Hardwood Floors Introduced
As a consumer you will want to obtain knowledge about significant investments for your home, like hardwood floors. The following is a brief introduction to the options you will find available.
Pre-finished or Unfinished
Pre-finished flooring has already been sanded, buffed, stained, and the polyurethane applied and just needs to be installed. With its speed of installation pre-finished is the simple choice for homeowners looking to upgrade and install it themselves. There is a wide variety of stains, colors, and finishes to select from.
Unfinished will need to be sanded, buffed, stained, and coated on site. The advantage of this is that you are able to control the stain finish and obtain the perfect color. If you are a person who likes the satisfaction of a hard task being completed, this will provide that feeling. Please note that if you have no experience completing any type of wood you may want to speak with an experienced installer to determine if the amount of work involved is worth it to you as it is a timely process.
Solid Hardwood or Engineered Hardwood
Solid hardwood floors have been around for centuries. They are a solid piece of milled hardwood which is precut in a tongue and groove (a protrusion on side will slide into a notch on the other piece) shape which allows easy installation. They can be purchased in finished or unfinished condition. The main advantage of a solid wood floor is its life span. Maintained properly it can easily last a hundred years. Should you find your floor showing signs of wear it is possible to re-sand, re-stain, and re-finish solid hardwood floors.
Engineered hardwood flooring is made of several layers (usually three to five depending on the manufacturer) of wood that are glued and compressed together and topped with a veneer. A veneer is a decorative thin slice of wood applied to the core material which will provide you with the look of solid wood. The separately glued layers do provide certain advantages such as sound isolation, increased comfort level, and protection against moisture. If you are looking to install hardwood floors in an area of high moisture or in a basement or partially submerged level of your home engineered hardwood floors provide more stability.
Acrylic Impregnated Wood
These are still fairly new on the market and haven't established themselves yet. An acrylic impregnated floor is a piece of wood which has had all the sap and sugars "vacuumed" out of it. This leaves a porous material. A liquid acrylic is then poured over and pressured into these pores. The advantages are a higher durability due to the acrylic addition while maintaining the beautiful look of the wood.
Texture
The final consideration for your hardwood floors is the texture you want. There are three varieties to choose from. Smooth is sanded with a fine grain paper to achieve the smoothest look. Another choice is the distressed look. This is provided by sanding and selectively applying "dings" to the floor to provide a time worn look. The final choice is the wire brushed look. This process removes the knots and sapwood from the wood to leave a more natural grainy look to it.