How to choose wood flooring?

Purchase guide

Purchasing wood flooring for your home involves choices dictated by personal taste, your idea of a home and the awareness that what you choose may last forever.
However, the first step is to make an appointment with a specialist dealer, and be prepared to answer all the technical questions he or she will ask.

Some useful tips for choosing wood flooring under the guidance of an expert

First of all, at your chosen point of sale it is vitally important to clearly define whether the floor is part of a renovation project or part of a new build. This is the starting point, after which a number of basic questions must be answered, in some cases by your architect, designer or builder:

- Where will the wood flooring be laid?

- What type of house is involved?

- How many floors is the house on?

- What is the existing surface?

- Is the house currently occupied?

- Is there going to be an underfloor heating system or traditional central heating?

- At what stage is work on the new house or renovation project?

Some useful tips for your flooring

After these first aspects have been clarified, the next step is to choose your wood flooring: thickness, wood species, finish and laying method. This is followed by the preparation of one or more estimates and an inspection by an expert of the site where the floor will be laid. You are sure to find a highly experienced person who will guide and advise you at every step.

Flooring for the living area

If the wood flooring is to be used in the living area, 2/3-layer wood flooring, will be suggested: the use of a thicker top layer makes future sanding possible in an area normally subjected to greater wear and tear.

Flooring for the bedroom area

For the bedroom area,, the advice is for 2/3-layer wood flooring: as this part of the house is less exposed to wear and tear, the economic aspect can be considered. It must be pointed out that different types of wood flooring can have the same finish.

Wood flooring compatible with underfloor heating

Underfloor heating can be installed under two or three layer engineered boards.

Choosing the species and boards

Your choice of wood species is closely linked to your experience or lack of experience of wood flooring. There are those who are diffident because they fear it will alter over time or it will be difficult to maintain. In this case, the expert will suggest a particularly hard, robust species.

Which species are the hardest wearing?

The hardest wearing species are Cansiglio beech and oak. Both have the added advantage of being easy to maintain with just quick surface cleaning.
Contrary to what is commonly believed, teak fibre is not hard. However, it is water repellent.
Experts say that the choice of wood species is linked to how well we represent and know ourselves.

Wood flooring finishes

Knowledge of ourselves is important when choosing finishes because it comes into play when we choose a colour and surface treatment (planing or brushing) and the laying method and pattern.
It’s a question of personal taste, but also of space, ambience and design. All this as well as a question of ethics: choosing a mixed selection of boards – in length and width – contributes to sustainable forest management, because your wood floor is made up of material already available.

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