4 Types of Wood Flooring Options

(This article is taken from Evorich Holdings Official Website)

Many consumers are sometimes confused by the numerous names of wooden flooring options. There are so many names such as parquet, teak, merbau, oak, palm wood and many more. So what kind of wood floor option is suitable for indoor or outdoors?

If you are looking for just wood flooring or decking only, you can simply classify the wood floor option into 4 major categories.

1. Solid Wood Flooring

These are wood floors that are made by 100% wood material, from the surface to the core. Solid wood flooring has been existing for many centuries. It gives the floor a natural wood feel because of its authenticity. They are also call solid timber or hardwood flooring.

However solid wood floors are no longer getting popular. As more people are getting concerned about the massive reduction of worldwide forests, they are switching their preferences to other Eco friendly floors such as laminate, engineered wood and non-wood floor products instead.

On top of that, solid timber floors are difficult to maintain especially during the long run. If one is staying in a tropical climate where moisture humidity levels are high. Moisture in the surrounding may cause warping in the long run. Secondly, the foundation of the wood floors may be weakened by termites army especially when you stay nearby a forested area such as a nature reserve. Because most of the timber floors are installed with a nail down approach, you may hear a "clicking" sound many years later as the nails loosened due to the expansion and contraction of the nails and the wood.

Hence every 5 to 10 years, owners may need to spend more money on maintaining the solid wooden floors. Lacquering the the wood floor in order to reduce the probability of termites attack; staining the wood as its color have faded with time. Hence therefore, many wood floor lovers are beginning to switch to engineered wood instead.

Today, solid wood floors have also their own Eco friendly floor products. Palm wood, has started to grown in popularity especially in the manufacturing of outdoor decks. Solid palm wood decking is made from renewable natural resources and its durable and weather resistant properties has made it very suitable for outdoor flooring activities.

2. Engineered Wood Floors

In 1942, with the aim to reduce the cutting down of trees, Tarkett invented the first 3 layered hardwood floors which paved the way for the world of engineered wood flooring. Engineered wood consist of real wood on the surface, its core is basically a strong resin similar to laminate floor, and its base layer is made of plywood. Because it is still 100% real wood and it advocate the awareness of Eco-friendly floors, engineered wood has ever since become very popular among many corporations and consumers. Almost all engineered wood flooring manufacturers worldwide have received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) accreditation, for their selfless contribution to save the forests. Today consumers are beginning to build a better and safety future for their generations, hence the demand for engineered wood floors have been increasing day by day.

Choosing engineered wood floors over solid timber floors can save you a few trees. Engineered wood is available for almost all kinds of wood species a solid timber have. One can have engineered merbau, oak, cherry wood and many, many other species for their floors.

3. Laminated Wood Flooring

Laminate floor, started by Pergo in the 70s, has ever since been the largest demand in the global flooring industry. Laminate flooring consist simply of photographed wood layering on the surface with a protective coating to prevent it from scratches and its core layer is usually made of High Density Fibre (HDF) board. Laminate floors have become very popular among households because of its affordability. Advanced technology has made laminate floors more real; grooves are made on laminate surfaces to make it feel exactly like real wood. Laminate floors are so advanced that it looks and feel 100% matched with any wood species in the world.

When society advances, and people are getting health conscious, they began to switch to high end laminate floors such as Parador and Tarkett because their laminate floor products emits relatively lower formaldehyde gas compare to other lower end laminate floor brands. European laminate floors have thus begun to increase its popularity in today's health awareness era.

4. Non-Wood Floor Option That Looks Like Wood

The rise of Eco resilient flooring such as vinyl has taken a share into the wood flooring market even though they are not wood at all. This is because of the advancement in organic research and technologies, many vinyl flooring manufacturers have created vinyl floors that look and feel like wood. This is an amazing breakthrough which still creates much controversy today. There are some people who just want real wood floors, and they feel that resilient floors are unnatural. Some people supported wood-like resilient floors because it is cost effective, environmentally friendly, water proof and most importantly termites cannot do anything about it.

In conclusion,

I hope after reading this article, the consumer or researcher, is able to differentiate between the 4 major types of wood flooring options. (Although the 4th floor option is totally non-wood.) With a better understanding of the types of wood floors, one can make a better decision in choosing the right wood floor for their home and workplace.