Wednesday, August 2, 2017

The Finished Wood Flooring Installation Ideas

By Ruth Schmidt


Solid wood floors, although beautiful, can't be used everywhere. They must be nailed to a sub-floor. This makes solid wood unsuitable for use directly over concrete. Adding a sub-floor between the concrete and the timber flooring might result in a height problem where the floor meets an adjoining room. Moisture causes timber to expand, so it's not appropriate in basements. Humidity can lead to squeaking and buckling and from the onset, you need a proper maintenance plan for finished wood flooring.

This available in a few different forms, is the more 'traditional' flooring type; favoured by those seeking an "authentic" floor with a solid feel, real timber floor has been developed for hundreds of years to be the product that it is today. Typically comprised of either timber ("solid timber floor") or a cheaper timber with a thinner layer of desirable/expensive timber on top ("engineered floor"), real antique floor is the "go to" choice for quality floor surface.

Most homeowners have hardwood floor surface. There are also softwoods, like pine and fir, which are very attractive. These will get nicked up over time, but they're meant to be lived on. The more beat up they get, the better they look - especially if you have a country or antique flavor running through the house. These work especially well as wider planks rather than the 2 1/2" strips.

Structures constructed over 100 years or more were built with the finest timber available during this time era, materials that cannot be purchased at any home improvement or lumber liquidator outlet anywhere for any price. Of such timber, American Chestnut was primarily used and readily available in yesteryears for durability of which has since become "extinct."

The majority of the hardwood floor used today is engineered wood, comprised of multiple layers of substrate plywood with a finishing veneer (thin) layer of timber pre-selected in many colors and styles complimenting the finished product. Reclaimed timber has been introduced into the laminate floor industry providing a small piece of history combined with modern technology of today.

The reclaimed material surface is another way to recycle. It is not new timber that is made to look old. Reclaimed timber really is old. These antique floor boards come from several sources. It could possibly be cover removed from an old building, or you could get old timbers that are sliced into floor boards.

Most often, the waste material left over from the product finds another use. Manufacturing plants will reuse the water to heat the boilers, and burn left over plank pieces and sawdust to produce energy for the manufacturing process. This means very little material ends up as garbage in landfills, and that which does is still biodegradable.

We've mentioned that solid floors are generally the best, with laminate surface following, and engineered wood floors last (with regards to quality.vs. Cost); and this really is a large part of the dilemma. If you're only going to be at a property for a certain period, or you're a landlord covering your properties for hard-usage, you'd probably opt for laminate as it strikes a good balance of cost/quality, whereas a family looking to make somewhere their home for an extended period may make the leap and opt for solid wood. All of this depends on the cash at ones disposal.




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