PA Discount Hardwood Flooring | Pennsylvania Wood Floor Boards
Shag carpet of the late 20th Century might have appealed to some, but most people love the look and feel of real hardwood flooring. In the last few years, hardwoods have seen a resurgence in popularity. The two main reasons are durability and the rich look of real hardwoods. Let’s take a look at the use and appeal of real hardwood floors.
Hardwood floors are split into two categories, solid and engineered. Solid hardwood flooring is full-depth hardwood, allowing owners to sand and refinish it later if needed. Engineered hardwoods use a top veneer of hardwood with other woods or composite resins beneath. Solid hardwood works best when installed over a wood subfloor, whereas engineered hardwood flooring can be placed on concrete or other substrates as needed. One disadvantage of engineered hardwood flooring is the thinness of the veneer may only permit refinishing once or twice, if at all. Check with the manufacturer for their recommendations on later sanding/refinishing when buying an engineered hardwood floor. Once you have decided on the type of flooring, the choices for woods is extraordinary, from soft to hardwood and from domestic woods to exotics.
Installation of hardwood flooring varies somewhat depending on the type of flooring you use. In general, installation methods are tongue and groove, or interlocking. Tongue and groove floors are used with both solid and engineered woods, and incorporate a tongue or extended piece on one board, and a corresponding groove or insert on the next board. When installed, the tongue fits into the groove, providing a very tight fit with good tolerances. Tongue and groove can be glued, nailed, or floated above a subfloor. Floating refers to the floor not being permanently secured with glue or nails to the subfloor, which allows for expansion and contraction with weather changes.
Interlocking floors are more commonly used with engineered hardwoods. The locking mechanism resembles tongue and groove but, provides a more positive lock when the boards are connected. This technique works well with floating floor installations because the interlocking system keeps the floor together even when no adhesive or nails are used.
Once you have made your decision of what type of hardwood to use, come to flooring.org and review our extensive selection of solid and engineered hardwoods from a long list of manufacturers. Our manufacturer list includes Bare Roots, Anderson, Armstrong, Bruce, Chesapeake, Columbia, Home Legend, HomerWood, IndusParquet, Kahrs, LM, Mannington, Mullican, Somerset, Triangulo, UA, Versini, and Virginia Vintage. If someone produces it, we can get it for you, so check us out today!
