FLOORING

While there are many options when it comes to choosing the right flooring options, Senate Home Services will guide you with the right fit for your home. We have given some recommendations as to what type of flooring may or may not work for you. For more information or to schedule a flooring quote, please contact at us at 800 433-9409 or 800 707 6079

HARDWOOD

Types of Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood flooring adds a clean, polished look that can last decades, as well as value to your home. Here are some hardwood pointers to consider before heading to the showroom.

Solid hardwood comes in different types of wood, and even bamboo.

Consider the wood’s grain, color and durability when choosing what works best for your home. Solid planks of hard wood come in cherry, oak, maple, walnut as well as exotic varieties. One of the more popular “woods” is now bamboo. Technically in the grass family, bamboo is considered more environmentally friendly because it grows faster than hardwood, and it’s as durable as white oak.

Before choosing solid hardwood, though, you’ll want to think about installation.

If your foundation is concrete, with no sub-floor, it would be easier and cheaper to install engineered wood. While hardwood can be tough to install without a professional, engineered wood is easier, because it’s a thinner plank of wood glued onto a plywood board. You can easily latch the boards together as a “floating floor” using a tongue and groove system or glue. Because the wood is pre-finished, you don’t have the offensive smell or waiting time after sanding and sealing the wood.

Disadvantages

One disadvantage of engineered wood is that because it’s a thinner strip, it can only be refinished a limited number of times. Both hardwood and engineered are easy to clean, but may get scratched with normal wear and tear. This flooring can also be noisy and costly, though discount hardwood flooring stores can save you money over buying from retail outlets. 

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring technology has dramatically improved over the past few years and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to distinguish laminate flooring from real natural wood and tile flooring. Laminate flooring is not just offered in wood plank designs, many manufacturers offer a wide range of colors in realistic stone, slate and tile designs with grout lines.

Laminate flooring is often confused with real engineered hardwood flooring. enginnered wood floors are constructed totally from real wood plies that are laminated together. Where as, laminate flooring consist of some type of fiber core body with a photographic print layer and a clear top coating of melamine resins.

There many advantages to laminate flooring. Laminate floors can give you realistic looking ceramic or stone tile appearances without the hassle of having to clean soiled grout joints and is far less costly to install. Also, if you are concerned with upkeep of a wood floor (especially with large pets) than a laminate floor may be your answer. If you are concerned with tearing up your old floor than a floating laminate floor may be a great alternative for you. (Floating refers to the floating installation method, where the individual planks are locked together but never attached to the subfloor underneath. Laminate floors have a special tongue and groove locking system that tightly join the planks & tiles together. No glue, nails or staples needed.)