More and more professionals these days are choosing wood flooring over tile and carpeting. What kind of wood should you choose? Beyond the basics of solid hardwood, engineered wood, and reclaimed antique wood, there are many options to choose from. There are a lot of options out there, but making the right choice according to your tastes and circumstances is easier than it appears. Following are some important factors to consider when making your decision, as well as some helpful advice from the experts.



Which Wood-Flooring Type Should You Choose?

Solid Hardwood: This wood expands and contracts and sometimes creaks, but its natural beauty add value to your home. That value will endure, because it can be re-sanded and refinished.

Engineered Wood Floors: They construct these floors at the factory, gluing together thin sheets of wood and refinishing them. This results in a more stable product than solid wood, because it resists buckling and warping. Engineered wood floors were developed to be glued over concrete, but they can also be nailed or floated, whereas solid wood can only be nailed to a subfloor.

Reclaimed Antique Wood: This flooring option is custom made one plank at a time according to the customer's specifications. It can cut from the center section of a beam, which makes this flooring option very stable.

Finished vs. Unfinished

One of the benefits of solid hardwood flooring is that it's available finished or unfinished. This is really helpful if you're trying to match an adjacent floor. Then you can go with an unfinished option and stain it to blend. You will be pleased with the uniform color and finish you can achieve in your floor by finishing it on site. But do take into account that an unfinished wood floor will probably take several days to install, stain, and finish.

Whether solid or engineered, finished wood is factory sanded, stained and finished, so it's easier and faster to install, not to mention much less messy because there's no on-site sanding or finishing. If you're installing flooring in a high-traffic area, finished wood is the way to go because it's so durable. Another plus is that it's less expensive than unfinished wood.

Important Things to Consider

More and more people are installing radiant heating in their homes, where the heat source is under the floor. If this is your heating system, then engineered wood would be a better choice than solid hardwood because of its durability. Durability is also a central factor in the National Wood Flooring Association's recommendation of quarter-sawn or rift-sawn wood in this circumstance. According to the NWFA, strip flooring is preferable over plank flooring, since narrow boards expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity less than wide ones.

Stoddard recommends engineered wood flooring for seaside homes, because it's scratch-resistant—and less like to be damaged by tracked-in sand—and requires less maintenance. For cottages, summer homes, below-grade installations, and any other interior that's not environmentally controlled, engineered hardwood flooring is a clear choice.

Some Simple Design Tips

When personalizing a room, understated detail is important. One nice option is to use a lighter wood overall and then add a dark border. Another great idea is to drop in a maple medallion that looks like an area rug.

Mixing woods from room to room is becoming more common. Choose darker woods, like walnut or cherry, for a den or a bedroom. Kitchens, on the other hand, need lighter, brighter woods such as maple or birch.

For formal, traditional, or historic homes, darker wood works best. But if your home is country, casual, or contemporary, a lighter wood might work well. Be sure to choose flooring that will complement all your fabrics, furnishings, and accessories.

Current Trends in Wood Flooring

The latest options in the flooring market include hand-scraped wood and “exotics” from far-off lands. For delightful grains and colors, look at options such as Brazilian cherry, Santos mahogany, and Amendoim. Conveniently, all are available in solid hardwood or engineered wood.

Owners of historic homes on the Eastern seaboard are increasingly going for the old look and simplicity of woods such as Old Groove Eastern White Pine. For owners of historic homes on the Eastern seaboard, woods such as Old Groove Eastern White Pine are prized for their old look and simplicity. Walnut has fast grown in popularity as dark woods become more and more “in.”

DIY & Maintaining Your Wood Floor

Don't be intimated by the prospect of installing your own wood floor. About 30 percent of people do it themselves. Anyone who can operate a nail gun and a saw can do it. Look online and at your local bookstore for instruction books and information to help you complete this project.

A great benefit of wood flooring is that it's extremely low maintenance. A regular schedule of sweeping and vacuuming is all you really need, a chore that will be made much easier if you keep a step-off mat at every doorway to collect any incoming dirt. Remember to never leave standing water on a wood floor. It's a good idea to keep an extra box of wood in case you need to replace a strip.

Natural hardwoods will survive a household accident much better than laminates and synthetics, since their grain and pattern go all the way through. Even nasty scuffs and burns that would permanently damage a synthetic surface can be easily repaired.