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Most hardwood flooring nowadays is built from American hardwoods, like white oak, cherry, or hickory, or the newer exotic hardwoods, such as Brazilian Cheery, Ipe, Tigerwood and so on. However, generally speaking, there are three common hardwood flooring types available in the market - solid, engineered and longstrip.

 

Solid Hardwood Flooring

 

Traditional solid hardwood floors from Hardwood Flooring Pittsburgh are made of one piece of wood with tongue and groove sides. Most are made unfinished, but there are many pre-finished 3/4-inch solid hardwood floors. Their advantage though is that they may be refinished and recoated several times throughout their lifespan -- which can be ten years or more.

 

Being a natural product, hardwood flooring can expand or contract in response to moisture across the seasons. When it's cold outside and warm inside, the wood may contract, sometimes leading to gaps between planks.

 

As summer starts and humidity increases, wood floors can stretch out, and those gaps instantly disappear! When the moisture is too much, the planks may cup or buckle, and that won't be so nice.

 

Solid Oak Flooring

 

Oak is often used in creating solid unfinished wood floors. There are so many different qualities you can choose from -- careful what you're buying. Clear oak, like a flawless diamond, is blemish and knot-free, making it very expensive. To lower the cost, go with better oak or select oak, which both have tiny noticeable knots and just a bit of dark graining, not to mention character!

 

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

 

For parts of the home where solid hardwood is not suitable, engineered wood flooring may be recommended. To make engineered wood, three or more thin sheets of wood, otherwise known as plies, are laid in directions opposite each other (called cross-ply construction) and then laminated together to create a single plank.

 

Such "cross-ply" construction makes a hardwood floor that is highly stable and impervious to moisture and temperature variations, a quality owed to the wood plies neutralizing each other, thereby keeping the plank from shrinking or expanding.

 

Versatility is just another advantage offered by engineered hardwood from Floor Resurfacing Estimate. It may be installed virtually anywhere, including above wood concrete slabs, sub-floors, and even in the basement.

 

Longstrip Hardwood Flooring

 

Longstrip hardwood floors are actually engineered floors, but the top, finish layer is made up of many thinner wood plies that are glued together, making a single plank. A softer wood material is  usually at the core of a longstrip plank, and it is used for making the tongue and groove.

 

The top layer may be practically any hardwood specie and is composed of many individual pieces which are often laid in two or three rows. Longstrip planks are good for any grade level and may be used over a whole variety of subfloors.