If you do not get the suitable kind of flooring, installing solid hardwood flooring can become an expensive and ugly ordeal. If you do it right, you can increase both the appeal and value of your home. This is why it is very important to do some research and familiarize yourself with the product before buying it.
One of the most important factors that you must consider as you begin this project is where you live and where the flooring is going to be installed. If you are knowledgeable about wood at all you will know that it almost behaves like a living creature in certain ways. When it gets dry, it shrinks and as moisture is added to it, it is going to expand again. When you are working with flooring, this is not a good thing and it should be addressed during the purchasing process.
There are various qualities of wood that you can check out and also products like laminate hardwood flooring that will not yield to these conditions. If you truly insist on using wood, go with something more beneficial like a Cherry wood instead of the less expensive Maple wood products.
When you are maintaining your solid hardwood flooring properly, it will surely last for several years. It may need to be refinished from time to time, but the original wood should hold up. However, once again fall back to the environment issue as you can give it the best care, but with the inappropriate kind of flooring is going to be fighting an uphill battle.
Generally, solid hardwood flooring is something that you will absolutely get what you pay for. The more you are willing to pay, the better type and quality you will certainly see. The same does work even for the laminate hardwood flooring since the high pressure laminate is a lot better than the direct pressure and much closer to the actual look of real wood. If you are now living in an area where humidity is an issue, you are better off investing the money now than having to change a cheaper product a few years down the road.
Another main factor is if you will be doing all the stuff yourself or will hire someone to get the job done. If you hire someone, they may not have knowledge working with particular products or may actually familiar with a place where you can get the same thing less expensive than you are already being quoted. Doing it yourself might also lead you down a path of using engineered hardwood floors since they are already finished and you run less of a risk of making an error during the finishing phase. This is typically the area where people make mistakes in not taking their time to carefully apply the polyurethane. Take all of these factors into consideration before making your purchase and you will definitely end up with a spectacular new look for your home.
