Hardwood floors are comparable to their stone relative – marble; they are durable and long lasting. The main thing about the floors is the fact that apart from their durability, they are beautiful and can be used for any room in the house even the bathroom with the right treatment. They are normally made from oak wood and are able to withstand pressure and damage from blunt items.
However, the floors are normally covered in most households especially where there are children who play with almost anything. They are stain resistant and as earlier mentioned they last very long and need little maintenance. There are two major different types of hardwood used for floor construction, these are:
- Solid hardwood
This type of hard wood was used to manufacture building beams for house construction, mine beams, and other structures that need support or wooden pillars. Today however these beams are used to make floors and are laid upon a subfloor preferably concrete. They give a lovely finish and are durable in all parts of the house. The solid wood is manufactured from the factory into three types, flat sawn, rift sawn and quarter sawn; these shapes determine the final look of the floor.
The wood is then treated to avoid moisture and humidity from affecting it negatively. The major thing about these floors can change in color according the wood vanishes applied and this is dependent on the theme you intend to have in the house. The solid hardwood has strips cut into them to help the wood absorb moisture and hence reduce the possibility of cupping or warping.
- Engineered hardwood
As the name suggests these type of hardwood is made in factories by overlaying layers of wood to form planks. These planks are laid upon each other to look like squares and are engineered to make the wood stable. The top layer of the plank is known as lamella and it can be altered in color by the application of wood vanish.
There are different types of engineered hardwood, which are used for flooring, and they include:
- Laminate floors
Laminate floors are made of hardwood, they are easy to install and emulate the look of hard wood. The real thing is that they are not hard wood they just look like hardwood. They are a cheap alternative to the real thing and they are used by people who need that look in their houses or need their floors to look like hardwood but cannot afford them.
Last but not least, the second type of engineered hardwood…
- Veneer floors
These types of floors are made of composite wood covered with thin layers of wood. These veneers are normally thin pieces of wood that can be used for floors but are not hard wood, the veneer looks like a plastic piece of wood, almost like Formica and are used not only as floors but also for manufacture of furniture.
These floors are used for prestige and a floor that suits all kinds of themes you would like to employ in your house and in any room. They are easy to maintain but expensive to install. You can use different shades of wood vanish and you can reduce the effect of mold or moisture on them by ensuring that they are dry at all times.
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