Picking Hardwood Flooring that’s Right for You

When people look for a new home, one of the things they dream of finding is hardwood flooring like they had in their childhood home. It’s great if the home of your dreams already has hardwood flooring but what if that’s not the case. With older homes you might be lucky and find there’s hardwood underneath the carpeting you don’t like. With newer homes, you won’t be that lucky as you are likely to find plywood subfloor, or depending a concrete slab. Regardless of the type of sub-floor, there are solutions for every budget.

This article provides an overview of the choices you have, how to make the decision and most important, helps you quickly determine which type of product(s) you can afford. When you do compare prices, make sure you don’t just compare the cost of the materials as installation labor can add significant costs depending on the size of the room(s) you want to update and the complexity, i.e. how many corners and unusual objects like the stair landing, will take more care.

Your choices for Hardwood Flooring

• Solid Hardwood Floors - are the most expensive because they’re made up of solid pieces of wood, milled with a tongue and groove design so they fit together seamlessly. The most common thickness is 3/4 inches, installed over a wood subfloor. Hardwood floors are nailed down so they cannot be installed over concrete, nor is this practical given how porous concrete is.
• Engineered Flooring -is less expensive because it’s made up of multiple layers of wood glued together. The top layer is the desired wood, i.e. cherry, while the hidden layers are made of lower cost woods like poplar. The lamination process makes these engineered floors more resistant to expansion and contraction from changes in temperature and moisture, so they can be installed anywhere in a home including over concrete subfloors.
• Laminate Flooring - is the least expensive option. Laminates have a protective top “wear” layer, typically made of aluminum oxide and finishes from low to high gloss. Next is the photographic layer, representing a wood grain pattern down to simulated planks. A water-resistant core layer is composed of wood fibers compressed together with adhesives and resin, followed by a backing made of melamine, plastic or paper.

Many home owners make the decision to install laminate flooring themselves. Some handle it easily because they have the tools and lots of experience with different do-it-yourself projects, i.e. theyhave experience reading directions and solving problems. Other owners quickly get stuck like the project below. The customer had a deadline (in-laws moving in) and once they started to lay out the underlayment, they realized they couldn’t get it done quickly so they called My Handyman.

Preparing Floors

Installing the Laminate

Finished Floor

Questions to Help You Pick the Right Floor for Your Lifestyle

• What type of subfloor is underneath the wood flooring? Hardwoods that need to be nailed cannot be installed on concrete while engineered and laminate flooring can go anywhere.
• Where is flooring going? High moisture areas like bathrooms are risky with any type of wood floor. High quality laminates that are sealed and glued down offer the best option. Laminates offer the hardest surface for high traffic areas with kids and pets.
• How long do you plan to stay in your home? The more expensive the product, the longer it will last. While laminates have a very hard surface, once damaged they can only be replaced. Engineered flooring can be refinished at least once (depends on thickness of top layer) and hardwood floors can be refinished multiple times.
• Budget for flooring and installation? Hardwood floors cost the most when you combine product and professional installation (install, stain, polyurethane). Engineered flooring is slightly cheaper from a product cost perspective and because it’s pre-finished, the installation costs are quite a bit less. Laminates are the cheapest although there is a wide range of products for different budgets. Home owners who want to install their own floors will do best with products installed without the use of nails or glue, called “floating” floors. Buy 20% more material so your prepared for mistakes. Inspect the quality of the tongue and grooves snapping together as inferior products break during the installation so you’ll need to buy more, and with the extra time and materials you don’t always save money.

Other tips for selecting your new floor:

• It’s fine to research choices online but don’t buy until you’ve actually seen, felt and walked on the product. You also want to check the quality of the finish and how tightly the planks fit together.
• Once you’ve narrowed your choices, find a local dealer to visit. Walk on the floor to see how it looks, sounds and how tightly the planks fit together. Take your shoes off as some people don’t like how the micro-bevel (small v between planks) fells, that prevents splintering during installation.
• Select products that will hide dust, dirt and normal wear and tear like scratches. A low gloss finishes shows less than high gloss, a pronounced grain and/or distressed finish will hide problems better.
• Check products for for industry certification, indicating they meet quality standards.