Consider these basic questions to help narrow down your options:
- Maintenance: How much time are you willing to dedicate to cleaning your floor? Perhaps an easy-to-maintain option is best.
- Location: Where will the floor be installed? Is it a room where it might be exposed to water, like a kitchen or laundry room?
- Aesthetics: Are you drawn to a particular hardwood color or look? Do you prefer a wood floor with a lot of character (knots, prominent graining) or a cleaner, more reserved visual that blends seamlessly with your existing design aesthetic?
Considering these factors as you begin your search will help you evaluate the available options effectively.
The Right Look
Hardwood comes from many different species, each distinct and beautiful in its own way. This natural diversity translates into a wide array of stunning visual choices for hardwood flooring.
Your decision on the ideal species for your wood flooring can be based on:
- Material Preference: Are you a particular fan of the warmth of pine, the durability of maple, or the rich tones of walnut?
- Desired “Outdoorsy” Look: Do you want a hardwood floor that showcases a lot of character, with prominent knots and graining that tell the story of its growth in the forest? Or do you prefer a more reserved visual that integrates subtly with your existing design?
Within each species, even more visual choices are available. Many species come in a variety of colors, ranging from vibrant reds (like a cherry species) and earthy browns (a classic walnut) to bright and light colors (such as white oak). Often, picking the perfect floor color is a matter of personal preference. However, it can also serve as the foundation or an extension of a stylish aesthetic, creating a distinct design narrative within your home.
For an artistic touch, consider customized wood floors. Hardwood floors serve as a versatile canvas for design and can be customized to incorporate intricate styles such as chevron, herringbone, parquets, or even geometric patterns for a truly unique and design-forward statement.
In addition to hardwood’s beautiful natural look, a finish can be added to hardwood floors for extra protection and visual appeal. A protective coat of hardwood finish will keep the floor looking beautiful for years, preserving its pristine visual for longer and making it less likely to fade over time. Hardwood finishes can also shield the floor from scratches or typical household debris. Applying a finish to a hardwood floor can significantly prolong its life, preventing damage and reducing the frequency of replacement.
The size, length, and width of hardwood planks can profoundly impact your home’s styling. Hardwood planks come in various sizes, from thin and narrow to wide and sizable. Currently, a popular hardwood flooring trend is long and wide wood planks, which offer a classic yet bold and daring design statement. Some planks can even reach nearly five feet in length!
These elongated planks effectively cover a room’s square footage, making installation more intricate but potentially less time-consuming due to fewer individual pieces. When wide and long planks of hardwood are installed in a space, they can create the illusion that the room feels more vast and expansive than it actually is, enhancing the sense of openness.
How Does it Feel?
Beyond its incomparable look, hardwood is a flooring favorite for its performance in the home. Authentic hardwood is inherently strong and durable. Its natural thickness helps to absorb sound throughout the home, contributing to a quieter environment. This thickness also contributes to its longevity, allowing it to sustain the occasional dent without losing its integrity as a high-performing floor. Certain types of engineered wood can be layered on top of plywood or even vinyl for extra thickness, making them even stronger and able to withstand more pressure on their surface.
It is crucial to consider the location of your hardwood floor within the home and its potential exposure to wetness. Moisture, even from a basic spill, can cause damage to traditional hardwood flooring. In recent years, significant advancements have led to hardwood floors with added protection against water damage. If you plan to install hardwood in a room that might experience wetness, such as a kitchen or laundry room, it would be highly beneficial to consider hardwood flooring options that include these water-resistant features.
With so many different hardwood flooring options, rely on the team from USA Flooring to help you find the perfect wood floor for your home! Schedule an appointment today to speak with the USA Flooring experts. Get assistance with budgeting, hardwood flooring installation tips – all your wood flooring needs!
Conclusion
There are many factors to consider during your hardwood flooring selection. A wide variety of gorgeous visuals are available to enhance your home’s aesthetic. Additionally, think about the performance demands you’ll place on your new wood floor. Will you need a floor that can stand up to water exposure or heavy foot traffic? What about the level of maintenance you’re prepared for? Luckily, USA Flooring can help you navigate these choices and find the hardwood floor that is perfect for your space!
FAQs About Choosing Hardwood Flooring
What are the most popular types of hardwood flooring?
Many consumers gravitate towards hardwood floors that feature a lot of natural character, such as prominent knots and graining, as these showcase the beauty and originality of an authentic material. One of the biggest trends in hardwood flooring is the use of long and wide wood planks. Consumers are drawn to longer planks because they make rooms feel larger, create a more cohesive look, and make a significant style statement.
Can hardwood flooring be installed in kitchens and bathrooms?
Traditional hardwood is not a waterproof material, so prolonged exposure to moisture can compromise it and cause damage. However, many modern wood flooring options have been treated with water-resistance technology. This technology helps to keep any water that meets the surface on the floor’s top layer, allowing it to be properly dried before it seeps through to the inner core and causes damage to the wood’s composition. While these treated floors offer enhanced protection, any spills should still be dried immediately.
What is the difference between solid hardwood and engineered hardwood flooring?
Solid hardwood maintains its natural composition; it is milled from a single piece of wood, meaning very little of its original structure is changed as it is transformed into flooring planks.
On the other hand, engineered wood is a manufactured product. It includes features that are man-made and consists of multiple layers of wood composite and resin, with a top layer of real hardwood veneer. This construction allows for the incorporation of different elements, such as protective coatings, treatments, and other technologies that can help protect the floor against damage and offer greater stability against moisture and temperature fluctuations.
Are hardwood floors environmentally friendly?
Yes! Hardwood flooring adds elements of nature and sustainability to the home, highlighting organic materials and bringing the beauty of the great outdoors indoors. Hardwood is considered a naturally renewable resource, as it comes directly from responsibly managed forests. When it becomes flooring in your home, the wood continues to store carbon, contributing positively to indoor air quality and supporting environmental efforts. Look for certifications like FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) for assurance of sustainable sourcing.