This article from pros at Hardwood Floors Houston takes a look at some of the ways you can dramatically reduce these costs by investing in your own hardwood flooring. Hardwood flooring is any material made of wood intended for use as interior flooring, either decorative or structural. Wood is a prevalent option as a floor covering material and is available in various styles, colors, finishes, and types. Although wood is considered one of the most beautiful natural materials, it can be expensive to install, both labor costs and initial investment.
For the most cost-effective solution, you may want to consider solid hardwood floors. A solid hardwood flooring planks consists of a single plank or board attached to a wooden frame. The advantage of this type of floor is that the planks are all pre-built and pre-measured to fit together perfectly. This eliminates the need for cutting individual planks from ready-made pieces, something that not only reduces the time required for installation but also makes it far easier to install the planks in your home. While solid hardwood floors are definitely the most expensive option, they offer the most character and personality, providing a long lifespan that will continue to look wonderful for many years to come.
Another alternative when choosing hardwood flooring is to buy a floating hardwood floor. Floating hardwood flooring operates just like a floating plank, with one big difference – there are no exposed nail holes or pinholes. Instead, the planks are affixed to a wooden frame which has small pinholes or tiny holes to allow for the installation of the planks. Because there are no visible seams or holes, the floating floors are far more aesthetically pleasing than their solid counterparts, allowing them to blend into a wide variety of decor settings. However, they are slightly lower in quality than solid, with fewer visible pinholes and slightly lower quality wood.
If your hardwood flooring already looks nice-looking and you’d like to enhance its appearance even more, then you may opt to have it stained. Stained hardwood flooring comes in two varieties: either unfinished or prefinished, with the latter having a slightly higher cost. Unfinished hardwood flooring can be stained at home using common household items as well as specialty items such as glass beads, metal trinkets, rubber scraps, etc. Prior to staining, the floor should be thoroughly cleaned and any leftover dirt should be vacuumed.
In order for the stains to adhere properly, they need to be properly prepared first. Once you have determined that the room is free of dust and that there are no surface contaminants (such as pet hair or dust), the area can be treated with a clear penetrating sealer. This finish-the sealer-must penetrate the surface properly to ensure that the hardwood floors will have a strong and protective finish when they’re installed.
Other than the sealer, a variety of other products are available in the market for the purpose of protecting your hardwood flooring. The two most popular choices are the grain pattern and the stain type. Grain patterns are commonly used in the North American continent due to the fact that their design offers a beautiful texture. In addition to using grains, manufacturers of wooden floors also use chisels and knives to create unique grain patterns. Different types of stains, on the other hand, come in different colors as well as finishes and thus offer homeowners the ability to customize their hardwood floors.
The type of stain you choose must perfectly match your floor. Colors that are too light or dark will be virtually unnoticeable; however, certain colors will contrast too much with the rest of the room. For example, if you have a hardwood flooring with a dark stain but you have a dark carpet, chances are you won’t look at the hardwood flooring because you will focus on the carpet. To avoid this, you can go for colors that are lighter than your hardwood flooring so that it will blend with the surroundings. When selecting colors for stain, choose ones that will not bleed. Bleed-resistant hardwood flooring is usually available in shades of white.
Installing hardwood is quite easy as long as you know how you should go about it. If you want the floors to be installed by professional installers, you should go for engineered wood flooring. The engineered wood floor installation requires a professional installer because he knows how to install hardwood floors correctly. Although it may take a few more hours, the entire process will be quite fast since engineered wood flooring is pre-manufactured. This is one reason why most people prefer hardwood installation over the installation with engineered wood flooring.
