The timeless beauty of wood flooring provides warmth and elegance that can easily add value and function to your home. Its sophisticated style and natural finish gives any living space a wonderful and unique visual appeal. Regardless of your interior design, wood floors can enhance any décor and infuse it with a touch of classic charm and aesthetics. Wood comes in many different variations and its allure and versatility are truly unmatched by any other type of flooring material. As one of the most durable wood species oak is becoming the preferred flooring choice in many urban homes due to its wonderful texture and effortless elegance. Its natural texture and durability makes a stunning flooring surface for pretty much any room in your house, but it is most commonly used in such areas as the living room, bedroom and dining room.
As a hard wearing hardwood oak is highly resistant to fungal and insect damage meaning that with little maintenance it can last you for many years to come. In fact, after a few years the wonderful colour and grain of oak would not fade but become even richer and more beautiful. When compared with other types of hardwood oak has the most distinctive colour and texture and as a result of its relatively slow growing cycle it has a tighter grain as well. When investing in any kind of hardwood flooring the choice comes down to either engineered or sold hardwood. While sold hardwood boards are made from one piece of timber, oak engineered flooring is constructed from various plies of timber and features a top layer that is made from solid wood. There are many aspects that make engineered flooring better choice than solid floors, a much durable construction being just one of them.
The layers of plywood topped with sold wood give engineered floors enhanced strength and rigidity which means they tend to be less prone to damage and fading than traditional sold hardwood. Moreover, while solid wood tends to expand and contract when exposed to moisture, with oak engineered flooring this is not an issue at all. It comes with increased stability and moisture resistance which means it can be installed in areas where solid floors would easily get damaged like the kitchen, for example. It is important to mention that a lot less hardwood is used in the construction of engineered floors as opposed to sold ones which makes them a lot more eco-friendly yet less expensive at the same time. The installation process of engineered flooring is very quick and simple so you can easily do it yourself. It often comes pre-finished and can be installed over any kind of subfloor.
Reference: http://floatingfloor.blogspot.com/
