Which Wood Flooring fits better your budget?

Which Wood Flooring fits better your budget?

Nowadays, we have 3 types of parquets.

NATURAL OR SOLID HARDWOOD FLOORING

Solid wood flooring is usually made of solid planks milled from a single piece of timber and underlaid with 8mm thick plywood.

Solid wood is generally thicker than engineered wood.

One of its downfalls is that it is unable to bear temperature fluctuations, thus a dilatation joint should be foreseen.

Although the installation of solid wood in homes has a seamlessly flow from one room to the next, some downfalls are to be noted :

It is quite noisy,(sound of your shoes hitting the floor as you walk)

It squeaks as it becomes older and loosens up.

Hardwood warps in damp and humid weather, thus replacing your floors every few years will incur a huge expense.

With high traffic areas, scratches, scuffs, or gouges are formed, thus it may need refinishing.

Usually refinishing is done by a dyer, creating dust and fumes.

Solid hardwood flooring is expensive to install. You could go with other alternatives like some soft hardwood options like pine, fir, birch, sapwood 

As for the installation, it is done by nailing or utilizing the glue-down method or as a floating installation where the flooring is laid down on top of a layer of underlay.

ENGINEERED parquet

Engineered parquet is consisting of two or more layers of wood adhered together to form a plank. 

Usually, plywood underlying solid wood is bonded together with glue. 

Engineered flooring is able to bear temperature fluctuations so no need for expansion joints, and comes more pre-finished, unlike solid wood parquet.

Traditional wood floors swell, squeak or dry out causing splits (Natural wood’s moisture content will fluctuate depending on the weather outside). With the engineered option, no more swelling, or squeaking, and splits.

As for the installation, engineered wood floorings are installed with glue or as a floating installation.

Its layered cross structure is convenient to conducts heat well and can be successfully applied on both electric and water floor heating.

Therefore, it could be installed over floor heating in two ways:

• In a floating system based on modern tongue-and-groove joints
• By gluing to the subfloor.

LAMINATE FLOORING (Faux-parquet)

When we talk about laminate flooring, we are actually talking about wood veneer or plastic laminate bonded on MDF panels.

Some of the properties of the laminate flooring are that they have great impact resistance and great moisture resistance.

It’s inexpensive, durable and prefinished. DIYer can install it with just a few tools, by snapping together the planks-no glue or fasteners are required.

Its interlocking system makes it easy to install. Cleaned by a damp cloth

Laminate flooring cannot bear temperature fluctuations, but has superior dimensional stability with great impact resistance, great moisture resistance.

As for the installation, laminate is installed only floated.

With laminate flooring, you could mimic stone or ceramic tile, as well as a wide array of colors and patterns, including bright, sunny colors and intricate modern or retro patterns. You can design your own floor to match your personal interior-design vision, from classic to contemporary.

Laminate flooring is much less expensive than hardwoods and costs a fraction of tiles. It is durable means, very economic, with manufacture warranties of up to 30 years.

How to select your wood flooring?

The selection of the parquet is a function of different criteria:

Color selection

Color selection should match your interior scheme and the feel that you want to give to your interior. a. i.e. grey tones match easily with trendy colors and give a sense of a peaceful interior b. White and light beige increase the lighting and give the contemporary feel.

Area of the space to be furnished/The size of the room and expansion joint necessity.

For tiny space, opt for lighter and natural floor colors like oak that give a sense of openness, happy and sunny space feeling

For large spaces, opt for warm and dark tones like Wingé and brown color.

For people who long for the rustic feel, comfortableness and a sense of coziness, and warm space feeling that match with colonial furnishings.

Effect of the light

Check the sample and judge its color throughout the day with different lighting sources, from natural sunlight to artificial light at night.

In conclusion, the selection of your wood flooring is related to how much you are able to invest. While solid wood flooring is the most expensive to install, laminate flooring remains less expensive than hardwoods and costs a fraction of tiles, providing lots of options to design your own floor to match your personal interior- design vision, classic to contemporary.

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