The flooring selection is one of the most fundamental but critical choices you must make when undergoing a remodel, as it serves as the foundation for everything else. While other alternatives are available, from carpet to stone, one material is universally recognized as the industry standard: hardwood. However, not all hardwood flooring is equal, and choosing a product is not as simple as picking a favorite hue. Numerous additional variables may influence both aesthetics and performance when determining how to choose the right hardwood floor for you.

Benefits Of Hardwood Flooring

Easy To Clean

Spilling anything on your carpet stains it. Crumbs become stuck in the fibers and are hard to pull out. Cleaning it requires various solutions, and you may have to go on your hands and knees to spray and scrape a stain out. Not to mention the regular dust that accumulates over time.

However, hardwood flooring is minimal maintenance. A fast sweep or mop may pick up almost anything. Vacuum once a week to avoid dust. A beautiful floor with no effort.

Durable

Quality wood will last decades, while a tile or linoleum floor may fracture, peel, or be damaged. But hardwood will last.

Sure, hardwood may be damaged or dented if you’re rough on it, but that’s easily fixed. Scratches may be repaired with a polyurethane coating, providing you with a floor that will last for decades.

Increases Value

Hardwood is in great demand due to its excellent quality and inexpensive upkeep. That means a property with hardwood floors sells faster and for more money.

Carpet may even throw off some homebuyers. Not getting a professional steam cleaning before showing your property will undoubtedly result in numerous stains from your time there, reducing its overall salability. However, as we’ve seen, hardwood is easier to maintain clean and will give a better first impression.

Enhances Indoor Air Quality

Carpet fibers hold dust, animal hair, mites, and other pollutants. These toxins are churned up when you walk on them and end up in your air, where you and your family breathe them in.

Textured grout lines and linoleum and tile flooring may collect dirt, but not hardwood. Hardwood floors will keep your air fresh and more breathable with simple floor care, preventing allergies and asthma attacks.

Versatile

Wood flooring offers charm to any house. And they may make a room seem larger. Plus, hardwood complements any design. A specific color carpet or type of linoleum might conflict with other design components in your house, especially if your preferences change over time. But hardwood is ideal.

These are just some of the benefits of hardwood flooring. Whatever your demands, hardwood is the greatest solution for years to come.

Solid Wood Vs. Engineered Hardwood Floors

When determining how to choose the right hardwood floor, consider the following:

Finishes

Solid Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood flooring, often known as solid wood flooring, is frequently constructed from hardwood species. Maple, walnut, oak, and cherry are all popular species. As the name implies, solid flooring is made from a single piece of milled wood. Installing hardwood flooring includes nailing the wood planks to the subfloor, a task that needs considerable expertise. Due to the solid wood construction, it may be sanded and refinished multiple times over its lifetime to retain its beauty.

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

On the surface, engineered wood flooring is designed to replicate the appearance and feel of hardwood flooring. However, its look is achieved by using a thin covering of hardwood and a plywood core. Engineered flooring is easy to install and comes in bonded or interlocking planks. Because the top layer is just a thin layer of hardwood, it cannot be refinished as often as solid flooring, but it may last up to 30 years or more with good care.

Comfort and Aesthetics

Solid Hardwood Flooring

The width of hardwood flooring boards varies from 8 to 12 inches. After installation, solid flooring often has more precise gaps between the boards. It is available in a variety of colors and species and prefinished and unfinished panels, allowing for more customization.

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Engineered wood flooring, although resembling hardwood, gives more width flexibility. Once installed, engineered wood flooring may easily be mistaken for solid wood due to the veneer layer. Engineered wood flooring is usually offered prefinished and has fewer color and design possibilities than hardwood flooring.

Lifespan

Solid Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood flooring has a substantially longer life expectancy than most other forms of flooring. Hardwood flooring may endure between 30 and 100 years with appropriate upkeep and care. This is why several homes from the 1850s have their original hardwood flooring.

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Although engineered wood flooring cannot be refinished as often as solid hardwood, it may last up to 30 years or more with good upkeep. While the whole floor cannot be sanded and refinished, one of the advantages of engineered wood flooring planks, particularly those put using the click-and-lock technique, is that they may be changed out.

Hardwood Flooring At Marathon Building Environments

Hardwood floors are timeless, long-lasting, and may boost the value of your home. However, not all hardwood floors are the same! Marathon Building Environments offers a variety of choices to achieve the desired aesthetic while meeting all of your functional requirements. We believe you’ll discover precisely what you’re looking for when asking how to choose the right hardwood floor among our wide range of colors, finishes, and textures. Contact us to get an estimate! 

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