The best ways to care for hardwood floors. Keeping them clean in the first place. How to get them clean if they do get dirty.

There is nothing like the look of hardwood floors. They add an elegant touch to a home, yet are durable and can take the abuse a busy family can place on them.

One of the main reasons that many people decide against hardwood floors is that they believe they are difficult to keep clean. Faced with hours of housework and tons of money spent on specialized cleaners, many homeowners opt out of this solution for their floors.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Keeping hardwood floors clean and looking good is very simple and inexpensive if you follow the right steps. With proper care, hardwood floors last a lifetime.

Surprisingly, the best tool for your hardwood floors is the simplest, cheapest and easiest: a soft broom. Of course, there are special cleaning systems that stores or flooring installers will want to sell you that are more expensive, but you don’t need them. Just get a soft broom and make sure you gently sweep your hardwood floors each day. Especially in the high traffic areas such as hallways and kitchens, you want to pick up all the grit that may be ground into the floor.

You can use your vacuum for cleaning hardwood floors, as long as you remove the beater bar and only use the soft brush attachment. If there is an accumulation of dirt or if someone has just dragged in some dirt and grime from outdoors, this is a good solution because you want to pick up all of the grime; the soft brush will avoid any scratching.

Many hardwood floors are installed with a special coating on them. If your hardwood floors have such a polyurethane coating on them, you can actually use a damp mop on the floor. Since you are still dealing with wood, you can’t let any water stand on it, so just a very lightly dampened mop or cloth is sufficient. If a spot remains after sweeping, just a quick rub with a dampened cloth should remove it.

If it seems that your hardwood floors get especially dirty in certain areas, covering those areas with area rugs might be a good idea. There are many attractive designs to choose from so, besides protecting our floor, you can add a decorating or color accent to the room. If you have a lot of traffic in a certain area, from either from visitors or from children running in an out, this is a practical and pretty way to avoid having to clean all the time.

So you see that keeping your hardwood floors clean is simple and easy, if you just make it a part of your daily routine. All you need is a soft broom and a damp mop, nothing fancy!

Andrew Caxton loves writing for http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com . A focused website that offers the best articles on installing hardwood floors and flooring.

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors (0)

Impacta acoustical floor underlayments are a new line of products that provide floor sound isolation solutions for every condition in multi-family residential design. To meet the specified requirement for impact insulations, different systems are required for various types of flooring systems.

Nothing is more frustrating to new homeowners than to discover that the multi-family home (condo, townhouse or apartment) that they just purchased has loud neighbors upstairs or neighbors below them who complain about the amount of noise coming from above. The biggest compliant in these situations is impact noise, such as footfall noise. Nothing is worse than trying to go to sleep or relax and hearing kids or adults running around above you. With the trend of installing more engineered hardwood, laminate and ceramic tile floors instead of carpeting on the rise, this noise problem is becoming even more common.

Another big compliant is that the neighbors above have always had carpeted floors and there were never any noise problems and everyone got along fine, until they pulled out the carpet and put in engineered hardwood floors. Once a comfort level has been established any change to that level can be seen as very dramatic. Engineered hardwood floors, laminate floors and ceramic tile floors obviously transmit much more sound than carpet, because they are hard solid surfaces.

Within the acoustical industry there have always been floor underlayments to help reduce impact noise. However, Acoustical Solutions is one of the first companies to introduce different underlayments for different flooring systems. The Impacta line of acoustical floor underlayments has been specifically designed to offer maximum sound reduction while maintaining a very low or thin profile, so as to not add extra height to the floor. The Prozorb and Cerazorb, to be used under ceramic tile and engineered hardwood floors, are a synthetic cork underlayment that are mold and mildew resistant, economically priced, lightweight and easy to install. The Redupax system is a totally free-floating underlayment system designed to get “luxury” ratings underneath engineered hardwood and laminate floors. The Superfloor product is a commercial carpet underlayment designed to reduce impact noise and extend the life of the carpet.

Impacta floor underlayment products provide proven field and laboratory-tested solutions for floor build-ups in wood frame, metal pan and concrete construction to meet HUD’s Grade I “luxury” and Grade II impact isolation building requirements.

Impacta floor underlayment systems are locally reacting systems that are installed above wood or concrete slab. Impacta soundproofing floor underlayments are ideal for hotels, condominiums, apartments, office buildings, schools, or any area where footfall noise is a concern.

You can view all four acoustical floor underlayment systems at http://www.acousticalsolutions.com

Acoustical Solutions, Inc.
Sales and Marketing
800 782-5742, Ext. 13

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

If you’ve always longed for hardwood floors, you’re in good company. While soft wooden floors date back to the Colonial era, hardwood floors first burst on the scene in the late 17th century. If you only know that you want hardwood floors gracing your home, read this quick and dirty guide so that your head won’t spin when you talk with your contractor. This ten-minute read will guide you through the basics of wood species, grades, types and styles.

Wood Species

With over 50 wood species available for wood flooring, red oak accounts for more than 50% of hard wood flooring sales. Its popularity stems from its elegance, durability and cost-effectiveness. Maple ranks second in popularity for new wood flooring. Newer trends indicate a growing appetite for bamboo, cherry, and white oak. Some of the more esoteric imported woods used in hardwood floors include Brazilian cherry, Australian cypress, African padauk, and Burmese teak.

Color options are plentiful. If color is a priority, and you want the natural beauty of the wood to shine through, select a wood species that most closely matches your color preference.

Wood Grades

Grade refers only to the beauty of the wood, not to its durability or serviceability. Not every grade applies to every wood species. A wood species is graded as Clear, Select or Common, or it is graded as First, Second or Third. Clear/First, Select/Second, Common/Third grades are not identical, but they are close enough to present a shared consumer definition. The six basic wood grades include:

 Clear or First – free from most visible defects and discoloration, contains only minor visible imperfections
 Select or Second – may contain slight imperfections, such as color variations
 Common or Third – contains knots and color variations, often classified as “rustic” wood

Solid vs. Engineered Wood

Many people believe that hardwood and solid wood are synonymous. They’re not. If you’re hearing the term engineered wood for the first time, you most likely think that it is somehow inferior to solid wood. That’s not necessarily true.

Solid wood is milled from one solid ¾” piece of wood. Solid hardwood floors expand and contract more than engineered woods and are particularly susceptible to moisture. As the wood expands and contracts, it may buckle or it may leave gaps. Two common methods of counteracting these gaps include beveled edges and leaving expansion gaps–gaps between the wood and the wall–hidden by the base molding.

You’ll find most of the popular wood species, such as oak, maple, cherry and others available in engineered wood. Sometimes called pressed wood, engineered wood comes in 3-ply or 5-ply versions–three or five bonded layers of wood. Engineered wood floors succumb to little, if any expansion and contraction and are perfectly suited for rooms susceptible to moisture. If you want wood floors in the bathroom, the kitchen or in any room where moisture accumulates, consider engineered wood for its greater stability. If you plan to lay a wood floor directly over concrete, you must install engineered wood to maintain structural integrity.

Wood Styles

Once you’ve determined the species, wood grade and decided between solid and engineered wood, you can move on to the fun stuff–the style. Common wood styles include:

 Parquet
 Plank
 Strip

Strips and planks are long, linear cuts of woods. The main difference is the width of the wood. Strips range from widths of 1 ½” to 2 ¼”, while planks range from widths of 3″ to 8″. Consider strips if your goal is to create the illusion of a larger room. Series of small wood pieces create parquet’s geometrical design. Parquet floors complement large, airy rooms.

Select your hardwood floors with care; they can add beauty and warmth to your surroundings for a very long time, even a lifetime.

M J Plaster is a successful author who provides information on shopping online for http://www.a1-wood-flooring.com/bamboo-flooring.htm and http://www.a1-wood-flooring.com/ in general. M J Plaster has been a commercial freelance writer for almost two decades, most recently specializing in home and garden, the low-carb lifestyle, investing, and anything that defines la dolce vita.

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

There is nothing like the look of a refinished hardwood floor. You’ve spent money on your investment, so its important to protect your hardwood floors from damage to ensure that they will reward you with a lifetime of elegance and beauty. There are many preventive measures that you can take to help maintain the sheen of your floors including sweeping and vacuuming your floors regularly, wiping up spills as soon as they occur, and protecting your floor from scratches by using various furniture pads. There are also excellent hardwood floor cleaners available that help to not only clean your wood floors, but to protect them.

While it is much easier to prevent damage to your hardwood floors than to repair them, unfortunate situations may occur and it may become necessary for you to replace or repair a floorboard that has become damaged. Fortunately, replacing a floorboard is much easier than having to redo the entire floor.

If you spill water on your hardwood floor, it is imperative to clean it up immediately and dry the area thoroughly. Preventing water from soaking through the finish is the best way to keep your floor damage free. However, if the water soaks through and you notice a hazy or foggy area, you can try removing it with some trusted home remedies.

One method that has been used to remove water damage from wood floors includes using toothpaste or cigarette ashes on the spot. Using a soft cloth, such as chamois and toothpaste or cigarette ashes mixed with a little mineral oil, gently buff the area until the spot disappears.

You can also repair white or darkened water stains yourself. First, using painter’s tape, block off the area that has the stain. Next, you will need to remove the finish off of the area. You will be retreating the area and as your final step, applying new finish. To remove the finish, use either sandpaper or a steel wool pad and sand the finish off of the area. Next you will mix 1 cup of Oxalic Acid with hot water and blend until the crystals are thoroughly dissolved. Now, apply the Oxalic Acid and water mix over the stain, let dry, then brush off. Keep repeating the process until the water damage is completely gone.

After repairing the water damage you will need to restore the finish. If you have refinished hardwood floors, you may need to stain the new floorboards. It is important to note whether you have a Polyurethane or wax finish and buy the same finish for your area. After applying the first layer of the finish, let it dry. Before adding a second coat, go over the first layer with a fine steel wool pad. After wiping away the debris, you can successfully add your second and final layer.

You’ve invested money, and perhaps a lot of time to get your floors looking amazing. By taking care of them, you can avoid costly hardwood floor repairs and keep your floors looking good as new.

refinished hardwood floors – everyone loves them, now find out how your home value can be improved by installing them. – http://www.refinishedhardwood.com

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

Why choose pre-finished? Pre-finished floors take away from messy sanding jobs that take several days after installation to finish and dry. They generally have harder more durable finishes applied at the factory. They are very well made and offer a beautiful floor guaranteed to last for years. Most factory finished hardwood floors have 6-10 coats of a ultra-violet cured urethane applied to the wood’s surface. Also, recently, Aluminum and Ceramic particles are added directly to the floor’s finish by manufacturers, which dramatically increases the life of the urethane finish.

Pro’s of Pre-finished Hardwood Flooring

* More Durable / More Scratch Resistant
* Saves Time
* Usually Saves Money
* Looks Great
* Can be Refinished if Wear Layer is Thick enough (1/8 inch minimum)
* Comes Engineered and Solid
* Cleans Easily
* 10-25 Year Finish Warranties

Con’s of Pre-finished Hardwood Flooring

* Slightly longer installation time due to necessity not to scratch finish
* Generally shorter average lengths of flooring
* Refinished aluminum/ceramic oxide is caustic and more costly
* Micro-Beveled
* Can’t make custom borders and inlays
* Can’t be recoated must be sanded and refinished with polyurethane, oil, or wax.

All in all we think that buying pre-finished is the customer’s choice depending on needs and life circumstances. We believe that factory finishes are generally very durable and make great floors for living on without the need to worry about scratches and maintenance. Vacuuming and Sweeping a few times per week. Mopping is recommended weekly to keep the floors looking great. We recommend using the manufacturers suggested cleaning product. However, Bona Cleaning Products work for almost all urethane pre-finished floors.

Pre-Finished Glossary

* Factory Finished Hardwood Flooring — Wood floors that have been factory finished before they are installed.
* UV-Cured – these floors are finished at the factory and the polyurethane finish are cured with Ultra Violet lights instead of using heat.
* Polyurethane – A clear, tough and durable finish that is applied as a wear layer.
* Acrylic-Urethane – Has a slightly different chemical make up than polyurethane, but with similar benefits.
* Ceramic Oxide – Advanced finish technology that allows the use of space-age ceramics to increase the abrasion resistance of the wear layer.
* Aluminum Oxide – particles added to the polyurethane finish to increase the abrasion resistance of the wear layer. This has become extremely popular on the better grades of hardwood floors.
* Acrylic Impregnated – Acrylic monomers are injected into the cell structure of the wood to give increased hardness and then finished with a wear layer over the wood.

Hardwood Maniac
(888) 285-3397

hardwood floors, bruce floors, anderson flooring, antique impressions, junckers, junckers hardwood, Hardwood, Flooring, laminate flooring, bamboo, cork, maple, pine, oak, cypress, engineered, laminate, floating, underlayment, floors, harris tarkett, bruce, kahrs, save, ancestral, tung oil, trip trap, wide plank, long lengths, distressed, hand scraped, planed, hewn, reclaimed, custom milled, berti, bois chamois, boen, zanella wood, floor layers, lyptus, patina, plyboo, ecotimber, boen, palo duro collection,
Antique Impressions, Antique Impressions Hardwood Flooring, Antique Impressions Flooring, Antique Impressions Hardwood, Antique Impressions Alder, Antique Impressions Alder Wood, Antique Impressions Alder Hardwood, Antique Impressions Antique Alder, Antique Impressions Antique Alder Hardwood, Antique Impressions Antique Alder Hardwood Flooring, Antique Impressions Country, Antique Impressions Antequera, Antique Impressions Rustique, Creative at Home

Hardwood Maniac (formerly named theHardwoodBroker.com) was established to provide GREAT PRICES on a huge assortment of hardwood flooring lines.

Contact Info:

www.HardwoodManiac.com

(888) 285-3397

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

Are you looking to exponentially increase the value of your home before you list it on the local market? Maybe its time to do something to set you home apart from the rest. New flooring is a great place to start. Not only do new floors add warmth and life to a home, it can also drastically alter the appeal that your home has to viewers. With such a variety of materials to choose from you can create an entirely new home with a theme that viewers will remember.

There are a few kinds of flooring that are very popular these days; laminate, hardwood, tile, linoleum, and concrete flooring for the warehouse look. These types of flooring can heavily influence the atmosphere and feel of your home so be sure to plan the theme of your home carefully before you go ahead with the floors.

Tile floors are great for high traffic areas like the kitchen, bathroom and landry rooms. Tile comes in numerous styles and types that can mimic some of the world’s most beautiful and well known stonework like terra cotta. Tile also lasts for a very long time and is extremely hard to damage or discolor. With the right space, concrete floors can look fantastic. This kind of flooring is most prevalent in warehouse lofts and conversions. Needless to say, it is almost impossible to damage concrete without the use of a jackhammer, not exactly your common kitchen tool.

Now we move on to the most popular family of floors; wood. Hardwood floors are a beautiful way to add value and aesthetic quality to a room. That being said, hardwood can be quite expensive to install. One must also be careful to keep hardwood dry and clean as water or moisture can discolor and warp the wood. Also the density or hardness of a wood can have an effect on the longevity and appearance of hardwood floors. Laminate flooring has become immensely popular as a cheaper alternative to hardwood. Laminate floors are easy to install and can look almost exactly like hardwood, with the bonus of being easier to maintain and clean. The final surface is linoleum. This surface is utilized largely in kitchens and bathrooms due to the longevity and waterproof nature of the material. It is the most cost effective of the choices, but does not have the visual and aesthetic qualities of the woods or tile.

The floors are one of the most visual aspects of a home. Being that there is no larger “utilized” surface in your home, its a good idea to spend some time carefully planning your floors. The money you spend will easily be justified when your home shows better and sells for a higher price.

M. Shane is a member of the REW Writers Team. A collective publication network facilitated by Real Estate Webmasters. Each article is contributed by a member of our real estate community. This particular article was submitted on behalf of TampaMLS.com, the smart choice for Tampa real estate.

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

Mohawk laminate flooring is renowned for its ability to combine exceptional styles, patterns and colors with the easy to use DuraLoc installation system. In the Mohawk line of laminate flooring, you can choose from the glueless floor or the planks that you need to glue to a subfloor. The laminate flooring has all the appearance of solid wood floors, even down to the touch. You will find it hard to believe that the Mohawk laminate flooring looks so much like hardwood flooring that no one can tell the difference.
With the beautiful decorator patterns, Mohawk wood floors are designed to enhance the beauty of every room of your home. There are a variety of colors, textures and styles to choose from to have a different effect in every room. You can also install Mohawk laminate flooring over virtually any kind of existing floor – even concrete. Mohawk flooring is incredibly tough and is made to withstand the wear and tear of the most hectic household. Pets, small children, moving furniture – none of these will mar the beautiful finish of Mohawk hardwood flooring.
Mohawk laminate flooring contains a patented CrystalShield finish which helps make it resistant to abrasion and dents from high-heeled shoes. Even though the Mohawk flooring is laminate hardwood, you can still use tough household cleaners on this type of wood floors, which is a no-no for other types of laminate flooring. It is easy to clean and never needs waxing. Most stains on Mohawk wood floors simply wipe away with a damp cloth and for really tough stains you can even use nail polish remover.
When you install Mohawk hardwood flooring in your home, you won’t have to worry that the color will fade if it is exposed to the sun for long periods of time. Mohawk laminate flooring also contains a backing that prevents any moisture from the subfloor seeping through and causing damage to the bottom layers of your Mohawk wood floors. When you visit your local flooring retailer to look at the laminate flooring from Mohawk, you will also learn that this wood flooring comes with a lifetime guarantee against structural damage.
Mohawk laminate flooring offers such a variety in rich colors and designs that as soon as you see this in the Mohawk dealer’s showroom, you will know that this is the flooring for you. There are also pre-attached underlayments with the Mohawk wood floors so that it will reduce sound and also help to keep the floor warm to your feet. The designs and the texture of Mohawk laminate flooring so closely resemble solid wood floors that it is hard to tell the difference.

To find out more about Wood Flooring visit Peter’s Website Wood Flooring Explained and find out about Installing Laminate Flooring and more, including Exotic Hardwood Floors, Wood Laminate Flooring, Refinishing Hardwood Floors and Bruce Hardwood Flooring.

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

You have just installed hardwood flooring in your home. Now what? How do you keep your hardwood floors clean and shiny? Read the following Q&A in which two hardwood floor owners are asking just that.

Q: “I was reading your site and saw that one should not use oil based cleaners. Why? Our installer told us to use vinegar in water, and use a damp cloth to clean the floor about once a week. Will this damage the floor? What is a polyurethane cleaner? Where do you buy it?”

A: If an oil based cleaner is used on polyurethane finished floors, it leaves an oily residue on the surface which can not only make cleaning the floor more difficult, but after a period of time, when the floor is showing signs of wear and needs to be buffed and recoated, this residue can present adhesion problems. When cleaning any hardwood floor, or furniture, minimal water should be used. In other words, wipe with a dampened, not wet cloth. Adding a capful of vinegar can help and is suggested by the National Wood Flooring Association. However, I have heard one floor finish manufacturer dispute this, believing the vinegar is too acidic and can break down the finish eventually. The absolutely simple and safe way to clean any sort of wood that is finished with a urethane is to use polyurethane cleaners which are manufactured by both hardwood flooring manufacturers and manufacturers of polyurethane. I use Squeeky Cleaner from Basic Coatings. Any hardwood flooring supplier near you should carry this or similar product. Also, Home Depot is a likely place to look, since they do sell hardwood flooring. This cleaner is usually blue in color, and is mixed 4 parts water to one part cleaner in a spray bottle. Mist some on a cloth and wipe. You can use this to clean any wood finished with urethane top coats.

Q: “We bought a beautiful old home with wonderful wood floors throughout which were installed in 93. They looked pretty good when we moved in two years ago, but now they look dull and mottled. Our cleaning person uses ****** for floors and some floor dusting cloth called ********. Could they be the problem? What can we use to get the shine back?”

A: There are any number of cleaners on the market, found in supermarket that say they are for hardwood floors. Your safest approach is to purchase a cleaner created by hardwood flooring manufacturers or floor finish manufacturers. This can be purchased (these products, as far as I am aware, are all basically the same) from local hardwood flooring retailers or a big box store that sells hardwood flooring. Best bet is the Hardwood retailer who specializes in hardwood. I use “squeaky cleaner” manufactured by Basic Coatings. See their web site: www.basiccoatings.com.

Mirage cleaner is another one.

It sounds likely that the cleaners being used on your floors are leaving some sort of film on the wood surface. This can create the situation you are describing and can make buffing and recoating in the future impossible to achieve due to adhesion issues.

To sum it up, your best bet to make your floors shine is to purchase a cleaner created by hardwood flooring manufacturers or floor finish manufacturers.

Craig Mouldey is the owner of www.FaceLiftFloors.com. He has been in the flooring business for over two decades. You can find more flooring Q&A at www.FaceLiftFloors.com.
webmaster@faceliftfloors.com

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

Much has been made about laminate flooring in recent years. Laminate flooring has become a very popular and cost effective alternative hardwood flooring. First we must understand what laminate flooring is. Laminate flooring is constructed by sandwiching a high density fiber board with a laminate backing and a high quality photo paper image of wood, stone, or other natural texture with a laminate top.

From a distance you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a laminate plank floor and a hardwood floor, but upon closer inspection the differences become quite obvious. Laminate floors offer at most 6 distinctive grain pattens. When installed several planks may seem to match because they do. When installing a laminate it’s important to spread out the planks to prevent a duplicate from resting directly next to another duplicate. Hardwood on the other hand has varying grain patterns because it is constructed from real wood. The finish on laminate floors also tends to be more glossy and reflect more light than a hard wood floor.

Laminate floors often feature embossing as well. This is where small indentations are placed on the planks or tiles to reflect a more natural look, much in the same way as vinyl siding placed on a house. Hardwood floors character marks are naturally, more natural, they are spread out and have many different variations.

The key difference between laminates and hardwoods is durability softwoods such as pine tend to dent and ding easily, hardwoods like maple also will dent and ding but more force is needed to accomplish it. On the other hand across the board laminate floors are extremely durable and a large amount of force is needed to dent or ding the surface.

Maintaining a hardwood floor is slightly more difficult than a laminate floor because of dirt and dust build up near the edges and water staining is possible. Laminate floors however; tend to be very easy to clean by simply dust mopping and spot cleaning stains.

Installation varies greatly as well, the majority of hardwood floors in some form need to be bonded to the sub-floor by either nail-down, staple-down or glue-down installation. Laminate floors are installed using a “floating” method. This is where the laminate floor is not bonded directly to the subfloor, usually a type of underlayment is placed between the laminate floor and the subfloor to reduce sound and add some bounce when walking on it. Some laminate floors require the planks to be glued together while others don’t preferring to use a click and lock system. This means installing and uninstalling laminate floors is vastly easier than doing the same to a hardwood floor.

Is laminate flooring the new “it”? Only time will tell for certain but laminate flooring is becoming a very popular and economic flooring solution for people everywhere.

For More Flooring Articles visit IC Floors

Steve Lemke

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)

The tradition of hardwood floors dates back hundreds of years, their beauty and warmth have downed the halls of castles and brought elegance to many a modern day dining room. Whether it’s casual or formal, the natural beauty of hardwood can bring warmth and character to any room and suit any décor. Hardwood floors are however porous, resulting in a weakened structure that is both easy to stain and scratch. This in part has lead to the invention of laminate flooring.

While capturing all the beauty and elegance of hardwoods, laminate flooring is both durable and easy to maintain. Its machine made construction will not stain, warp or buckle and the Aluminum Oxide coated surface gives it a high degree of scratch resistance that is perfectly suited to heavy foot traffic. Unlike hardwood, laminate floors have water resistant cores and wax impregnated edges making them resistant to topical water spills, and allowing for installation in kitchens and bathrooms.

The allure of laminate flooring lies not only in its representation of real hardwood and its incredible durability, but also in the ease with which these floors are installed and maintained. The introduction of glueless laminates has revolutionized flooring, opening the door to the DIY market and weekend enthusiast. No prior experience, specialized knowledge or tools are required. Simply place on the floor, cut the odd piece, click, and your floors are ready to be walked on. The work is time consuming and hard on the knees, but with savings of up to 40% of total job cost, it just might be worth the hardship.

Laminate flooring is highly stain resistant and requires very little routine care and maintenance, freeing up your time to relax by the pool. Simply sweep the floor daily with a soft bristled brush and damp mop as required. As a precautionary measure, place foot mats at external doorways, thus preventing the tracking in of dirt, and furniture pads under the feet of furniture in order to prevent scuffing and scratching.

Laminate flooring is available in a plethora of styles and designs. Each wood species displays its own unique characteristics, each lending itself to a different design aspect. Choose the grainy appearance of Oak to add charm to any rustic interior, or utilize the grain-less consistent landscape of Maple to bring continuity to modern décor. Remember to use light colors to visually expand a room, while adding dark color for a more intimate feel.

This flooring article was written by Barry H. Get more tips and techniques at: Online Laminate Flooring Resources

Related posts

• What You Need To Know About Hardwood Floors (0)
• Top 2 Ways To Get a Good Deal On A New Hardwood Floor (0)
• Tips For Protecting Your Hardwood Floor (0)
• Things To Think About With Hardwood Floors (0)
• Taking Care of Hardwood Floors (0)
• Save Money And Refinish Your Hardwood Floors (0)
• Refinishing Hardwood Floors – What To Expect Once You Start (0)