The beauty of wood flooring – back in the early 1930s, when the Farmer’s Home Administration began issuing cheap mortgages, it required all houses to have hard wood floors. In those days, before the broadloom made wall-to-wall carpet affordable, a wood floor was considered a necessity for civilized living. The FHA stopped requiring wood flooring some time ago, but wooden flooring still retains its reputation for quality and durability.
Wood Flooring
Traditionally, wood flooring was found throughout the house. Now it tends to be concentrated in heavy traffic areas like halls or foyers or in rooms such as the kitchen, where frequent cleaning rules out other materials. It’s true that wood floors will outlast your mortgage and retain its beauty long after carpet or vinyl has been replaced. But the best reason for installing wooden flooring is that, dollar for dollar, no other material matches the aesthetic versatility and practicality of wood flooring. Depending on the style, species and finish, wood suits virtually any architectural or decorative style.
That’s not to suggest that wooden flooring is cheap. In cost, it ranks somewhere between carpet and tile. Because it has to be installed piece by piece and then sanded and finished, wooden flooring is very labor intensive. If you have a contractor install your floor, expect to pay for that labor.
Even if you do the work yourself – and this site is intended to show you how – wooden flooring will cost you plenty of sweat. If you’re laying and site-finishing hardwood in an average-size living room and dining room, expect to put up with the mess of installation for the better part of two weeks. In the long run, though, that labor pays off nicely, because most solid wood floors can be renewed many times with sanding and refinishing.
Where Wood Flooring Works Best
As 1 said earlier, wood floors are well suited to rooms exposed to heavy foot traffic or frequent cleaning. These include entry halls, reception areas, kitchens, powder rooms, hallways, dens and playrooms. Living rooms, dining rooms and formal parlors are good candidates for wood flooring too. Although these rooms don’t always get a lot of traffic, an appealing wooden flooring design, perhaps variable-width planking or parquet, will give them a unique atmosphere that’s just right for an occasional room.
Sometimes a wood floor can solve a design or structural problem. For example, strip flooring nailed firmly to the subfloor and joists can actually strengthen a marginal floor system so you end up with a firmer, quieter walking surface. A wood strip floor is really a floor, not just a floor covering, like carpet or vinyl.
Rooms that would otherwise appear cold – aesthetically and thermally – can be warmed up by a wood floor. These days, wood floors are available in dozens of species, each with its own grain and color. Moreover, as I’ll explain later, there are three distinct styles of wood flooring to choose from, and a range of choices within each style.
Wood is an excellent insulator. One inch of wood has the same insulating value as 15 in. of concrete; if you want to improve the R-value, it’s sometimes possible to install thin foam insulation and a moisture barrier underneath a wood floor. For those who insist that wood flooring is cold to the feet, a wood floor works nicely over radiant heat.
Despite my enthusiasm for wood floors, they aren’t suitable for every room in the house, regardless of what the foot traffic may suggest. Wood flooring in a room that’s exposed directly to the elements or excessive moisture will be nothing but trouble. I don’t recommend solid wood for basement floors or in below-grade, high-moisture areas, although in some circumstances, laminated flooring is suitable. That’s not to say that I won’t install wood below grade; I just won’t guarantee it.
Leaky appliances, weeping flower pots and other sources of constant moisture will discolor and eventually destroy a floor. Similarly, constant bright sunshine will eventually degrade the finish and topmost layers of the wood, requiring premature sanding and refinishing. In a future article I’ll explain how to compensate for seasonal moisture changes when flooring is installed. But wild swings in humidity and liquid water are more than most wood flooring can handle.
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I am currently installing all new wood floors in my new house. I bought the nail gun from home depot for $450. Prefinished wood floors are a lot easier to put in than I thought. If anyone has any installation questions just ask I will be happy to help!