With the plethora of wood flooring choices available today, here are some tips to selecting and installing your new wood floor:
- Know when to use solid versus engineered. Solid floors cannot be used over concrete sub floors.
- Understand the differences between hardwoods - Janka has a hardness scale that you can follow.
- Research the finish and where your floor is finished. This will affect the wear over time.
- Purchase the best sealer you can when laying your floor over concrete. We recommend SIKA.
- Get a wear layer (unless hand scraped is what you select) that can be sanded 2-3 times in its life cycle.
- Use a good quality underlay like cork, rather than foams. It's great when acoustic barriers must be used, adds softness underfoot, and is environmentally friendly.
- Is a floating floor better than a glue-down floor? It depends.. The ease and cost of installation is less for floating floors but glue down installations feel firmer and have less of a hollow sound when walked on.
- Can you use one of the gorgeous eco-friendly floors from Teragren, strand bamboo, or a recycled wood floor? You'll save money and have a beautiful, durable floor.