Type of hardwood floor, know your floor
Type of Hardwood floor. The first thing you need to know about floors is what type of hardwood floor is best suited for each application. You wouldn’t want to install a solid wood floor in a basement, over a concrete floor, would you? (And if you do, you’ll learn why NOT to do so in the next paragraph)
There are three main types of hardwood floors: the solid hardwood floor; the engineered hardwood floors; and the longstrip hardwood floors. All these floors can be found in either regular wood (oak, maple, ash) or exotic woods from around the world. Solid hardwood – as you can tell by its name – refers to planks of solid wood, usually 3/4” thick. The reason not to place these on a basement is because they’re highly susceptible to moisture, which will cause it to contract and expand, and even create cracks in the wood. The engineered floors are planks made of laminated layers of wood glued together; this creates a much more stable product that can be placed nearly everywhere (including the basement).
Whatever type of floor you choose, know that, once installed, you’ll hardly be able to tell the difference between any of them. It’s really up to you to know how much you want to spend, and to choose the right type for the right place.
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