Knowing someone’s style can tell you many things about him or her. The same goes when shopping for hardwood flooring.
Understanding the types, species and finishes of hardwood products can provide you with valuable information, let you shop smarter and compare with confidence.
In this section you’ll learn all about the wide array of hardwood styles on the market today. In fact, there are so many design options available you can create a hardwood floor that matches both your lifestyle and your desire for beauty, durability and practicality.
For example, inserting decorative medallions, running the boards on the diagonal, or creating a border are just some of the designs one can consider.
But before you get to the design, you need to know how to select the type of hardwood that’s right for you and your home.
Today you can choose between a pre-finished hardwood floor and one that is unfinished.
Pre-finished hardwood comes ready for installation in your home. The hardwood boards have already been sanded, stained and finished at the manufacturing plant. In many cases this can provide a harder, better- protected surface.
Pre-finished floors offer a wider variety of wood species and save hours of labor and cleanup.
But unfinished wood floors allow you to have a custom job – you choose the wood species and it’s sanded and the stain is applied on site. With unfinished you also have the chance to level the surface of the entire floor after it has been installed.
You get an extended factory finish warranty with pre-finished floors, but not with most job-site finishes