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Why Real Wood Floors?
Real wood floors made of Maple, Oak, Hickory, Pine, Beech, Elm, and Pecan should be familiar to you as the countless city streets that are named after these trees. Their rich natural colors and handcrafted quality are what we have come to expect in American homes. They won't buckle, and they are stain-resistant, wear-resistant, and carry a 20-year finish warranty and a lifetime structure warranty.
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Wood vs. Plastic Laminate Flooring
or "Faux" wood floor
The countertop industry has entered the world of floor covering in the past few years with a product called plastic laminate flooring. While these floors have the appearance of wood, upon closer inspection we find the printed wood image can be as thin as a human hair and when chipped it exposes the fiberboard core of the panel.
The visual appearance of the printed wood pattern may look great in a small sample, but in a large area you will notice how the pattern of the flooring panel repeats - usually about every five boards. Also, when you walk upon a plastic laminate floor footsteps have a more hollow sound.
All floor covering wears and when plastic laminates chip or lose their gloss due to wear, they must be thrown away. Most real wood floors can be renewed by re-surfacing with additional coats of urethane.
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Wood vs. Carpet
Carpeting lasts between seven and ten years under normal residential use. Hardwood floors can last a lifetime and are always in style.
Here's a 30 year comparison test you can use when trying to decide between carpeting or wood flooring. Say you installed a hardwood floor. It would typically last for 30 years. During that same period new carpeting would probably need to be replaced three or four times. At that rate, the hardwood flooring actually costs less than the cumulative cost of the repeated carpet installations.
Another thing to consider is the cleanliness of your home. A large American company that recycles old carpeting has stated that most used carpeting it receives for processing contains at least 35% of its weight in household dirt. The families who owned this old carpeting were actually walking, or crawling on dirt. Hardwood flooring is simply cleaner. If it is dirty, the dirt is plainly visible to the eye, not hidden within carpet fibers. Hardwood flooring my be the best buy and most solid investment.
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EngineeredWood vs. Solid Wood
It's a well-known fact within the flooring industry that engineered wood flooring is much more stable than solid wood flooring in environments where moisture is a concern. Damp conditions undermine all types of floor coverings. Oak lumber floors, for instance, can have many problems in the presence of moisture, including gaps between planks, squeaking, cupping, buckling, and cracking. There is no need to worry about squeaks or buckles in normal indoor environments.
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