Wood floors have become all the rage in recent years. Some older homes built in the 50s or earlier might have hardwood floors, underneath the carpeting.
You may want to check in a closet or a corner of the room, pull up a corner of your carpeting and pad to see what kind of flooring is underneath it. You may be pleasantly surprised to find you have hardwood floor. The condition of the floor, might change the story.
Years ago many homes were built with beautiful hardwood floors, at some point when wall to wall carpeting became popular many people covered these beautiful floors with wall-to-wall carpeting.
While you may have hard wood floor, the condition of the floor might make restoring the floor to expensive, or are labor intensive to justify tearing out the carpeting.
You may want to check in a few different corners, and a few different rooms before you make that decision as to whether or not to tear out the carpeting.
If the carpet is worn, and you plan to replace it, this would be a good time to decide whether to go with new carpet, or wood floors.
Before you tear out the carpeting you may want to consider what you will use if the wood floor under the carpet is not in good condition. Or if you do not have hardwood under the carpet. Many builders to cut corners and to keep prices low, put in sub floors then just carpeted them, rather than putting in hardwood.
You have several options to choose from if you need to replace the floor you find under the carpet. Assuming the floor you find is not in a condition that you wouldn’t want to refinished.
You may want to go to a flooring store, or search online for different flooring options. Some people think real hardwood flooring is the best solution for their floors.
While hardwood flooring is beautiful, if not the warping solution for all areas. For example areas with high humidity, or areas that are likely to see spills are not good options for hardwood flooring. Kitchens and bathrooms will see humidity and water, as well as other spills that you may not be able to wipe up immediately. With hardwood floors any spill that isn’t quite up immediately can cause warping, or cupping.
If you choose to use hardwood floor hiring a professional and install a can be expensive, but unless you have at least some experience installing hardwood flooring yourself, hiring a professional will be money well spent. Inexperienced installer’s can make expensive mistakes.
Before you decide it has to be real hardwood, here are a few things to consider do you have pets? You will need to keep their nails trimmed so they don’t scratch the new flooring. Another consideration is children. Children probably won’t be as concerned about the hardwood floors as you will be, and are more likely to scratch it with toys or athletic equipment. Wearing high heels can damage your hardwood floors.
But dry mop and vacuum are usually all you will need to claim in hardwood floor. Of course there will be spills that you won’t catch immediately, and you will need to find a mild wood cleaner for such spills. Never use harsh detergents or cleaners containing wax.
When you use hardwood flooring, it should not be installed over radiant heat. The heat will cause warping and cupping of your hardwood.
Laminate flooring, is a good alternative to hardwood flooring. Most of us cannot tell the difference between hardwood and laminate.
Laminate flooring can be a do it your self project. There are a few different types of laminate flooring. Once I is installed by gluing the flooring to the south floor. This is a fairly simple installation process. As long as you can measure and cut the pieces of flooring, you will probably be able to install this flooring your self.
Another type of laminate flooring, comes pre-glued. These generally have a paper backing you peel off before sticking it to the floor. Some of the pre-glued flooring will need to be wet to activate the glue.
One other type of laminate flooring, is what they call snap and lock. There is no glue needed for this type of installation. The boards are linked by a locking mechanism similar to a tongue and groove. While snap and lock flooring is one of the easiest installation processes, it is also the most expensive.
Bamboo flooring, while not technically a wood, has become very popular partly due the green movement. Actually bamboo is a type of grass. When the bamboo is cut the green skin or outer layer is removed and the stalk is cut into strips. The strips are then flattened and dry and dried in a kiln.
Once the bamboo has gone through the final compression stage they had with tongue and groove for ease of installation. Because bamboo is a renewable source, bamboo flooring is considered a green solution in flooring. After harvesting bamboo, it will grow and be ready to cut again in five years.
When you compare the time it takes to grow a tree, with the time it takes to grow bamboo, you can see why bamboo is fast becoming a very popular choice in flooring.
