Solid Wood Flooring: Advantages, Deficiency, and Types
July 19, 2022
Solid wood flooring is a type of flooring made from a single piece of wood. It is different from manufactured wood flooring, a type of wood flooring artificially created using multiple wood pieces held together using adhesives.
Solid wood floorings are usually made of hardwood species, such as oak, maple, and walnut. It has a thickness of 18 to 20 mm.
To help you determine whether you should buy this type of flooring, we will now discuss the pros, the cons, and the types of solid wood flooring.
Advantages
Durable: Solid wood floorings are often durable due to their wood species. Durable wood flooring is always a benefit for homeowners.
Long-lasting: Solid wood floorings can last for a long time. This trait allows the floorings to be a long-term investment for the owner.
Added-value: Solid wood floorings are useful in many ways: they provide a solid footing, help insulate the building, and adorn buildings with their aesthetic look.
Deficiency
Meticulous installation: Solid wood can be hard to install. First, the floorings have to be acclimatized to the moisture level of the place. Then, the flooring pieces have to be placed and linked to each other carefully.
Fumbling these steps will result in imperfection in the construction, which can be a long-term problem. For example, high humidity may cause the wood to swell and uneven placement may break the alignment of the floorings.
Rather expensive: From buying the materials to their installation, solid wood floorings can be quite expensive. However, the expense is worth the quality.
Weak to humid conditions: As with any wood product, solid wood floorings are susceptible to high humidity. Swelling is a common problem with wood products, albeit the effect can be minimized with coatings and specialized glue.
Three Major Types of Solid Wood Flooring
Strip: Strip flooring is a type of solid wood flooring created from the outer parts of a tree. Strip flooring is not very durable since it contains less heartwood, the core part of a tree with high structural strength.
Plank: Plank flooring, in contrast to strip flooring, is created from the main trunk of a tree. It is more durable than strip flooring. The wood for plank flooring is usually cut into larger pieces or planks.
Parquet: Parquet flooring is a type of decorative wood flooring, with small wood tiles arranged in a complex pattern. Parquet flooring also comes with a backing material that lends to moisture resistance.
References:
https://www.mtoclean.com/types-of-wood-flooring/
https://tandgflooring.com/strip-flooring-vs-plank-flooring/
https://woodthrive.com/parquet-wood-flooring/