Which wooden floor should I choose?

This post is provided by Luxury Flooring & Furnishings.

With so many options available, choosing flooring for your newly decorated room can be a daunting task. Solid wood? Engineered wood? Laminate flooring? There are so many options. But which one is the right one? 

Simply put, there is no ‘perfect choice’, as a lot of your decision comes down to personal preference. Of course, each different type of flooring comes with its own pros and cons, but ultimately it is down to you. 

Solid wood flooring is exactly that- flooring made from planks of solid real wood. It is a 100% natural product, and is seen as a great way to add character, and a warm and rustic feel to whichever room you choose to lay it in. There are many other benefits to having solid wood flooring in your home, one of which being its durability, particularly with oak flooring. One of the only downsides with solid wood is that it tends to react badly to moisture and stains easily. With this in mind, it is probably best to keep it out of your kitchens and bathrooms! Of course, you can go some way to protecting your floor by choosing a lacquered finish, but in the case of any accidental spillages, it is best to mop them up immediately. 

Engineered wood flooring is another option to look at if you are considering a wood floor for your property. Engineered wood floor is constructed by putting multiple layers of timber together which is then finished with a hardwood lamella. This makes it one of the strongest flooring options on the market, as the construction of the plank allows greater stability, meaning it is able to withstand high levels of moisture and fluctuations in temperature. This makes it an ideal flooring solution for underfloor heating.  

As with solid wood, there are many different types of wood, styles and finishes to choose from, and looks identical to the solid product. Another benefit to engineered flooring is that it takes a shorter period to acclimatize pre-installation, meaning it can be laid quicker, and you can have your new flooring sooner than you thought!

If you are not sure on the two more natural options, then laminate may be your best bet, particularly if you are looking for flooring for an area where moisture is present a lot of the time, such as a kitchen, utility room or bathroom. Designed to look like hardwood flooring, laminate is made up of four layers which consist of the backing, core, image design and wear layer. The backing keeps moisture out, with the core usually made of a sturdy resin or fiberboard. This is then topped with the image layer, a photographic image of wood on a vinyl board, and then the wear layer is the final step in the process. Laminate is long lasting, easy to replace if damaged, and is an ideal choice for redecorating on a budget, as it is considerably cheaper than solid or engineered wood. 

In summary, which floor you choose is really down to you and what fits with the style of your interior, but remember to always consider the practicality aspect.