What You Need To Know About Wood Floors?

Among all sorts of flooring options, wooden floors are most popular among homeowners because of their beauty, durability, and persistence. Even though choosing wood floors tends to be a costly choice compared to tiles, vinyl, carpet among others, however, when it comes to longevity, investing once in wooden floors gets you the highest value of your investment. If properly chosen and maintained, high-quality wood floors in Scottsdale can last through generations.

Apart from adding to the elegance, warmth, and feel to your room, wooden floors need less maintenance, keep indoor air hygiene, and increase the value of your home. However, when you are planning to invest in wood floors, you need to know all about wood flooring. Having an overall idea will help you choose the right floor types, floor finishing types, and more. So, let us go into a deeper discussion.

Solid Hardwood

As the name implies, solid hardwood floors are made of solid wood that comes from one piece of wood. By and large, solid hardwoods used for wooden flooring have ¾ of an inch thickness, and advantageously due to their solidity and depth, your wood floors can be sanded and refinished multiple times that restore their elegance and increases lifespan.

On the contrary, while solid hardwood boasts a great appearance and adds to the value of your home, however, they have certain limitations. Because of the fact that solid woods are made of single thick hardwood pieces, they are vulnerable to inflate and contract due to the change of temperature and humidity. This is why, you’re recommended not to use hardwood floors in specific areas of your home like the basement, kitchen, or powder room. Many times wood floor Scottsdale leaves some gapping where the wall and floor join together in order to support their expansion or contraction.

Engineered Hardwood

Unlike solid hardwood, engineered hardwoods are produced by bonding several pieces of plywood, generally three to five in numbers underneath a top layer. In making engineered wood floors, the top layer is made of hardwood while the plywood layers are glued underneath making it thicker. Naturally, that makes engineered wood fairly cheaper and easy to install compared to solid hardwood.

Unlike solid hardwood, engineered hardwood is less likely to swell and contract owing to an alternation in temperature and humidity. This specialty feature of engineered wood floors in Scottsdale makes them safe to install almost everywhere in your home. However, the major drawback of engineered wood is that although being durable, it can get dented or scratched especially if you have pets or naughty children in your home.

When finished by a professional, your wood floor or modular kitchen will appear almost similar to hardwood, however, one thing that you should know is that engineered wood cannot be refinished multiple times which is possible with hardwood flooring types.  
Now, when it comes to the finishing job of wooden floors, you can opt either for site finish or factory finish. Let’s check how they differ among them.   

Site Finished

Many homeowners prefer site finishing of their floors since that offers them a better control to ensure the quality of woods supplied, how expertly it’s finished, how it looks, and also in sharing their options when it comes to customization of the designs. However, if you go for site finish, make sure to hire professionals with a high level of expertise, experience, and craftsmanship.

One drawback of site finishing is that if VOC like polyurethane is used that may cause harm to humans and the environment. Thankfully, due to this reason, rather than using polyurethane, nowadays site finish is mostly done using a mixture of solvents, resins, solvents, and non-toxic chemicals.

Factory Finished

Considering factory-finished wood floor is a fairly easier, quicker, and cheaper option. This also eliminates the risk of exposure to chemicals, dust, or odors, and installation can be done almost instantly. However, in this case, you have limited choices of floor designs and the quality of finishing may be affected.