Why Select Hardwood Flooring

Why Hardwood Flooring

Why do so many people select hardwood floors?

Why Hardwood Flooring DenverIt’s hard to put your finger on it, but there’s something about a real wood floor that just brings a room together.

All the beautiful things which make up your home are somehow even more so. And surprisingly, your not-so-beautiful furnishings are transformed as well. (And let’s face it, we don’t all have decorator-perfect homes.) Maybe it’s the old sofa which suddenly takes on a relaxed charm. The inherited end table which is now quaint, not clunky. Or the favorite arm chair, surprisingly now endowed with extraordinary character.

In a sense, the power of wood floors extends well beyond the realm of decor. If you believe that beauty holds sway over the mind, it’s not hard to imagine a wood floor as the foundation of your personal sanctuary – a calming influence far away from such worldly concerns as early-morning meetings, traffic jams and obsessive bosses.

While we can’t claim to be a remedy for everything life brings, there is one thing we can say with certainty. A real wood floor can make your home look good.

Why Hardwood Flooring?

Hardwood floors are environmentally friendly and they add to the value of a home. A recent survey of real estate agents estimates that hardwood flooring can add as much as $7,000 to $10,000 to a home’s resale value.

Solid Wood Floors

Hardood flooring comes in three basic types:

  • STRIP flooring accounts for the majority of installations. Strips usually are 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.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.

A hardwood flooring 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.