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Hardwood Floor Installation
To help you find, what kind of flooring is good for you, we have explained each kind of flooring one-by-one -
Solid Hardwood Flooring
Solid wood is just that – one piece that is milled from the lumber. It comes in a different widths, ranging from 2 1/4″ to 5″ wide and beyond. It also comes in different thicknesses or opacity: 3/4″ is standard, you can even find “thin Profile” solid that is 5/16″ thick.
Keep in Mind:
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Dampness and extreme temperature changes can cause solid wood to diminish and expand, causing gaps between boards during colder and dryer seasons.
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5/16″ thin profile solid wood can be installed directly over concrete; 3/4″ cannot.
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All solid hardwood flooring can be sanded and refinished if needed (possibly every 15-20 years).
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All urethane coated floors can be screened and recoated as needed to stimulate the surface of the floor. This is inexpensive than sanding and refinishing.
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Because each floor is unique home-to-home, these are only tips to keep in mind; not true for every circumstance or situation.
Engineered Hardwood Flooring
Engineered wood is REAL wood, but instead of one solid piece, it consists of 3 to 10 , plies (thin layers of wood), that are assembled and glued in a cross-ply construction. The top veneer layer of wood can range from .5 mm to 4 mm thick. The industry average is 2 mm thick. Overall board thickness ranges from 1/4″ to 3/4″. Due to its multi-ply structure engineered wood is much more stable than solid wood and is less susceptible to shrinking and expanding with changes in temperatures and humidity.
Keep in Mind:
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Engineered wood can be installed directly over concrete
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Engineered wood can be installed below ground level as well.
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Engineered wood with a top veneer layer thinner than 2 mm cannot be refinished; however, it can be screened and re-coated to renew the surface of the floor.
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Engineered wood with a top veneer layer from 2.5 mm to 4 mm can be sanded.
Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring doesn't contains ACTUAL WOOD. Laminate is pressed particle board with a photograph of wood applied to the surface. The inner core layer is the solidity layer of the floor made from high density fiberboard (HDF). Laminate floor is made up of of resins, paper layers, fiber core, and a print film. Though they look like Formica countertop. Laminate Floors are very long-lasting but receptive to scratches. Due to it's components and creation, It doesn't get affected by sunlight. Preserving a laminate flooring is not difficult. All you need is to sweep it couple of times in a week. Laminate flooring is economical than Hardwood Flooring and Natural Stone Flooring. Laminate Flooring makes your home or business look beautiful and attractive.
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Keep in Mind:
When you are moving heavy furniture back in, make sure you're not dragging it along the floor. There is a possibility of it scratching your new laminate floor.
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Waterproof Luxury Vinyl Planks
At its core, plank vinyl floor, also called luxury vinyl plank (LVP) or luxury vinyl floor (LVF), is utterly vinyl flooring that comes in narrow, long strips, instead of the traditional square vinyl flooring shapes.
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Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) is an economical waterproof wood-look flooring option that has great texture underfoot. It installs with peel-and-stick, glue-down, or click-together ease.
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Budget-sensitive waterproof option
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Superior scuff and wear resistance
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Realistic wood looks
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Phthalate-safe
Keep in Mind:
Along with graphics, surface embossing is the quality that makes vinyl plank look more like a wood plank. If you hold the product to an angle, you see how deeply the surface is embossed. This texture makes it appear as a realistic wood. This is contradictory, though, because real wood flooring does not always have texture. Usually, sanding down and re-finishing real wood floors is done to bring down the texture and create a smooth surface
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Though you can also find vinyl planks with a heavily antiqued and distressed look, hand-scraped, dinged, scratched, and peppered with nail holes. But you need to go thicker for this because thinner vinyl boards are physically impossible to emboss that deeply.
Hardwood Installation Types
With loads of variations in hardwood floor installation, knowing the different methods will help you taking the decision of hiring a professional contractor.
Nail/Staple Down
Hardwood floor installation using the nail down method is usually used for solid wood flooring of ¾” thick strip or plank flooring to a wooden sub floor. Flooring nails are driven down through the tongue of the flooring and sealed securely in the sub floor beneath.
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Floating
A floating floor is an engineered hardwood that is installed by attaching each board to the next without any conformity to the sub floor. The boards are attached using a bead of glue on the tongue or by a click-together system. Floating floors are simple to install for a DIY (Do It Yourself) project and can be installed as tile or vinyl over existing flooring. Each board expands and contracts, when nailing or gluing is done. On a floating system, the entire floor moves as one unit which will help in reducing any cracks between the boards in areas of inconsistent temperature/humidity levels. Floating floors can be sanded depending upon how thick the wear layer is.
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Glue Down
Glue is predominantly used to link hardwood flooring to fully cured and dry concrete substrates or wood when nailing is just not an option. Glue is used as a sound reducing barrier and can help soften the transfer of noise when hardwood is installed in projects such as apartments, buildings and high rises. Hardwood that is installed with the nail down method may have higher noise transfer between the floors. Please take help of flooring manufacturer for suggestions on installation.
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Nail/Glue Down
In few cases when installing plank flooring 4” and wider, nailing and gluing the boards is recommended. Please take help of flooring manufacturer for suggestions on installation.
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Nail/Staple Down
Floating
