Anyone know about hardwood floor options. The prices seem to vary so much for a carton of the stuff, how do I tell what kind of light colored wood to use?

What is a durable finish?

There are tons of options on hardwood floors. The choice you have to make depends on how much you want to spend, are you installing it yourself, and what do you want it to look like.

Lumber Liqiudators advertises on tv, they offer pre-finished flooring with 30 yr gurentee ( I think) and it looks to be very cheap. I don't know the specifics on them or their deals, so you will have to investigate futher. They seem to offer many different types for prices around $2.99-$5 per square foot. http://www.lumberliquidators.com/

Prefinished would be the easiest way to go. Other wise you have to install the flooring, then drum sand it then finish it and wait for it to dry and cure before walking on it.

You have the choice of solid wood, or laminate flooring. The solid wood can be sanded and re-finished many times or the years, but is more likely to move with humidity changes. laminate is like plywood, it is layers of wood or cork with a thin veneer on the top. It can't be sanded many times, because the veneer on top is so thin. But it is the most stable and not likly to shrink or swell much.

As far as what color wood to use, depends on your taste. If you have the flooring custom made, you can use something light like Ash, and stain it to any shade you want. With stain, Ash can look very csimilar to Red Oak, but 1/2 the cost.

If you buy solid wood flooring, you can choose from Clear (Selects, FAS, Clear, Prime) Good stuff not knots or defects. Or you can get Mill Run (Rustic, 1, 2, &3 Commons, knoty) Lots of character and half the price of Clears. The species availible are too numerous to list, just about every kinda of hardwood has been made into flooring. There is more out there than just Red Oak, Maple, and Cherry (by the way- these three are also the most expencive woods in the US lumber market right now).

Basically, you just have to shop around and see who has the best prices on flooring that you would like to see in your house. Go out and look at the different types offered, it is all a matter personal taste. I happen to like the look of mixed species, mill run.


Remember. what ever you decide on, you have to let it set in the room you want to install it in, for a few days to a week or two before nailing it down, to let it accimilate to the atmosphere.


hope this helps some,

Rob

It helps quite a bit. I also found some articles in the article section and I think I'm ready to go out and look at stuff. Its a small kitchen job, but we want it to look right.

Hi, I saw this advertisement about IPE and I do not know what is better for decking. any help?

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The product I am speaking of is called IPE. A trade name for a durable hardwood produced by large hardwood trees. This product is also referred to as Ironwood because it is a very heavy dense hardwood.

The IPE product is quickly becoming the number one hardwood choice of builders across the nation, because of its surprising durability and performance in the harshest outdoor environments. Nearly as heavy and hard as Iron


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Beautiful answer Rob. For others, a few items that are often missed on the sales floor are; change in color. This is expecially true with exotic hardwood floors and not most of our domestics with the exception of walnut.

Regards,
Ken Fisher
Hardwood Floors In The Home: Wood Flooring Options