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Home:
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Information: Hardwood:
Hardwood Flooring Types
SELECTING
& PURCHASING
Hardwood
Flooring Types
Solid
Wood
Solid Wood flooring comes in three basic types:
- STRIP
flooring accounts for the majority of installations. Strips
usually 2-1/4 inches wide, but also come in widths ranging from
1-1/2 inches to 3-1/4 inches. They are installed by nailing
to the subfloor.
- PLANK
flooring boards are at least 3 inches wide. They may be screwed
to the subfloor as well as nailed. Screw holes can be covered
with wooden plugs.
- PARQUET
flooring comes in standard patterns of 6" x 6" blocks. Specialty
patterns may range up to 36" square units. Parquet often achieves
dramatic geometric effects of special design patterns.
Solid wood floors
can be installed on a concrete slab as long as the floor is on or
above ground level. They can be sanded and refinished over several
generations of use.
Solid wood flooring expands and contracts with changes in your home's
relative humidity. Normally, installers compensate for this movement
by leaving an expansion gap between the floor and the wall. Base
moulding is the traditional "cover-up" for this gap.
Engineered wood
Made of several layers of different woods or different grades of
same wood stacked and glued together under heat and pressure. Engineered
wood flooring is less likely to be affected by changes in humidity
and can be installed above, on, or below ground level. Some engineered
wood floors with thicker top layers can be sanded up to three times.
Some can't be sanded at all.
Wood laminates
A plywood base topped with a layer of veneer. Plies and thicknesses
vary, but three-ply, 3/8 inch flooring is most common. (Remember
that solid hardwood floors, at 3/4 inch, are twice as thick as wood
laminates.) The veneer topping of wood laminate floors (commonly
1/8 inch thick) can be sanded and refinished (in rare cases, three
times.) Most manufacturer warranties cover the finish for five years.
Synthetic/plastic laminates
Usually 1/2 inch thick, plastic laminate flooring consists of a
fiberboard center wrapped in top and bottom layers of high-pressure
laminate -- a tougher version of the same material used in many
kitchen countertops. These floors cannot be sanded or refinished
and must be removed when they wear out. They usually come with 10-
or 15-year manufacturer warranties against fading, stains and wear.
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