3 Tips to Navigating a Hardwood Flooring Store

Choosing flooring for your home remodel is a big decision. Even with many options available, hardwood flooring continues to be a top choice for today’s homeowners. Hardwood is durable, low maintenance, long-lasting and elegant. But with so many colors and styles on the market, how can you choose the best hardwood for your home? By visiting a hardwood flooring store or showroom!

If you’re planning a remodel for your home, it helps to visit a showroom for ideas and inspiration. Below are three tips for navigating a lumber store of this sort.

1. Start with solid or engineered planks.

The first place to start is by looking at solid or engineered planks. Your flooring expert can go into more detail about the similarities and differences between the two, but here are some things to know.

• Solid wood flooring is manufactured in a variety of hardwoods either domestic or exotic. The benefit to solid wood is that it can be sanded and refinished many times over the course of its lifespan. The cost of solid hardwood flooring versus engineered flooring depends upon factors such as species of wood, width, and style.

• Engineered flooring consists of a top layer of hardware, also available in a variety of species which is bonded to a core of cross-layered dimensional multi-ply hardwood.

There is no clear advantage over solid or engineered planks. It all depends on what you hope to get from your flooring. Once you make your decision, you can narrow down your search in the store.

2. View the various wood types and grain patterns.

While there are some differences in strength and durability, the wood type mostly comes down to your personal preference. If you’re opting for solid hardwood, oak is a safe choice because it’s durable and takes stain very well. It also has an appealing grain pattern and is widely available, driving down the cost. Other options include walnut, hickory, cherry, maple and ash, as well as exotics.

For engineered flooring, it’s in your favor as to which wood type and grain pattern you prefer. Since these planks are available in veneer and print designs, you can choose from a wide range of patterns, designs and finishes to meet your design expectations. Laminate is technically an engineered floor but is entirely synthetic and made to look like wood.

3. Ask to see the different finishes.

By this point, you should have your options narrowed down fairly well. This makes it easy to focus on the woods that will meet your needs and budget. The last thing to determine is whether you prefer finished or unfinished hardwood. Woodhaven stocks both.

Prefinished woods come at an initial higher cost but the work is done for you. Unfinished woods may be less costly but end up costing more once you factor in the time and cost of finishing. Most homeowners prefer the ease of prefinished floors, but for those who want something very specific, unfinished is best.

Conclusion

Woodhaven has a spacious showroom where you can view some of our products firsthand and talk to knowledgeable flooring experts for advice and insight. From traditional hardwoods to dramatic exotics, we’ll help you choose the best solid hardwood flooring to complement your style and preferences. Contact us today or schedule a time to see our showroom. We look forward to meeting you!