All wood flooring, regardless of width or length, that is one piece
of wood from top to bottom is considered solid flooring. This
type of flooring has been used for centuries and never seem
to loose their charm and warmth – it is the real McCoy.
Solid flooring gives you a great opportunity for customisation
with your choice of species, stains and finishes all contributing
to the personalisation of a solid floor. This is an excellent
choice in most areas of a home on the ground level or above,
but they are sensitive to excessive moisture.
Solid wood floors
should give you the longest lifespan of all timber floors in
that it can be sanded and re-sealed several times.
This wood-flooring product, also called veneer flooring, consists
of layers of wood pressed together, with the grains running in
different directions.
It is available in 3 and 5 ply. Usually only
the top layer (usually 2-4mm) is made of hardwood species while
the rest of the layers consists of plywood or Spruce.
Engineered
hardwoods come in a variety of lengths and widths but planks usually
consist of several smaller strips all glued together.
A standard
classification of engineered floors is:
1-strip, 2-strip or 3-strip
referring to the number of smaller planks (strips) that make up
the width of a plank. 1-stips planks are much more expensive than
the others.
Due to its unique construction, engineered floors can
be more dimensionally stable than solid floors.
Acrylic Impregnated floors is a process where acrylics are injected
into the wood itself, creating a super-hard, extremely durable
floor. This type of flooring is often used in commercial installations,
like shopping malls and restaurants, but are right at
home in busy households as well.
Although often advertised as such, laminates are not timber floors.
They are manufacture from high-density fibre boards with a durable
film that looks like timber glued to the top. None of the benefits
attributable to timber floors as a natural product can be found
in laminates.
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