Choosing the Best Hardwood Flooring for your Home

There has been a big increase in popularity of hardwood flooring over the last few years and this has led to a huge array of wooden floor style to choose from. This certainly isn’t a bad thing but it can leave you feeling slightly overwhelmed when you come to the decision making process. Hopefully these points should give you an idea on what you should be considering when choosing your wooden flooring.

Budget

Making sure you spend with in your budget is obviously an important issue, hence why I have put it first in the list! Wood flooring has decreased in price dramatically over the last few years as supply has increased, however there are still some big price differences between flooring types. Calculate accurately how much it will cost to floor an area – to do this you need to measure the floor space so get the tape measure out.

Durability

The type of wood you choose will affect how durable it is, along with the quality. High trafficked areas such as hallways and kitchens should have quality hard wearing woods with suitable finishes. For kitchens and bathrooms make sure that the flooring is spill proof and can withstand moisture. In less busy areas you can be more flexible with your choices; this can also in turn save you money. Use the wood grade as an indicator of quality, all wood comes with different grades the higher ones being the most quality.

Warmth

Many people complain that wood flooring can lead to a cold feeling in a room. One easy way around this is to install a nice dark oak or merbau wood. The darker colour eliminates that cold feeling that lighter shades of beach and ash can give. Choosing a wood with a rustic finish can also help prevent the cold feeling.

Finish

Remember when buying a real hard wood floor (As opposed to a laminate) that they come pre-finished, finished or completely unfinished. Popular options for finishes include satin and polyurethane oil stain. The latter tends to give floors a shinier more catching appearance while the first a darker, deeper colour. These are just two though and there are many more – take into account the current or future decoration style of the room and try to match the colour accordingly.

Pattern

One big mistake is that a pattern may seem nice when looking at an individual piece of wood but look completely different when the floor is laid down as a whole. You can avoid this by viewing a showroom or checking the website you order from has a nice large image of the flooring installed.

Tom writes about home improvement and DIY and his favourite floor choice is engineered walnut flooring.