Flooring is the most basic yet vital considerations a homeowner needs to take into account when renovating their home. The floor serves as the foundation for everything else and ground zero for your decor. Although there are numerous possibilities, one material stands out above the rest: hardwood floors. It is important to note, not all types of hardwood flooring are made equal since a variety of elements can influence both the performance and appearance. You may consider the following factors when selecting wide plank hardwood oak floors as your flooring material.
1. Wood species
The most pleasurable aspect of the floor renovation process is probably looking through flooring samples and selecting a wood type for the new floor. Much will depend on your personal preference and also your overall concept for your home at this point. Wide plank hardwood oak floors are the most popular type available. They have a beautiful color that takes well to many finishes, and oak is a hard, dense wood that will resist damage better than its softer counterparts.
2. Consider wood grain
Many traditional hardwood floors are made from narrow planks which create a nice look; however, they lack much of the character that can be found in wide plank hardwood oak floors. The reason is because the wider planks display more of the tree’s unique growth knots and rings. No two trees grow exactly alike on the inside even if they appear so on the outside. For this reason, your wood floor will always be unique and no two planks will be exactly alike.
Another aspect to consider is that the grain pattern is heavily influenced by how logs will be sawed into boards. The grain of flat-sawn or any plain-sawn boards will have a wavy appearance. A traditional wood grain, having undulating patterns are called cathedrals, is produced using plain-sawn. Rift-sawn boards have a long, linear, continuous grain, whereas quarter-sawn boards have more uneven figures than rift-sawn boards. No matter the cut, wide plank hardwood oak floors will always have a stunning display of authentic wood grain beauty.
3. Design Styling Opportunities
Since wide planks take up more of a room’s width, there will be less seam lines where planks need to be joined together. Fewer joint lines means fewer opportunities to distract from the rest of the design elements and it gives the floor an overall more uniform appearance.
Oak is very porus which means it can easily be finished or stained a wide variety of color shades. From penetrating oil to certain oil-like hybrids, site-finish polyurethanes, and prefinished Ultra Violet-cured urethane finishes, there are many options. To keep things simple, the majority of finishes may fall into any one of the two categories: polyurethane or oil. Wide plank hardwood oak floors stain easily so homeowners will have no problem creating the correct shade to match their décor.
At REAL GOODS Company, we are happy to provide our customers with top quality natural stone and hardwood products. We have a wide product offering and pride ourselves on having excellent customer service. Give us a call today to see how we can make your dream floor become a reality!