With the variety of woods, colours and finishes available today, shopping for a wood floor can be a bit overwhelming. Here is how to prepare yourself for choosing a hardwood floor.
Type of Wood Floorings
There are primarily two types of wood flooring products—solid hardwood and engineered hardwood.
Solid wood flooring is milled from solid wood logs, and is joined with a traditional tongue and groove along both the long and short edges. Because it can be repeatedly sanded, it can last for decades. A natural material, solid hardwood is susceptible to temperature and humidity changes and cannot be installed below grade or in damp spaces. It must be nailed or stapled to a wooden subfloor.
Unlike solid wood boards, which consist of a single piece of wood, engineered hardwood is created by bonding layers of hardwood together in a cross-grain construction. The visible top layer – or wear layer – is ‘real’ wood, beneath which typically lies layers of plywood or sometimes a three-ply construction, laid and glued at 90° to the layer above. These layers give greater stability. Because it can withstand higher levels of humidity, engineered hardwood can be installed in baths and basements, as well as over concrete subfloors and radiant heating elements. Once the floor has been put in, only the top of these layers can be seen.
Cheaper products are typically those with thin wear layers – which can be as little as 0.6mm – making them unsuitable for re-sanding.
The higher-quality engineered woods (which can rival or even exceed the cost of quality solid boards) are those with a thicker wear layer – up to 6mm in some cases – which take lots of wear and can be sanded several times if required.
When it comes to aesthetics, engineered wood flooring can be ‘three strip’ – one board is made up of three pieces of wood – which tends to cheaper. ‘Two strip’ is also an option, but more expensive and popular are ‘one-strip’ boards or planks consisting of a single piece of wood across the width, providing a cleaner look.
Type of Finish
The finish is the real determining factor in the overall appearance of a wood floor. The same wood species will look completely different finished in a clear gloss, versus a distressed, hand-scraped or wire-brush finish.
Flooring is sold either “unfinished” or “pre-finished.” Unfinished floors are sanded and finished on-site, which provides for a consistent seal and prevents dirt and moisture from penetrating the seams between boards (floors typically receive one to three coats of sealant). Some homeowners prefer site-finished floors due to the wider selection of stain colours and the opportunity to hone the surface and even out imperfections after the boards are in place.
Pre-finished flooring is factory-applied in a controlled setting, and typically receives seven to eight coats of sealant. These factory-applied finishes generally have a longer warranty as they are longer lasting and more durable than site-applied finishes.
Joining Method: Tongue-and-Groove or Click System
Tongue-and-groove
Tongue and groove wood flooring is made up of planks, each of which feature a tongue and a groove. The grooves on tongue and groove wood flooring planks are cut into one long side and one short side and the tongues stick out on the other two sides. In its installation, tongue and groove wood flooring can either be secret nailed, glued down to a suitable sub floor or laid in a floating installation. When fitting a tongue and groove wood floor, the idea is to fit each tongue into each groove. Once installed, a tongue and groove wood flooring system results in a smooth and long lasting finish.
Pro´s for Tongue & Groove
-More suitable to environments where there are extremes in humidity and temperature, click would face the risk or damage (wooden floor react on humidity changes and any excessive movement can cause a click joint to splinter or break; this usually cannot be repaired)
-Professional installation of T&G using glue will make your floor more silent and comfortable as compared to floating systems
-Can be installed on joists, click profile always require flat underfloor for installation
-If you prefer wide boards, T&G is the only option, click is usually limited up to 120 mm width on solid oak
Click system flooring
Click, or lock wood flooring as it’s sometimes known, is a relatively new to the market wood flooring option. Essentially a way of covering existing flooring (but not uneven wood floors or carpet), it gets its name from the fact that the boards used in its construction process “click” (or lock) together, removing the need for fixing using nails, staples or glue. In fact, click (or lock) flooring is often portrayed as one of the simplest, most straightforward ways of installing a wooden floor, particularly on a DIY basis.
Pro’s for Click System
-Much quicker to complete an installation, floated installation
-No messy glues.
-Less skill required to install (can lower installation costs), best for DIY solution
-Easier to replace a badly damaged plank
-Less chance on future gaps because of humidity changes in the room