There are many different types of wood species, veneers, and finishes.  There are also different types of materials from traditional wood flooring, laminates, and engineered.  Choosing the right one for your needs can seem like a daunting task.

Traditional ¾” solid hardwood flooring is what most people think of when hearing about wood floors.  Traditional wood floors have a ¼” wear layer and are able to be refinished after years of wear.  There are many wood species and types of hardwood but Red Oak seems to be the most popular in our Midwest area. 

Solid wood flooring is best suited to be installed when you have a wood subfloor.  Moisture can cause havoc with solid wood floors so care must be used when installing in basements or below grade level.

Engineered Hardwood floors have gained a bad reputation for poor quality and short life.  Today’s engineered wood floors are much better and carry warranties of up to 50 years.  Quality engineered flooring has up to 3/16” wear layer allowing refinishing if required.  When choosing Engineered floors give weight to the thickness of the veneer or wear layer, but also look at the underlying ply construction.  If the flooring has a good wear layer but little ply backing it can cup or crown due to humidity.

For areas that are moisture prone engineered flooring is the ideal choice.  Engineered flooring expands little if any and provides great benefit over solid flooring in areas like basements.  Glue down and floating type installations are common for engineered flooring.

Laminate flooring is not hardwood flooring at all. Laminate flooring is made by taking a picture of a real wood and reproducing it photographically on the surface of plywood.  Laminate floors are generally less expensive.  They can be durable if cared for properly.  Once the flooring begins to wear there is no option to refinish. Although you may not refinish you can replace bad boards, however in order to do so you must remove all the boards that are in front of the damaged board. So in all, laminate may be less expensive in the beginning but costs more to maintain and will not hold its value over the years like hardwood flooring.

If you have further questions about any of our topics feel free to call or e-mail us and a Greg Nichols Wood Flooring expert can discuss your specific installation.  At Greg Nichols Wood Flooring we offer Competitive pricing, and Unbeatable service.