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How to Choose Flooring That’s Right For Your Home
Long Island’s largest in-stock collection of wood flooring!
From centuries-old palaces to modern day luxury city condos, wood has always been – and still is – one of the most sought-after materials for floor covering style. Its classic style and warmth transitions beautifully from traditional to contemporary decor, giving it broad appeal to a variety of individual tastes. Wood floors lend a distinctive feel of richness, comfort, and good taste that is hard to come by using any other flooring material – and with all the new improvements and choices in wood varieties and designs, wood flooring’s popularity continues to grow.
The trick to buying a wood floor that will look good for many years- and one that the consumer will be happy to grow old with – is to be knowledgeable about the product you are buying. Besides all the different wood species, there are also different finishes and flooring construction to be considered. In addition to educating yourself on wood flooring products, you should also make certain you visit a store with knowledgeable salespeople who are well-versed on the properties and applications of each of the different kinds of floors.
One should also be sure to visit a store with a large, varied selection so that salespeople will not be biased in their recommendations — and so that the buyer is not restricted in available choices.
At Long Island Paneling, we’re proud to provide the widest range of floors possible! With over 3,500 floors available and 1,000 in stock, choosing can be a challenge. Check out our resources below to help you make the best choice for your home! Want more assistance before you come to one of our showrooms? Fill in our pre-shopping questionnaire!
New to purchasing flooring? We can help! Here are some things to consider:
✪ Where is it going?
Is the wood going over a concrete slab? Is it going to be above or below grade? Are there moisture problems that need to be addressed? Is the floor going over radiant heat? There are construction modifications that can compensate for less-than-ideal wood flooring applications. Solid wood planks usually need a stable environment so that the floor doesn’t eventually warp. An engineered wood floor (essentially a plywood product with a real wood veneer) is more stable than a solid wood floor.
Both will look very much the same once they are down, but only a solid wood floor can be sanded and refinished multiple times in the future – something else the buyer should consider.
✪ What kind of traffic will your floor need to withstand?
The Janka Hardness Scale is used to determine the hardness of wood surfaces and their suitability as flooring. The test measures the force required to embed a .444 inch steel ball into wood to half its diameter (.222 inch). This results in an indentation 100 square millimeters in size. It is one of the best measures of hardness and durability of wood species.
It is important to remember that just because a wood species is rated higher, does not mean that if used as flooring it will not dent or scratch. All wood products will dent or scratch. This test helps to evaluate how much force it may take to dent or scratch a wood surface.
In the diagram on your right, we have a few popular choices of hardwood flooring today. This list is not inclusive of all the species of woods or types of flooring available. Generally speaking, the heavier the wood, the harder it is.
The hardness of the wood should only be one factor when considering a floor; how a particular floor is finished is also crucial when it comes to durability. Again, it is important to remember that all floors will dent, scratch, or gouge with enough force.
However, with today’s new production advances, prefinished wood floors are much more durable and resilient than ever before!
Image Source: National Wood Flooring Association
