Various Types Of Flooring For Homes

Wood Flooring | Floors are usually the part of the house that initially attracts the guests’ attention. When the guest steps his foot on your floor, he will most probably notice and check what kind of flooring you have. It’s as important as your wallpaper, ceiling, and home decorations. Choosing the right flooring for your home may seem like an overwhelming decision to make. It requires careful planning as you would like to show your personality and style with a touch of practicality.

With a number of flooring available, it seems so hard to choose. You seem to like them all and all look perfect for your home. Now, the question of which to choose arises. The answer to this question depends on many things. You should consider the size of the family and the traffic the floor will receive. Will the floor be safe if you have any children? How much maintenance does the floor require and how long do you expect to have the same floor?

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Nowadays, different designs and types of flooring have come out; as the need arises and with the desire to meet the standard of the owner. Homeowners may think of using the same type of flooring in all areas of the house but some have their preferences for each room. Flooring comes in various types. It can be hard, wood, fiber, or sheet. It is best to study these flooring types first before deciding on which to get.

Harmonics Laminate Flooring Easy To Install And Keep Clean

Harmonics laminate flooring is a great choice to make for your flooring needs when you are building or remodeling a home. Many people today are taking the carpets off their floors and opting for the engineered hardwood of laminate flooring. You get the same elegant look of solid wood at a fraction of the cost. Even though you can buy glueless laminate flooring, experts with Harmonics laminate flooring recommend that you glue it to the subfloor anyway. 

When you choose Harmonics laminate flooring, you do have to purchase an installation kit. If you do use the Harmonics glueless laminate flooring, you can use the foam padding for the underlay. Using this type of laminate flooring from Harmonics means that you don’t need an array of tools and you can complete the entire job by just using a cordless circular saw. You do need to use the saw for fitting the Harmonics wood flooring around doorways, by cabinets, and for fitting in the smaller pieces. 

Even though the price of Harmonics laminate flooring is unbeatable, you should compare it with other brands of engineered wood flooring. When you visit a flooring retailer, there are always small sample pieces of Harmonics glueless laminate flooring that you can examine. Many customers have found that the Harmonics wood flooring does scratch and dent a little easier than that of other manufacturers, but it is still a versatile and durable product. This brand of laminate flooring also comes with a warranty against showing signs of wear. This gives you peace of mind knowing that if a problem develops with the Harmonics flooring, you will get the help you need.

Caring For Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring gives your floor that overall look of wood that can be enjoyed for years to come. The best thing about laminate flooring is the ease of care that you have when you have it in your home. Laminate flooring is one that will look like wood, and that will feel like wood but often times is a bi-product of wood. Real wood will require waxing and cleaning every year to keep the floor shiny. Real wood flooring is going to be sanded down and varnished again as the shine is worn off the flooring. Laminate flooring is going to require no waxing, no sanding, and the wear and tear on the flooring is something that is not going to happen in the manner that the coating on another wood flooring will have. 

Laminate flooring can be cared for by using a dry dust mop on the floor for everyday cleaning. During those times when you feel that you need a good deeper clean, you can use a wet mop, one that is not really all that wet, to clean up sticky messes or to clean up mud from the floor. You don’t want to use that much water on the floor so you don’t have the water seeping down into the laminate flooring and then the laminate flooring is going to warp over time. 

Laminate floor care is going to be similar to wood or any other type of flooring when it comes to moving furniture across the flooring. Laminate flooring can be scratched, dented, and can be marked up when you are not careful in moving those heaviest of furniture pieces in your home. To prevent and care for your flooring, you want to pick up the furniture and move it from location to location. 

Don’t drag the furniture across the flooring. Your laminate flooring that has marks and cuts in it will need a little extra care to get that mark out, and sometimes if the cut is all that deep you can’t get it out no matter how much buffing you were to do on this area. The same goes for wood flooring, if the cut is too deep or the scratch is too deep, you are not going to be able to cover it up. 

Laminate flooring is easy to care for because the seams in the flooring are actually very tight. You won’t find all types of cracks in the flooring for food, for water, or for dirt to get trapped in. Laminate flooring is a type that will not allow things down between the rows when you care for it daily. Sweeping and dusting your flooring with a broom, a Swiffer or a vacuum that is not hard on the floor is what you need to care for the laminate flooring. You only want to mop your flooring when it is really sticky when you spill something on the floor, but you don’t even need to wax laminate flooring which is what makes it so popular!

The Beauty of Laminate Flooring

Laminate Wood Flooring | One way to add value to your home is to consider laminate flooring installation. Laminate floors combine the beauty and elegance of hardwood or tile floors with the easy maintenance of linoleum or vinyl flooring. Constructed from a high-density fiber (HDF) wood board topped with a wood or stone pattern, laminate flooring is incredibly durable. Resistant to scratching, scuffing, and burning, the beauty of laminate floors will last a lifetime. With today’s constantly changing interior design trends, the easy installation and variety of laminate flooring is a popular choice for home designers. 

The Quality of Laminate Flooring

If you’re planning to redecorate your home including laminate flooring installation, there are some decisions you need to make about the type of laminate flooring that will work best for you. It is commonly thought that the harder the HDF core, the higher the quality of the laminate flooring. The second mark of laminate floor quality is the means by which the core is bound to the pattern and protective layers. There are two basic types of laminate flooring to consider.

• Direct Pressure – Direct Pressure lamination consists of a one-step process to bind the flooring layers into a single cohesive unit. DPL flooring that has been bound is then treated with melamine resins to increase the strength of the core. This final step also allows notches and grooves to be evenly cut into the pieces to facilitate the process of laminate flooring installation.
• High Pressure – High-pressure lamination produces a more durable end product by binding the flooring layers over several steps. First, the top layers are joined to each other and then glued to the HDF core. After this, the melamine resins and glued flooring are submitted to a high-pressure press that completes the process and makes the product ready for laminate flooring installation.

Laminate Flooring Installation Types

Once you’ve decided on the design and product you want to use, you’re ready to begin the process of laminate flooring installation. The various laminate products currently on the market offer several different options for laminate flooring installation. The type of installation you choose will depend on your budget, your commitment and ability to execute the project, and your preference in design. When shopping for laminate flooring, you can expect to find products the require the following laminate flooring installation techniques:

• Standard Flooring – Standard laminate flooring is installed by using glue to affix the flooring to the subfloor. Standard laminate flooring installation is both cost-effective and secure.
• Pre-Glued Flooring – You may also come across laminate flooring products that have been treated with glue prior to sale. To complete the laminate flooring installation, water is applied to the underside of the board to activate the glue.
• Snap and Lock – There is no glue required for a Snap and Lock laminate flooring installation. The floorboards are instead linked by a locking mechanism on the underside of the wood. Snap and Lock flooring is very easy to install but may be more expensive that laminate flooring installed with glue

Pros And Cons Of Using Real Wood Flooring

Wood Flooring | Due to the wide selection of flooring materials in the market today, choosing the perfect flooring material for your home or office need not be difficult. The more popular choices in the market are wood flooring, tiles, and vinyl; and additional choices are available in each type of flooring material. Wood flooring can include birch, teak, or maple. Tiles can be ceramic, stone, or marble; and vinyl flooring can either come in tiles or sheets. The choices for flooring materials are truly enormous, and your only limitation could be your choices and tastes, budget, and the requirements of your family or office.

Using wood flooring has bigger advantages than the other flooring materials. Its simplicity can instantly add beauty to your home. Wood flooring makes your home attractive and provides a traditional, warm, and homely touch. It looks elegant, and its neutral color and style make decorating easier. Wood is very easy to compliment and decorate around. Whether your style is rustic country or contemporary, wood will suit your decorations and furnishings. Use wood flooring in your living room and the area looks cozy, inviting, and pleasant. Use it in bedrooms and they simply feel relaxed, romantic, and dreamy. Given the proper care and maintenance, wood flooring is also very durable and is said to last a lifetime. 

Wood flooring can be installed easily. Today, manufacturers have developed installation systems that consumers can easily use to install by themselves in their homes at their own time and pace. More and more do-it-yourself (DIY) kits and packages get introduced in the market today and these are excellent alternatives for people who are interested in DIY projects. It also lessens the hassle of finding professional help to install wood flooring, not to mention the high costs that these people charge.

Maintaining wood flooring is also very easy. Dirt can be easily wiped away with a soft, damp, rug; and cleaning solutions specific for wood flooring are widely available for more serious problems such as oil spills or wax drips. Scratches and cuts can be sanded out from time to time, so the floors will achieve the same look as they were when they were installed. Extending the life of your wood flooring is fairly easy too. Avoid water spills as wood tends to warp when they get wet. Wipe spills right away so they do not stain the wood. Protect wood flooring from the damages of sunlight, too, as light can make the wood fade and lose its original luster. Also, place rugs and carpets in high traffic areas of your home to minimize scratches and scuffs.

Wood flooring has big advantages, but it can also prove to be disadvantageous to others. Wood is difficult to maintain in regions where the air humidity is high because wood flooring responds quickly to changes in relative humidity. They will either expand or contract, causing breakage and cracks. Wood flooring is also impractical to use in areas such as kitchens because these areas tend to get wet and messy, especially if the wood is unfinished. If there are children in the house, wood flooring is prone to more serious damages such as stains, scratches, cuts, and scuffs. Wood flooring is also prone to damages brought by furniture. For others, periodic resanding may pose as another difficulty, for they are not trained for the task.

Wood flooring, like other flooring materials, has its share of pros and cons. But choosing and using wood is good for the environment. It is sustainable, recyclable, and it can simply outlast the lifespan of other flooring materials.

Wood Flooring Everything You Need To Know

Harga Lantai Kayu | The elegant look of a hardwood floor can add warmth and character to any room in a home. The natural characteristics of wood add depth and a visual appearance that many other types of floors try to duplicate. With the demand for hardwood flooring, growing manufacturers are enhancing their ranges to meet this demand, with better quality finishes and superior construction techniques.

Hardwood floors come in a wide variety of wood species, colors, and widths. Besides the classic hardwoods (like red oak, white oak, maple, and ash) many manufacturers now offer exotic hardwood species from all over the World. Exotic hardwoods give homeowners the chance to better express their own personal decorating tastes with a more unique looking floor. With so many different types of hardwood flooring now available it is sometimes hard to choose which is best suited to you.

Different Types of Wood Flooring

Solid wooden floors are one solid piece of wood that has tongue and groove sides and come in either pre-finished or unfinished styles. Solid wood floors are sensitive to moisture and it is not recommended to install these floors below ground level, or directly over a concrete slab. These floors are for nail-down installations only. You can refinish, or recoat solid wood floors several times, which adds to their appeal and to their long life. There are solid floors that are over 100 years old and are still in good condition.

All solid wood floors will react to the presence of moisture. In the winter heating months, moisture leaves the wood causing the floor to contract which leaves unsightly gaps between each plank. In the summer months when the humidity is higher the wood will expand and the gaps will disappear. If there is too much moisture it may cause the wood planks to cup, or buckle. This is why it is important when installing a solid strip floor to leave the proper expansion area around the perimeter and to acclimatize the wood prior to installation.

Engineered wood floors – These floors are constructed from several wood plies that are glued together. The center core is generally a softer wood material and is used to make the tongue and groove. A hardwood finish layer is glued on top of the center core and another softer wood ply is attached underneath the core. This top ply is also called the finish layer and can be constructed of almost any wood species.

Wood always wants to expand in a certain direction. In the presence of moisture, solid wood planks will always expand across the width of the planks, rather than down the length of the boards. To avoid this problem, manufacturers of engineered planks place each ply in the opposite direction of each other. This is called cross-ply construction. Once the wood layers are glued together the plies will counteract each other which will stop the plank from growing or shrinking with changes in the humidity. Engineered wood floors are designed for the floating installation and can be glued together or some now come with a click system.

Veneer wood floors are very similar to laminate floors. The only difference is that with a veneer flooring to top wear layer is a thin piece or real hardwood instead of a photographic image as in laminates. Veneer flooring is usually around 8mm in thickness with the top hardwood layer being around 0.7mm. Advantages of a veneer floor are that they are fast and easy to install and you have a real hardwood floor.

Factory Pre-finished Wood Flooring

Most factories finished hardwood floors have several coats of finish applied to the wood’s surface. For an example, many wood floor companies are applying 6-10 coats of ultra-violet (UV) cured urethane. This would be extremely difficult for someone to duplicate on a job site finish, not to mention how many days it would take. This is one of the reasons why many flooring mechanics, flooring retailers, and builders are pushing pre-finished hardwood floors. Instead of taking several days to install and finish a new hardwood floor, a pre-finished hardwood floor is generally done in one day.

The most common finishes are:

UV-cured – Factory finishes that are cured with Ultra Violet lights versus heat.

Polyurethane – A clear, tough, and durable finish that is applied as a wear layer.

Acrylic-urethane – A slightly different chemical make up than Polyurethane with the same benefits.

Aluminum Oxide – Added to the urethane finish for increased abrasion resistance of the wear layer, which is becoming extremely popular on the better grade wood floors.

Acrylic Impregnated – Acrylic monomers are injected into the cell structure of the wood to give increased hardness and then finished with a wear layer over the wood.

Unfinished Wood Flooring

If you want a custom stained hardwood floor or a wood floor to match existing trim then an unfinished hardwood floor is your answer. Unfinished means you start with a bare hardwood floor and then the floor is sanded, stained, and finished in the home. This can be quite a mess and the process does take several days, but your floor will have a finish to your requirements.

Installation Options

Nail Down – Secret nails are used with a wood flooring nailer and mallet to attach the flooring to the subfloor. Solid Strip floors or Plank floors can only be installed on wooden sub-floors or on batons.

Glue Down – Engineered wood floors and parquets can be glued down. This is when you spread the recommended glue all over the subfloor and lay the flooring into the glue.

Floating – This is when a thin underlay is placed between the wood flooring and the subfloor. A recommended wood glue is then applied to the tongue and groove of each plank to hold the planks together. Engineered & Veneer floors can be floated. This is a very fast, easy, and clean method of installation.

Please consult the manufacturer's installation instructions before installing any flooring.