hardwood flooring sites.com

By Jimmy Sturo

Wood flooring has always been very popular. Wood floors have a formal, beautiful and warm look that is ideal for all kinds of rooms. They are also eco-friendly, affordable and the best part is, there is a lot of variety available. Wood floors are also relatively easy to maintain. Additionally, wood floors increase the value of a house and are therefore an investment. These days, wood flooring with the antique look is greatly in demand. Antique wood floors have a certain exotic appeal. They are also unique and thus add value to the building.

Antique woods come in different lengths and widths. Real antique woods have cracks, knots, nail holes, worm and insect tracks, etc., which can be repaired so that the floor looks new. This repair includes some cleaning and polishing before installation. Most suppliers of wood flooring do this for an extra fee. Antique wood floors can be recreated, while still retaining their color and charm.

New floors can also be made to look like antiques. Hand-distressing is one technique that gives an antiqued look to wood. This is done by hand-scraping, using planes, chisels, wire brushes, grinders and ice picks.

Antique wood floors include antique pine, antique hemlock, antique heart pine, antique ash, antique elm, antique maple, antique beech, antique oak, antique chestnut, antique barnboard and distressed barnboard.

Antique wood flooring is obtained from old buildings that are being demolished. These can typically be found in old factories, cotton mills, warehouses, etc., especially those that from the 1800s. The wood from these buildings is taken and custom-milled into various sizes of panels meant for floors, doors, stair parts, mantels, etc.

There are many manufacturers of antique wood flooring. Exhaustive information about antique wood floors and their suppliers can be found on the internet. There are also hundreds of exclusive sites that provide information.

Wood Flooring provides detailed information about wood flooring, laminate wood flooring, hard wood flooring, engineered wood flooring and more. Wood Flooring is the sister site of How To Clean Marble.

By Khieng Chho

Your home is one of the most important places you have to invest on. Also, everything inside should be harmonious to each other. Like for example, your ceiling should match your doors, your walls should match your doors and so on. One of the most important things you should consider in your home is the flooring.

Flooring is very important and should be suitable for the kind of rooms your will be making. You probably don’t want a wood flowing in your bathroom or kitchen right? You should consider that water and wood don’t mix well. So what kind of flooring should you use for your bathroom or your kitchen?

You’re probably thinking floorings that wouldn’t rot in water. Tiles would be great, and it is. You should use tiles as flooring for areas that will get wet. What about the living room and your bedroom, you might ask. To make it attractive and refreshing to look at, you should consider hardwood flooring. It can be very attractive, especially if you have wood bookcases, cabinets and traditional furniture in your home. Your walls should also compliment the flooring. This is why choosing a paint color is essential to what kind of flooring you have to choose.

Hardwood flooring also comes in different kinds of styles that can really add beauty for your home. There are zigzag patterns, circular patterns, square patterns and more. All you have to do is be creative.

Carpeting is very popular, especially in places where it is cold. Just try to imagine in winter, the feeling of walking barefoot in cold floors is very unpleasant. This is why carpeting is considered in some parts of the country.

It is important that you should choose a kind of flooring that is suitable where you live. If you live in cold places, it is advisable to have carpets for your floors. If you live in warm, tropical places, hardwood flooring is probably your choice. This is because hardwood flooring provides a very fresh look in your home.

Now, how can you install your floorings properly? If you know carpentry, it can be easy for you to install your floorings without the need for outside help. However, if you don’t know anything about carpentry, it is probably wise if you hire an expert to build your floorings properly and accurately. You can also buy one of those easy to install floorings with instructions at your local home improvement stores in your area if you don’t want to spend cash to hire a professional.

These are some of the different types of flooring available. Just remember to be creative when installing your flooring in order to get the results you want for your home.

Khieng ‘Ken‘ Chho is author and owner of Hardwood Flooring Resources. For related articles, visit Ken’s website: http://flooring.wicwoc.com

By Jimmy Sturo

Wood flooring has always been very popular. Wood flooring has a formal, beautiful and warm look that is ideal for all kinds of rooms. They are also eco-friendly, affordable and the best part is that there is a lot of variety available. Wood floors are also relatively easy to maintain. Additionally, wood floors increase the value of a house and are therefore an investment. These days, wood flooring is being done in unique and custom designs like borders, medallions, hand-distressing, painting, mixed media, stain and exotic wood.

Engineered wood floors are made from layers of wood that are pressed and glued together. Each layer is stacked on the other in a cross-grain configuration and then pressed using heat and pressure. The thickness of this kind of wood varies greatly. Three- and five-ply flooring are the most common engineered wood flooring.

Engineered wood flooring is suitable where solid wood flooring is not, including basements, kitchens, utility rooms and powder rooms that are likely to be moist or those which have high traffic. These floors can endure changes in humidity and temperature effectively and can thus be installed at any level in the house. Another advantage is the thickness of engineered wood floors which are just 3/8 to 5/8 of an inch, allowing them to be installed on existing floors.

Engineered wood flooring is available in finished as well as pre-finished forms. Pre-finished engineered wood flooring is very popular since it is very easy to install. All the sanding and finishing is done in the factory itself. The quality of the finish and the thickness of the wear layer are important aspects to be considered. Engineered wood floors are also categorized as parquet (series of flooring pieces arranged in a geometric design); plank hardwood flooring (linear and wider planks of wood); and strip (linear flooring that is not as wide) styles.

Engineered flooring is available as tongue-and-groove strips. There are also longer panels available for floating type of installations. Here, the boards are glued to one another and not to the substrate. The beauty of engineered floors depends upon the wear layer, which is actually the veneer. The veneer ranges from around 1/12 of an inch to ¼ of an inch. Engineered floors can also be abraded and recoated. Flat-cut veneers look better than rotary-cut veneers though they are more expensive and rare.

Wood Flooring provides detailed information about wood flooring, laminate wood flooring, hard wood flooring, engineered wood flooring and more. Wood Flooring is the sister site of How To Clean Marble.

By Marcus Peterson

Pre-finished floors come with an extended factory finish warranty unlike unfinished floors. The heavy duty finishes are urethane-based. Within a few minutes, a number of urethane coatings can be applied on planks using ultra violet lights. However, you also have the option of unfinished hardwood flooring. The pre-finished hardwood floors have a definite advantage, as clean up and labor is not required and one can choose from a number of wood species. Unfinished floors need sanding and coating after they are secured while pre-finished floors do not.

Pre-finished hardwood floors are cheaper and can be maintained easily. Addition of aluminum oxide chips to the finish, a recent advancement, makes urethane finish more durable. Pre-finished hard wood flooring made from red oak is cheaper than floors made of white oak. Red oak flooring is soft and its grain pattern is open.

Pre-finished products are usually available in three or four colors. The surface of pre-finished engineered floor has a hardwood veneer that is known as the “wear layer”. The layer may be thin or thick. The thickness of this layer will determine how many times refinishing can be done. In some products, refinishing is not possible.

Pre-finished products can be installed quickly and easily. Pre-finished products are not prone to seasonal contractions and expansion, and generally pre-finished products come with 15 and 25 years warranties. A variety of finishes and kinds of wood are available for pre-finished floor. The finished wear layers are better than those applied on job-sites. Factory applied finishes are more abrasion resistant and are free of dust, hair, swirl marks, etc. These evenly applied heavy duty finishes do not have an odor.

A pre-finished hardwood floor is processed and finished in a factory. It does not need sanding or finishing.

Hard Wood Floors provides detailed information on installing, cleaning and refinishing various types of hardwood floors, including engineered, solid, long-strip, exotic, pre-finished, and cheap hardwood floors. Hard Wood Floors is the sister site of Bamboo Flooring Web.

By Peter Leigh

Installing hardwood flooring can take place in several ways depending on the type of hardwood flooring that you have. If you have solid hardwood, you have to look at the type of wood you have. You can have parquet flooring, which usually comes in tiles of 6 inches by 6 inches or strips or planks that can be as much as 3 inches wide. If you have laminate wood flooring then you have to look at a different method of installing hardwood flooring.

Whether you choose laminate flooring or solid hardwood flooring, the directions for installing both of them are printed on the inside of the packaging. If you have previously installed hardwood floors and now you want to install glueless laminate flooring, you do need to read the directions for installing laminate flooring. When you are installing hardwood flooring made of solid wood, you have to open the packages and let the wood become acclimatized to the humidity and temperature of your home. With laminate flooring, you have to do the exact opposite. You should not take this flooring out of the package until you are ready to start installing.

Successful installation of hardwood or laminate flooring depends upon careful planning. Even if you are installing hardwood flooring over an existing concrete or vinyl floor, you do have to sweep and vacuum the floor to remove all the dust and dirt. If you are not sure of exactly how much laminate flooring you will need, the directions for installing laminate flooring also include directions for measuring the room to calculate the amount of flooring that you need. When you intend to install glueless laminate flooring, you can also bring your measurements into your local flooring store and have the experts do the calculations for you.

If you are wondering how to install glueless laminate flooring and be able to keep it on the floor, each of the planks lock together with the tongue and groove design. When installing hardwood flooring like this, you cannot glue, nail or staple it in any way. When you start installing always consider the way the light shines into the room. Begin laying the planks toward the light and in a hallway always install glueless laminate flooring lengthwise.

The directions for installing laminate flooring will tell you that you lay the first plank with the grooves against the wall. Place spacers where they are needed when installing hardwood flooring between the wall and the plank to maintain ½ inch extension gap. You will have to mark and cut the planks as you are installing the flooring because they are of random lengths. Always begin in a corner when installing hardwood flooring and the first board in the row should be a full plank.

To find out more about Wood Flooring visit Peter’s Website Wood Flooring Explained and find out about Hardwood Flooring and more, including Exotic Hardwood Floors, Wood Laminate Flooring, Refinishing Hardwood Floors and Bruce Hardwood Flooring.

By Jeanette Joy Fisher

If you’re lucky enough to find hardwood floors hiding under your tired carpeting, you might feel like covering the wood back up. That’s understandable because refinishing the floors yourself seems like an impossible task.

Hardwood floors were a common feature in houses until the 1960s. Before that, having wall-to-wall carpet was considered a luxury upgrade. From the 1970s on, most homes had wall-to-wall carpet in nearly every room. However, tastes change, and over the last couple decades, hardwood floors have once again become fashionable and desirable.

Oftentimes, when I’m talking with someone about fixing houses, they ask if refinishing hardwood floors is something they can do themselves. Unless the person has a physical reason why they can’t do it, I generally say yes. However, I also remind them that redoing hardwood floors takes a great deal of time, sweat, and elbow grease.

As a general rule, floors of fifty square feet or less can be sanded by hand, but for any floor larger than that, rent or buy a small orbital sander. Everything necessary for doing it yourself will be available at your local hardware store. You can buy a pretty good electric sander nowadays for less than $100, which can be a good investment, especially if you’re planning to work on your home on a regular basis.

The first layer to be removed is often a thick wax coating, followed by a coat of either polyurethane or varnish. A heavy duty commercial wax stripper can remove the wax, and then a lacquer thinner or acetone can be wiped on to prepare the wood for the next step.

If there are any carpet tacks or pieces of old nails in the wood, remove them first. The remnant of a nail can tear up sandpaper, damage a sanding pad, and do serious damage to the palm of your hand, so check carefully to make sure all remnants of tacks and nails are gone before you begin sanding.

Fill all nail holes with a quality wood filler, matching the color as closely as you can, and let it dry. Then you’re ready to begin sanding the floor with 220-grit sandpaper, whether by hand or with a sander.

When you’re done sanding, wipe the entire floor with a damp cloth to remove as much sanding dust as possible. Damp cloths work better than vacuum cleaners. Let the floor dry, and then wipe it again with a tack rag, which is a cloth impregnated with resin to pick up fine dust particles. Again, your local hardware store will have what you need.

After the floor is as clean as you can get it, apply three coats of polyurethane with a paint pad, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly, lightly sanding with 220-grit paper, and wiping the floor with a damp cloth and a tack rag between coats. If you prefer an old-fashioned finish, you can use a 50/50 mixture of linseed oil and mineral spirits and then wax the floors with beeswax or paste wax. Take caution with the chemical mixture and the rags because they can catch on fire.

You can refinish hardwood floors yourself. It just takes time and effort–and a good set of kneepads wouldn’t hurt, either! Once you finish, you’ll have a gorgeous floor to be proud of and ready for that next “do it yourself” project–perhaps the next room with hardwood floors.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Author Jeanette Fisher, America’s “Dream Home” Maker, teaches interior design, redesign, and home staging. You can ask her questions on her Amazon blog or see http://www.designpsych.com for free home decorating teleseminars.

By Peter Leigh

You can buy wholesale hardwood flooring directly from the major manufacturers such as Dupont, Armstrong, Mohawk, Hartco and others. Usually hardwood flooring at a wholesale price is reserved just for wholesalers or for flooring retailers. However, many companies do offer their customers the chance to purchase wholesale hardwood flooring at prices far below the retail price, even though they may not actually be as low as wholesale.

One of the ways you can save money by buying wholesale hardwood flooring is to look at the selection of laminate hardwood flooring. The difference in the price of laminate flooring as compared to solid wood will make it seem as you are buying wholesale wood flooring. With the recent advancements in the manufacture of laminate flooring, it is much harder to tell the difference between laminate and hardwood. You can kill two birds with one stone – you get the flooring you want at a wholesale price and you get the look of hardwood that you always wanted.

Hardwood flooring wholesalers often offer customers the chance to buy hardwood flooring at a wholesale price. These events are usually an annual event when the wholesalers want to clear out their warehouses to make room for more stock. You buy the wholesale hardwood flooring as is, which could include some damaged boards or there may only be a small supply of certain woods or finishes. You do need to make sure that you buy enough hardwood because if you do spoil a few boards or run out before you get the room completed, you may not be able to get the hardwood to finish it.

Even when you are buying wholesale hardwood flooring, the sales staff will help you choose the right color to suit your furniture. If you are not sure how to calculate the amount of hardwood flooring you need, hardwood flooring wholesalers will do this for you and many of them also have delivery service available as well. Wholesale wood flooring sales usually draw large crowds of homeowners who are either building a new home or considering a remodelling project.

Wholesale hardwood flooring is available in all grades of hardwood. This is an excellent way to get the best quality hardwood for your flooring needs at prices you would expect to pay for the lesser quality boards. Even if you plan a flooring project in the future, you can buy the wholesale wood flooring and store it until you are ready to use it. However, hardwood flooring wholesalers will not accept a deposit with this type of sale or agree to keep it in the warehouse until you are ready. You do need to have a place in which to keep your wholesale hardwood flooring.

To find out more about Wood Flooring visit Peter’s Website Wood Flooring Explained and find out about Hardwood Flooring and more, including Exotic Hardwood Floors, Wood Laminate Flooring, Refinishing Hardwood Floors and Bruce Hardwood Flooring.

By Roger King

A squeak in hardwood flooring is caused by two pieces of wood rubbing against one another. One way to stop the sound is by reducing the friction of the moving pieces using a lubricant. I’m not talking oil here, but rather a dusting with ultra-fine graphite powder.

This is available at your local hardware stores, and for the most part it’s used to free lock mechanisms. But if you pour a tiny bit of it on the floor so that it can work its way into the squeaking boards, it could very well reduce or eliminate the sound.

If that fails, you can always try a pair of well-placed nails. You first need to pre-drill some slender holes into the wood, angled slightly towards one another. Then drive the nails in, being careful not to bang up the hardwood floor with the head of the hammer.

You can use an 8d or 8-penny finish nail, which has a very small head. Then sink it below the surface of the wood using a nail set. Now you can say good-bye to that squeak forever. You would need a hammer, a small drill bit, and a cordless drill. This would take no more than 15-20 minutes to complete.

Now after you get rid of all the squeaks, use a filler stick in the same color as the floor to fill any nail hole that are visible. When your floor is really starting to show its age, you’ll be able to renew its surface for about a quarter of what it would cost to install a new floor.

You can sand and refinish them, usually up to a total of four times before so much wood is ground away that the nails holding it in place begin to appear. Your hardwood floor should be as good as new.

About The Author:

Roger King has been occupied in home repairs for several years, and has been helping people with tips and advice to simple repairs to their homes. Visit his web site http://www.allhomerepairsyourself.com to learn how to do home repairs yourself.

By Joyce Dietzel

Nothing can give a house an elegant and sturdy ambiance more than hardwood floors. Hardwood floors are becoming a rage for new homeowners who want to own and build houses that have a lived-in feel to them.

Realtors revealed that real estate properties with hardwood floors have higher valued and are easily sold in the market. Apparently, new homeowners have this feeling that houses with wood floors are sturdier and they can stand the test of time.

A property with wood flooring is definitely more attractive and elegant. The ageless quality and attraction of wood has increased the demand for wood as material for flooring projects. Homeowners planning to build floors with wood materials should take comfort in the knowledge that there are a variety of hardwood materials for flooring that are available in the market today.

One such hardwood variety is Birch hardwood flooring, a variety that is characterized by its color which depends on the tree species and part of Birch tree being used for the project. Younger Birch tree hardwood can take the color of creamy or light tan while a part taken from the center of the Birch tree can appear to be more golden brown.

The Yellow Birch tree can appear cherry-like in color and is widely used for construction projects. However, the Red Birch tree is a favored material for flooring because of its sturdiness.

Contractors prefer to use Birch Tree for flooring projects because it is fine-grained and has an exotic mixture of yellow and reddish brown color. Birch tree can also withstand being handled by a machine and it does not easily give in to splitting.

Birch tree is also more flexible compared to most wood materials because it is softer than an oak tree which means it can be handled easily but hard enough to stand the test of machine handling as well as wear and tear. The sturdiness of this type of hardwood makes it an ideal choice for flooring material especially for areas that have high people traffic.

The use of Birch trees for floors will also enable the homeowner to decorate the room in any manner because the material can easily blend with any type of interior design. Birch wood also blends well with any business environment so it can be used as flooring material for offices.

The first thing that should be considered when choosing a wood material for a flooring project is the type of room where the material will be used. One factor that should be a primary consideration is the volume of traffic in the area where the wood material will be used as too much traffic can affect the color of the wood.

Although hardwood flooring easily blends with any interior design, the measurement of the room should also b considered because there are wood materials that can make an area smaller or bigger than it actually is.

Also be ready to face the cleaning demands of a certain type of wood material that will be used for flooring. There are hardwoods that are easily maintained but there are also varieties that require more attention. When cleaning wood flooring, always make sure that only cleaning materials or substances that have been recommended as suitable for the wood variety are used.

While any homeowner can do research on the type of hardwood suitable for the flooring project, the best bet is to get contractors that are knowledgeable on these things and to ask for their help when it comes to choosing such materials.

Joyce Dietzel writes articles for flooring -info- a website dedicated to Flooring Info For You

http://www.for-flooring.info/Birch-Hardwood.html

By Joyce Dietzel

The primary question most home-lovers ask of themselves is this: what is the best way to improve the durability, look and value of homes or apartments? The answer to that simple question is a lot simpler: oak hardwood floors.

Oak wood is constantly made, re-made, made and re-made

Besides the aesthetic value oak hardwood floors offer, these types of floors could literally stand the most hard-hitting dirt, force of nature or man-made pressures because of its inherent characteristic of durability. Plus, oak hardwood floors are friendly to the environment as well.

Believe it or not, wood is a resource from nature that is extremely recyclable as well as very renewable.

Also, the good thing about oak hardwood floors is that they really never have to be changed or replaced. This characteristic adds to the value of them being priceless as well as save home-owners a lot of money, specifically in thousand dollar values.

Hardwood floors offer a wide variety of styles and options

Oak hardwood floor is one type of style that hardwood floors possess, and a style which one could very well choose from. Other than oak, hardwood floors have numerous finishes, design and floor patterns that would most probably fit one’s circumstance and taste.

Do install oak hardwood floors yourself

Planning and finally executing a home project that involves installing oak hardwood floors may be tiring but enjoyable. It all depends on how much time and effort you are willing to spend. Nothing is impossible though, and the satisfaction of seeing the finished product beats out all the sweat and tears exerted just to get a hardwood floor done.

But first, be aware that oak hardwood floors done on one’s own basically costs less than oak hardwood floors done by professionals. However, the downside of this detail is the risk of an oak hardwood floor that is done in a way that it may look a little less of it done by a professional.

Another factor to consider is the time it would take to install oak hardwood floors. Would it take you a lot longer to install hardwood floors compared if it is done by a professional?

But then again, money saved from installing hardwood floors on one’s own may just as well be worth it.

Hi-tech oak hardwood floors

Believe it or not, there are now technological advancements in the way hardwood floors are constructed that installing them has become easier.

For instance, suppliers of hardwood floors could just as easily coordinate with clients as to the kind of work they may want to do or are prepared to do on their very own.

Currently, there are hardwood floors that are already pre-finished. This basically means that the need to seal or finish the hardwood floor after it has been installed is no longer needed. Fortunately, hardwood finished floors straight from the factory could now be easily installed right out of the factory box. This fact therefore means that it has now become a lot easier for just about anyone to install a hardwood floor.

Or hire a professional

Another ‘easy” thing to do when installing oak hardwood floors is to let a professional do it. Doing so would help guarantee perfect results. However, the benefit of saving money would probably be more felt if you do the installing yourself.

All in all, it depends on you and how much effort and time you are willing to spend in installing oak hardwood floors. If you value craftsmanship over high cost then let the professionals do it. But if you know you are as good and willing to spend the extra effort to install oak hardwood floors, the project of installation hardwood floors is yours.

Joyce Dietzel writes articles for-flooring-info.com a website dedicated to wood and laminate flooring for you to select from.

http://www.for-flooring.info/wood-flooring.html