Different types of wood flooring

Hardwood flooring is still the most popular type of wood flooring, but the price, maintenance and installation process has meant that people are starting to look to other types of flooring which will create the wood effect.

• Laminate flooring – This is a good alternative to hardwood as it can create a similar effect, yet is inexpensive and durable. It has become very common in many houses. The laminate is not attached to the sub floor, which means that levelling is key to its installation to make sure that the result is high quality. If the sub floor is uneven then the laminate will have a spongy feel.
• Engineered flooring – This type of flooring is pre-finished and comes in long strips or planks. It is made from a number of layers of criss-crossed laminated wood which are finally topped with a real wood surface. Engineered flooring can be used in situations where normal wood flooring cannot as it has restricted normal expansion and greater dimensional stability. The thickness of this type of floor is about ¼ inch, whereas the thickness of solid wood flooring is about ¾ inch. It can be stapled, glued or "floated" down. The disadvantages of engineered flooring are that it does not have the same life span as hardwood floor, and if any extreme damage is caused to the wood it cannot be repaired as easily.
• Pre-finished flooring – This type of floor comes with a factory finish already applied. It can be glued or stapled to the sub floor, and does not require any sanding or finishing to be done in the home thus is a cleaner floor to lay. The simplicity has made it a popular type of flooring, supported by the fact the layer time is also much shorter. However, one drawback is that marks and imperfections are more noticeable.

Floor installation

• Before any work is done, the sub-floor, which the wood is going to be laid on, needs to be completely cleared. This includes removing any of the carpets, if required, and cleaning the surface of the floor to get rid of any adhesive residue or paint. The whole area needs to free of dirt and debris.
• All doors leading to and from the floor need to be removed as well.
• The wood that is to be laid needs to be kept on site for a week before it will be fitted. This is to make sure that it has acclimatised to the temperature of the area, and moisture conditions of the house. This acclimatisation will minimise any expansion or contraction, thus the wood needs to be kept in the area that it will be laid and not stored in somewhere like a garage.
• When the planks or strips are laid they can either be top-nailed or surface-nailed according to whether you mind the nails being seen. Surface nailing is slightly more expensive as it is a longer, more intricate process.
• If a finish is applied to wood it can be done before it is laid or whilst it is on the floor. This is done in the same way as refinishing (see below) but the wood will not be initially sanded. After the final coat of finish is applied, normal foot traffic can resume in 24 hours. However, you must wait 48 hours before furniture is replaced.

Floor staining

Floor staining will occur if a specific colour is wanted from the wood. Stains cannot be darkened or lightened once they have been applied, so it must be ensured that the colour is the correct match before it is applied. All floor stains have about a three-day dry time and can be applied to the wood before it is laid, or directly onto the wood floor if it has already been laid. Sometimes the company will be able to match the new floor to the colour of your existing floor.

Refinishing

Wood floors will have a long life expectancy if they are looked after properly, and one of the ways of doing this is to regularly refinish them.

• Initially the floor is rough sanded to remove any of the previous finish.
• Filler is then towelled over the floor. This provides the general colour of what the wood will be. For top-nailed or surface-nailed floors, the nails are set before the filler is applied to guarantee that each nail hole will accept it.
• The filler is then left to dry and, when this is complete, a finer sandpaper is used to sand the floor to get rid of any surplus filler, and to even out any rough sanding marks.
• A very fine sandpaper is used to remove any sanding marks which may have occurred in the previous sanding.
• The floor is then screened. This is a process which is similar to sanding, but a finer and less abrasive screen is used instead of sandpaper. The floor is then vacuumed to remove any dust from this process.
• The first coat of varnish is then applied and, once this has dried, the floor is screened and the next coat of vanish is applied.
• This process continues until all successive coats have been applied.