Hardwood flooring is a classic look that has transcended centuries of style. It’s natural, eco-friendly, and incredibly durable. It’s no wonder people have been constructing wood flooring for ages.
Before new technologies and innovations of hardwood flooring was developed, choosing hardwood flooring materials were simple and straightforward. Engineered didn’t exist back then, everything was solid hardwood, the only decisions and choices were on species and the way in which the wood was cut to create the planks. Nowadays, there are an abundance of different variations. Now we will look deeper into the details of solid hardwood.
Solid Wood
The traditional and original hardwood flooring option, solid wood is exactly what the name says, it’s a solid piece of wood from the top to the bottom.
Species is one way to categorize solid wood. Softwood comes from coniferous trees like pine, while hardwood comes from deciduous trees like oak. Species can be domestic, like oak, walnut, hickory, maple, and cherry; or imported, like jatoba, cumaru, ipe, and acacia.
The standard thickness for solid wood is usually three quarters of an inch, there’s 3 different ways the planks are sawn. Flat-sawn is the most common and emphasizes natural variations. Quarter-sawn requires that a log is cut into quarters before strips are created, while rift-sawn is made by cutting the log at an angle aimed at eliminating natural flecking to make the wood look more uniform and neat.
There’s also a difference in prefinished and unfinished wood. Prefinished floors are coated by the manufacturer and is prefinished by the manufacturer, while unfinished means that the material is installed raw and is finished on-site.
The last but not least is the environment and situation you live in and have in your house. Solid wood is generally known to not resist water, and problems can occur if you live in a place with a lot of moisture. It’s better to get solid wood for dry situations to prevent any cupping, warping, etc.
A lot of people like solid wood because it’s seen as more high quality and is actual real wood.