Things You Should Know Before You Purchase Hardwood Flooring
There are a lot of flooring options available in the market. Thus, choosing the best hardwood floors in Scottsdale can be tricky. Since it is a long-term investment, you should not hurry while finalizing them. You can select between traditional oak floors and exotic designs. Colors and wood species are also amongst the other choices. Consider factors like budget, moisture content, and foot traffic in the room while purchasing suitable hardwood flooring. In this article, we have discussed some factors below that can influence your purchase. We have also made sure that you do not buy something not meant for your house or workplace.
Moisture Content
All wood manufacturers give a distinct figure of ideal moisture content in hardwood. But, a universal average of 6-9% is considered perfect. So you can purchase hardwood floors based on this percentage. A massive difference between the wood moisture content and sub-floor can cause its expansion or contraction. You can use an electronic moisture meter to measure moisture levels.
• Prefinished and Unfinished hardwood floors
In prefinished floors, all the processes like sanding, staining, and coating with polyurethane are done in the factory. They are ready to use immediately after installation. It makes the installation process easy and less messy. Unfinished floors have a more natural look and are highly customizable. Unfinished hardwood floors in Scottsdale give you a wide range of patterns, stains, wood species, and color options. Both flooring types have their own merits and demerits.
• Engineered and Solid Hardwood flooring
Solid hardwood floors have a single piece of plank or strip. Depending on the dimensions, we have categorized them as strip, plank, and solid parquet hardwood. Strip hardwood floors are less than three inches wide, while the plank ones are wider than three inches. Factories make parquet hardwoods in decorative geometric patterns.
Engineered hardwood floors have multiple layers of strips with hardwood on top and plywood at the bottom. You can get the refinishing done only two to three times because of the thin top layer. The top layer is 100% natural because of the pure wood usage.
The choice between engineered and solid hardwood flooring depends on the room where you will install the flooring. For places like the kitchen, which are more prone to moisture, we will recommend engineered flooring due to its multi-layer structure. In places like bedrooms and dining areas, solid hardwoods will be an excellent choice.
• Flooring species
Woods for flooring are available in a variety of species. The trees from where manufacturers take wood can be domestic or exotic. These will differ in terms of grain, hardness, and provenance. The hardness or softness of wood depends on the room you will install it in. For rooms with high foot traffic, you require a durable hardwood flooring species. Whereas you can buy soft hardwood flooring for rooms with less foot traffic.
• Plank dimension
The Planck length, width, and thickness are other aspects that you have to keep in mind. You can purchase hardwood floors of different measurements. We recommend buying wider planks as they are easier to install in comparison to narrow strips. The floor top layer on which we walk is called the wear layer. Thick wear layers ensure durable floors. Ideally, buy those floors which have a wear layer of more than 3/16 inches. Although the cost of flooring will increase with the thickness of the wear layer, these floors will also have a longer lifespan.
• Natural and stained colors
Wood species also vary in color. Natural wood colors can be dark, light, or moderately colored. If your room is well-lit, then you can choose dark colors, else go for lighter shades. Scratches and patches will be less visible on darker wood species like mahogany and walnut. Some light-shaded species like pine, poplar, and birch give a beautiful look to the rooms.
In stained hardwood floors, grain patterns are darker. You can select a staining pattern and ask a professional to do that for you. You can have the wood in colors like green, grey, and blue that are not naturally found.