Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood floors offer the unmistakable charm and timeless beauty found only in authentic, real wood. They are never out of fashion and add real value to your home, coming in a wide variety of species, colors and widths. The most common North American hardwood species used for solid wood flooring are Red Oak, White Oak, Ash and Maple, but you can also get solid hardwood flooring in many exotic wood species, such as Brazilian Cherry, Tiger Wood, Australian Cypress and others from around the World. Exotic hardwoods give homeowners the chance to better express their own personal decorating tastes with a more unique looking floor. Homeowners looking to use hardwood floors have two different options, solid wood and engineered floors.

Solid Wood Floors

Of the many flooring materials available to homeowners, solid wood is still the standard. Solid wood floors have been used for centuries and never seem to loose their charm and warmth. It offers a multitude of design and finishing options, is easily repaired, can last several generations and, according to real estate agents, is a highly prized feature with home buyers. Solid wood flooring can be broken down into three main groups.

Strip flooring

This type of flooring is denoted by the thickness and width of the wood planks. Strip flooring has a set width, but the thickness can vary. Strip flooring ranges in thickness from 5/16 of an inch to ¾ of an inch wide. It is available only in widths of 1 ½ inches, 2 inches and 2 ¼ inches.

Plank flooring

Solid wood planks are cut out as a solid block right from the tree and then processed with tongue and grooves edges. Plank flooring only comes in two thicknesses, but unlike strip flooring, the widths can vary. It is available only in thicknesses of ½ inch or ¾ inch and ranges in widths from 3 inches to 8 inches.

Parquet flooring

Parquet floors have a very different look from typical hardwoods. They are made up of geometrical patterns composed of individual wood slats held in place by mechanical fastening and/or an adhesive.

All solid wood floors will react to the presence of moisture. In the winter heating months the lack of humidity can cause solid wood floors to contract which leaves unsightly gaps (link) between each plank. In the summer months when the humidity is higher the wood planks will expand and the gapping will disappear. If there is too much moisture present the wood planks may cup or buckle. This is why it is so important to leave the proper expansion gap along all vertical walls and to acclimate the solid wood planks prior to installation.

Solid wood flooring is available in a variety of species and grades. Since Oak and Maple are the most common wood floors types, we will be explaining their grade classifications as per their official grading specifications. Other hardwood grades, mostly exotics, are generally graded on a variation of these two grading scales.

Engineered Hardwood Floors

Thanks to advancements in manufacturing technology, engineered wood floors can be used in almost any room in the home. This includes installing over concrete slabs and in basements or below grade.

Engineered hardwood floors are made by gluing up three to five thin layers of plywood together, with the wood grain of each layer perpendicular to the grain of the one below it. By reversing each ply as it is placed on top of each other helps counteract the natural tendency of wood to expand and contract with changes in humidity levels and moisture. This is why engineered wood planks are much more dimensionally stable than solid wood. This added dimensional stability allows engineered wood planks to be installed over concrete slabs. (Note: the concrete slabs still must be clean and dry. See the manufacturer's installation recommendation for more details.)

Engineered floors are generally offered prefinished and unfinished; strip, plank and random plank styles. Longstrip planks are typically a 1/8-in. prefinished hardwood veneer glued to a plywood base. The planks look like three rows of prefinished strip flooring joined together. Installation methods include gluing, stapling and floating--the latter is when the boards are glued together but not attached to the floor.

The top veneer can be any wood specie without wasting as much of the tree as for cutting solid wood planks. The finish layer (top ply) of an engineered wood plank is often different wood specie then the plies in the middle. This allows manufacturers to offer a wider variety of domestic and exotic hardwood species while keeping the costs down. Most engineered wood floors will be either a 3-ply or 5-ply.