Custom Hardwood flooring is a popular home trend that will never go away. It is a classic and timeless way to decorate your home and express your unique taste. People all over the world enjoy expressing their love for unique designs and decor by installing hardwood floors in their homes.
There are many reasons why you should consider hardwood flooring for your home, but we would like to elaborate on the main ones.
Custom Hardwood Flooring
One of the main things to consider for wooden flooring is the actual wood used. Solid hardwood and engineered hardwood are the two options for custom hardwood floors. These serve as the base for your floor and factors such as budget, the length of time you plan on keeping it, and the amount of maintenance required usually determines which one is used.
Benefits of custom wood flooring
Better Air Quality
One of the first benefits that come to mind from using custom hardwood flooring is better indoor air quality.
Solid hardwood and engineered hardwood floorings do not trap and circulate allergens and dust like carpet and other types of flooring. They minimize the accumulation of dust, mold and animal dander. Also, a quick damp-mopping with a manufacturer-approved anti-bacterial cleaner is all it takes to sterilize hardwood.
Some hardwood floor owners prefer to use a steam mop. Which uses steam to clean and sanitize the floor. This has the added benefit of further removing allergens than a mop would. Cleaning your hardwood floor with any of these methods will leave your home with a light, fresh smell and helps to decrease or eliminate allergy symptoms.
Depending on the wood used for your flooring, you will have the added benefit of the smell of the wood in your home. Think of this as a built-in natural air-freshener that will effortlessly permeate your home.
Increased Home Value
High-quality hardwood flooring is a valuable addition to any home and statistics show that it increases the resale value of the property. In addition, homes with wooden flooring sell faster than those with carpets.
2.5% might seem like a small number but it isn’t when you’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is a good percentage to add to the value of your home. According to Clever, a home’s value is increased by 2.5% when hardwood flooring is installed. The design of the floors can also increase this percentage.
Easy Maintenance
Who wants to be vacuuming or spot-cleaning carpets these days? These are tasks that most people want to avoid. Stopping your kids and dogs from leaving dirt on your floor is not always possible, so is preventing common accidents from happening.
Hardwood flooring is the best choice in situations like these. Solid hardwood floors and engineered flooring are easy to maintain, thus decreasing the time you spend on cleaning. Cleaning a spill is now as easy as using a mop or a cloth to wipe. Develop a cleaning and maintenance routine of sweeping, mopping, and sometimes just dusting your floors to keep them clean and in top shape.
Longevity
Subject to general care and maintenance, a typical 3/4 inch solid hardwood floor can save great costs by serving you for a long period of time without any noticeable deterioration in quality or appearance.
In terms of durability, it has a service life of a minimum of 35 years and a maximum of 100 years, compared to the substitute floor coverings; the life of linoleum is estimated to be around 18 years while an unblemished carpet hardly lasts for 5 to 15 years. Many of the astonishing wood floorings of the buildings on the east coast and in Europe are more than a hundred years old.
It is amazing that the hardwood flooring is so solid that it is able to survive so many years with only a few blemishes. Hardwood flooring is a timeless beauty that doesn’t tend to look worn out or dull with time or as a consequence of heavy foot traffic. As long as it is properly maintained, cleaned and cared for, it will maintain its majestic look.
Can Be Rejuvenated
Flooring coverings like carpets need replacement after every few years – probably every 6 to 7 years when not maintained properly. Since replacing carpets every few years may cost you a fortune, you are bound to deal with those threadbare areas, warping or stretching, and odors or stains that do not go away no matter how often you clean. You may also not be willing to pay $1.50 to $4.15 per square foot to get that damaged tile professionally removed if you have tiled floors.
Hardwood flooring carries the advantage of easy installation. Having a custom hardwood flooring expert to advise and install your flooring is one of the best decisions you will make. Get it right from the moment of design and installation and any scratches gained over the years can be restored by sanding the color off and re-staining the wood with a new color. This eliminates the need to replace the entire flooring.
Want to change the color of your flooring? Simply sand the color off and stain them to your liking since hardwood floors can be conveniently refinished. Some homeowners change their finish whenever they change the decor of their home. This is not necessary; you can change your finish only if you want to, or leave it the same forever.
Suitable to Every Home Décor
Interior designers will agree that hardwood flooring is an elegant fix for the conventional floors whether your home décor is traditional or contemporary. The hype over hardwood flooring will never die down since you are sure to find a style that compliments your furnishings. Whether you opt for traditional oak, rustic pine, exotic wenge or trendy bamboo, your home’s ambiance will convey an aura of elegance and gentility. You can also customize your floor with staining, dying, inlays and patterns in accordance with the latest trends.
Reduced Disturbances
Hardwood floorings are ideal for light-sleepers who are prone to wake up from disturbances generally caused by squeaky floors. Unlike many other floorings through which sound is easily transmitted, like tiles and stone floors, hardwood flooring is a natural insulator.
Because hardwood is installed over a subfloor, they produce much quieter sounds, ensuring that you are not disturbed by hard-soled shoes, furniture, dropped objects or animals.
Hardwood flooring is also long-known for improving the acoustics within the room by reducing hollow sounds or vibrations that often occur.
Eco-friendly
If you are nature’s friend, it is very fortunate for you that hardwood floors are ecologically friendly. Being a natural resource, wood is recyclable and renewable. With the present and ongoing global warming issues we are experiencing, it is important to decrease our contribution to this.
In the modern world, many wood floors are mainly a result of the recycling of old structures like salvaged wooden ships, crates, warehouses, underground piers, barns, and dismantled houses. Fallen trees are largely converted into floorings and furniture in communities across the United States. This decreases the need for trees to be cut down for this purpose.
Moreover, bamboo is so fast-growing, it won’t diminish hardwood forests that have taken decades to mature.
Compatibility with Radiant Heating
Contrary to common reservations that you may have regarding heating floor installation under custom hardwood flooring, it is one of the most optimal flooring options for radiant heating. Engineered wood flooring is produced in layers and has a more stable base that won’t react to the heating and cooling process.
Unlike vinyl and carpets, these floorings do not cause the off-gassing of chemicals or prevent heat from transferring into your home.
However, radiant heating does not work fine with solid hardwood flooring which will swell and shrink with the heating/cooling process, especially in homes that use a humidifier during winter. Seek advice on the best method to use depending on the type of flooring you want.
Conclusion
Hardwood floorings are a great choice for you since they provide timeless beauty, increase the value of your home, are easy to clean and are designed to last for many decades. As highlighted above, custom hardwood flooring has a number of benefits over other types of flooring. It may cost a little more upfront, but in the long run, they are considerably more economical due to easy maintenance, long service life and the effortless refinishing option.
Installing hardwood flooring is a big decision. Because of the cost of the initial installation, it makes sense to give all the factors serious thought before you make a decision, so that you can easily keep the floors installed for many years to come.
