Hardwood flooring

Hardwood will elevate and enhance the overall look and feel of your home. It is available in solid or engineered hardwood, and the one you choose will depend on your personal look and your performance needs. Solid and engineered hardwood each have their own unique advantages and disadvantages.

Solid hardwood is exactly what it sounds like – a single piece of solid wood cut into planks and fastened together on top of a subfloor. This type of hardwood is durable due to its solid construction, making it ideal for high-traffic areas. Solid hardwood can be sanded and refinished multiple times throughout its lifetime, allowing you to change the look without needing to replace all the wood. However, solid wood does have some minor drawbacks

Engineered hardwood floors are made from several layers of wood bonded together in a cross-grain construction that helps provide stability and resistance to moisture. Unlike solid wood, engineered hardwood can be installed over any subfloor and is typically easier to install than solid wood planks and is a much more stable product. Engineered wood is also typically less expensive than solid wood, but because it has a thin veneer layer on top (usually around 1/8′ thick), it’s not recommended to sand and refinish. However, it receives seven to nine coats of finish, providing much more protection for the wood.

The type of hardwood you choose will depend on your personal needs. Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each to decide which is right for your home. While both types provide an attractive addition to any home decorating scheme, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Make sure you take into account how much traffic will occur in the area where the flooring will be installed, how often you plan on refinishing the surface in order to keep up with changing trends, and your budget before making your final decision