Types of Wood Floor

Wood floors come in a variety of styles to meet the demands of today’s busy lifestyles: factory finished, unfinished, solid, engineered, strip, plank, parquet, and acrylic impregnated. Choosing the style that is best for you is an important decision, and will be based on a variety of issues including your lifestyle, your decorating style, and the area in which you live.

Solid Flooring

All wood flooring, regardless of width or length, that is one piece of wood from top to bottom is considered solid flooring. Solid flooring gives you a great opportunity for customization. Your choice of species, stains and finishes all contribute to the personalization of a solid floor. This is an excellent choice in most areas of a home on the ground level or above.

Engineered Flooring

This wood flooring product consists of layers of wood pressed together, with the grains running in different directions. It is available in 3 and 5 ply. Engineered flooring is perfect for those areas of the house where solid wood flooring may not be suitable, such as basements, kitchens, powder rooms, and utility rooms. Because the grains run in different directions, it is more dimensionally stable than solid wood.

Acrylic Impregnated floors

Acrylic Impregnated floors is a process where acrylics are injected into the wood itself, creating a super-hard, extremely durable floor. This type of flooring is often used in commercial installations, like shopping malls and restaurants, however, they are right at home in busy households as well.

Types in Rooms (Solid and Engineered)

Advances in wood flooring during the past few years mean that you now can have wood flooring anywhere in your home or business. Where you want to put it, however, will determine the type of wood flooring you can use.

Styles of Wood Floors

Strip flooring

Strip flooring is linear flooring that is usually 2 1/4″, 1 1/2″, or 3 1/4″ wide. It creates a linear effect in a room often promoting the illusion of a larger space.

Plank flooring

Plank flooring is also linear, however, it is wider in width. Common widths of plank flooring are 3″, 4″, 5″, and 6″.

Parquet flooring

Parquet flooring is a series of wood flooring pieces that create a geometric design.