Did you know that hardwood floors attract an average ROI of 70-80%? This is far above that for other flooring options, such as carpet or vinyl.
Besides netting an attractive ROI, hardwood floors are also insulating, attractive, timeless, and long-lasting. All of these features make them a very popular option for homeowners in the US, with 66% naming wood as their dream home floor choice.
However, before you hit go on your new flooring installation there’s another choice you need to make. And that is what type of hardwood flooring you want.
There are three main types of hardwood flooring on the market today. These are unfinished solid hardwood, prefinished solid hardwood, and engineered hardwood. Each of these options has its own list of pros and cons.
If you’re not sure which are the best hardwood floors for your needs, continue reading as we share everything you need to know about the different types of hardwood flooring below.
Unfinished Solid Hardwood
First up we have solid, unfinished hardwood. This is usually what comes to mind for most people when you are looking to do everything by hand.
Pros
Provided it is well cared for and exposed to the right conditions, solid hardwood floors can last a lifetime. One of their benefits is you can sand them down numerous times to refresh your hardwood with a new finish. Sanding down and adding a new finish will give your floors the new floor look.
If you’re a young couple, who have bought a home and are redoing the floors, choosing unfinished solid hardwood floors could be a good option. If you’re ready to do all the work and rent some equipment, you can save some money. However, prefinished flooring has become so cheap and the finishes applied in the factory are more durable than consumer-available finishes.
Another advantage of raw, unfinished solid hardwood flooring is you can customize the stain to suit your home multiple times.
Cons
One of the cons to all solid hardwood flooring, unfinished and prefinished, is it is susceptible to warping. This is because solid hardwood floors are vulnerable to damp and fluctuating moisture levels.
Damp conditions can cause solid hardwood flooring planks to warp and “cup.†Cupping occurs when the edges of the planks raise upwards, leaving a depression in the middle of each plank.
If no monthly maintenance is completed in dry conditions, solid wood flooring can develop cracks between planks.
Another downside to unfinished solid hardwood planks is they are more of a hassle to install than prefinished engineered options and prefinished hardwood options. Once you have laid your floor, you’ll need to sand it, apply the right sealant, and sand between coats.
All of this can generate a lot of dust, fumes, and disruption in your home.
Another drawback is that it’s almost impossible to create as durable a finish as what can be achieved in a factory. Factory hardwood finishes are generally cured using multiple coats of aluminum-oxide-infused polyurethane and UV lights. This results in exceptionally durable finishes.
Pre-Finished Hardwood
If you have your heart set on solid hardwood floors, but don’t want the hassle of renting equipment, sanding down, and sealing unfinished hardwood—prefinished hardwood can be a great option.
Pre-finished hardwood flooring is, as its name suggests, already stained and sealed. Here are the pros and cons of pre-finishes types of hardwood flooring.
Pros
As we mentioned above, if you opt for prefinished solid hardwood floors, you can save yourself a lot of work and disruption during installation. Once you have installed your floor you will be able to walk on it right away, and you won’t be subjected to sanding dust or sealant fumes.
If you’re living in your home while replacing the flooring, pre-finished hardwood can be an ideal choice.
You can also benefit from the more durable factory-grade hardwood floor finishes. The reason you can’t purchase and apply factory finishes is that the material used is too harsh to be approved for consumer use. Staining your own floors can be stressful as well if you don’t have experience in wood stains. With pre-finished options, you know exactly what your floors will look like ahead of time.
Like with unfinished hardwood flooring, you can refinish solid hardwood prefinished floors innumerable times.
Cons
One of the primary cons of pre-finished solid hardwood floors is the planks typically cost more than unfinished types of hardwood flooring. However, the easier, quicker installation. You can of course save a lot of money by installing the floor yourself instead of hiring a contractor to install your new floors.
Alternatively, if you’re installing the flooring yourself, you can save days of time in sanding, cleaning, and sealing.
Another potential disadvantage of pre-finished options is that you might be somewhat restricted in hardwood floor finishes and stains. That said, most suppliers stock a range of different stains you can choose from.
Lastly, like unfinished types of hardwood flooring, pre-finished options are also vulnerable to humidity changes and moisture.
Engineered Hardwood Flooring
Are you looking for the best of all worlds in your hardwood floor? Engineered hardwood’s ability to flawlessly mimic solid hardwood is making it a trending flooring choice among homeowners.
Because of this, the flooring industry is seeing a high demand for engineered hardwood.
Engineered hardwood was first developed and used in the 60s. Its primary use was in basements and first floors that had concrete subfloors, as these areas are often unsuited to solid hardwood installations.
Today quality engineered hardwood is typically more durable than solid hardwood, and increasingly popular with homeowners. Here are the main features of engineered hardwood.
Pros
One of the attractive benefits is that engineered hardwood is somewhat cheaper than solid hardwood flooring. This is because it is constructed of layers of different wood laminated together.
The top of engineered planks is made of outer layers that are typically constructed from a high-quality wood such as hickory or oak. This gives you the look, feeling, and some of the durability of a solid hardwood floor.
The core of engineered hardwood is multiple layers of wood composite. Typically the wood composite core is made from pine. This multilayered structure makes engineered hardwood highly stable and more resistant to moisture and fluctuating humidity levels. Because of this, you can install engineered hardwood flooring in places where solid hardwood flooring isn’t recommended, such as basements.
The increased directional stability of engineered hardwood also makes it ideal for floating floor installations.
Floating floors are typically easier and more versatile to install. Because you don’t need to nail or glue down your planks, you can float a floor over concrete, radiant heating, etc.
This gives you more flexibility over where you can install your new wood floor. It also is ideal for DIY installations.
Like pre-finished solid hardwood floors, engineered hardwood comes already sealed. Once you have installed it, you don’t need to worry about sanding and applying hardwood floor finishes.
Cons
Although engineered hardwood flooring is a durable floor, it’s still not quite as impervious to dents and deep scratches as something like solid hickory.
That said, it does come pretty close to slightly softer wood flooring. Just be aware that dropping a heavy item on engineered wood flooring can leave a small dent behind.
The most serious disadvantage to engineered hardwood is the number of times it can be refinished. Depending on the depth of the top layer, you might only be able to sand down and refinish an engineered hardwood floor once or twice. Some very thin types of engineered hardwood shouldn’t be sanded down at all.
On the other hand, premium options with thicker top layers typically allow for multiple sandings and refinishes. However, the number of times you can reseal engineered planks also depends on how much sanding you will need to do. If your floors are badly dented, gouged, or scratched, you will need to take off more material than if you just need to scuff the surface for a new coat of sealant.
Different Types of Wood Species
There are many types of wood species used to manufacture wood flooring, but we will only discuss the most popular domestic wood species in this blog. Hardwood species found in the Appalachians include Red Oak, White Oak, Hard Maple, and the ever-popular Hickory.
The species you choose will not only determine what your floor will look like, but also will contribute to the durability of your floor. Thanks to the Janka Hardness Scale we can compare the hardness of different species of wood. The harder a floor is, the less it will dent and gouge over time.
Alternatives to Hardwood Flooring
Are you still not 100% sold on the idea of hardwood flooring, but love the aesthetic of wood? Here are a couple of other options you can also keep in mind that aren’t wood, but do a great job of mimicking it.
Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring
Luxury vinyl plank flooring is a great alternative to real hardwood if you’re on a tight budget. Coming in slightly cheaper than engineered hardwood, and quite a bit more affordable than solid wood, vinyl planks are also easy to install. At ReallyCheapFloors.com we usually have first quality 12 mil LVPs for under $1.50 per square foot.
This is ideal if you’re doing a DIY installation. If you’re getting a contractor in, and easy installation will cut down on labor costs.
Want to compare vinyl planks against engineered hardwood flooring? Check out this comparison guide.
Vinyl Wood-Look Tiles
Faux wood tiles are another alternative that can give you the look of wood. Although they won’t fool the eye (or the foot) completely, they can be a fun option to think about.
Take note, however, that faux wood tiles are somewhat of a fad trend, and don’t offer the timeless appeal of wood.
We Stock All the Best Types of Hardwood Flooring
Installing new floors is a big move. As a smart homeowner, you need to be aware of all the different options before you begin the upgrade to new hardwood flooring in your space.
Now that you’re clued up on the pros and cons of the different types of hardwood options the flooring industry has to offer, it’s time to start shopping around.
Need a good price? Under a tight budget?
We can help. Here at ReallyCheapFloors.com, our core mission is delivering the best value to our customers at the best prices you will find anywhere.
Our innovative supply process allows us to stock various different hardwood flooring options at some of the lowest prices in the flooring industry.
Be a smart homeowner. Don’t spend more than you need to. Instead, check out our online selection of hardwood flooring.
