Hardwood Flooring
What Is Hardwood Flooring?
Hardwood flooring is made from hardwoods, spruce or hard pine timber.
How is hardwood flooring installed?
- Unfinished: installed and sanded and finished on site.
- Pre-finished: often a polyurethane finish with aluminium oxide added (some companies use titanium dioxide or other oxides). Metal oxide finishes are used in various types of coverings to increase durability and life span of products.
What types of Hardwood flooring are there?
Solid
- Typically 3/8" to 3/4" (though other sizes are available)
- Can be a nailed-down installation over wood subfloors
- Susceptible to moisture and temperature
- Not recommended for over-concrete slab installation (unless stated otherwise by the manufacturer)
Engineered
- Uses layers of hardwood veneer
- Can range in thickness from 3/8" up to 9/16"
- Manufactured to have a tongue or groove on the edges
- Less susceptible to the effects of moisture and temperature change
- Referred to as being dimensionally stable
- Can be glued directly to concrete
Wood Flooring Links
The National Wood Flooring Association
The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association