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Floor is one thing that makes a real difference in ambience and sense of your living space. Wood floor is the best on my opinion. The first reason why people choose wood floor is the aesthetic value. It will look wonderful for years and even hundreds of years. Whether you choose light or dark, new or antique, or whatever style of wood flooring you choose, you are making a great choice that should last much of the life of your home.

The other reason is the the warm and cozy feeling, the ease of the maintenance and of course widely available in the market. There are wide range of dimensions, type and colors that will suitable for whatever style of your house from classic, country until modern house. Each type of woods has its own characteristic grain pattern, coloring, and scent. The most popular wood floors include oak, maple, and ash. However these are some information’s that may help you decide more specifically what to look for.

If you are thinking about wood floor, there is a lot to choose from. Choice today not only old fashioned solid wood strips, but also include engineering wood products as a real wood looking surface and laminate wood floors, while not real wood but can satisfy the demand for a wood floor appearance at much lower cost.

Solid wood floor is the authentic wood floor. Nothing can match of its warm and natural effect. Additionally, this wood floor can be sanded down and refinished many times to renew the appearance of older floors.

Solid wood has many limitations do to the natural characteristic of wood. Expansion and contraction from moisture and temperature fluctuation puts many dimensional restrictions on solid wood floor. That is why real wood is more difficult to install than the substitutes because it comes in smaller piece and must be nailed down. It’s also easier to scratch, stain and gouge.

Engineered wood floor is the most common type of wood flooring used globally. The product is designed to provide greater stability, particularly where moisture or heat pose problems for solid wood floors. This product made up of a core of hardwood, plywood or HDF and a top layer of hardwood veneer that is glued on the surface of the core. These layers are formed in a cross grain pattern and bonded together under heat and pressure.

Engineered wood floor has the natural characteristic in almost any of wood species. It is easier to install because it is available in tongue and groove strips which stapled or glued to the subfloor. Long plank types which come as panels are designed for use in floating installation below grade or over concrete. The cost is about the same and more expensive than solid wood floor depended on the quality.

Engineer wood floors are as interesting to look as the real solid wood. Some of them can be refinished depend on the thickness of the top veneer layer. That is why the quality of this finish and the thickness of wear layer are important consideration when you choose engineer wood flooring.

The less expensive option is laminate wood floor. This type is not real wood. Laminates floor gives a realistic impression of wood with durable finish include several advantages such scratch resistance, stain resistance, fade resistance, impact resistance, moisture resistance, ease of installation and maintenance.

Laminate flooring is a printed piece of paper laminated onto a fiberboard and then sealed with a protective coating. But not all laminate is created equal. For example high pressure laminate (HPL) is more impact resistant than direct pressure laminate (DPL) and a high density fiberboard core provides more water resistance than medium density fiberboard does.

The decision is yours now. Maybe you will have a combination of the solid wood and laminates in your house depend of the function of the room. Happy shopping.

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