Decorating Tips - Hardwood

Expert Advice

Learn about different species of wood and new technologies making hardwood flooring perfect for any room in your home, including that unfinished basement.

Use this guide then visit your local store to consult with our experts first hand.

Increase the Value and Beauty of Your Home with Hardwood

There's nothing like a hardwood floor for natural beauty, warmth and ease of cleaning. Its distinctive grains and swirling burnished figures add a classic touch throughout your home. Hardwood's rich character never goes out of style. Good looking, long lasting and a great investment in your home's overall value, hardwood flooring is the perfect marriage of practicality and elegance when it comes to home improvement.

Wood flooring is available in several styles:

Strip Flooring

The flooring comes in strips with widths that range from 1 1/2" through 2 1/2" and thicknesses of 5/16" through 3/4". Strip flooring creates a traditional look, and can produce an illusion that a room is larger than it is.

Plank Flooring

Plank flooring also comes in strips, but they are wider, usually from 3" through 7. Plank flooring can be used to create a more rustic or earthy look as well as a historical appearance with antique applications.

Parquet Flooring

Parquet flooring is a series of wood pieces that create a geometric design. Parquet offers a variety of design options. It can create an elegant look for formal settings or a more contemporary spin for casual spaces.

Select Hardwood for Any Room

New advances in technology afford engineered hardwood floors the flexibility for installation above, at, or even below grade. Several layers of construction are bonded together to prevent bowing/shrinking in cool, moisture prone areas.

All our hardwood floor selections are clearly labeled for performance in a variety of conditions and applications. Our Quick-Pick icons indicate where they are best used - Below Level (below grade and at ground level, grade) or Above Level. You'll also see icons indicating a style's suitability for residential or commercial settings.

Explore a Wide Array of Looks with Hardwood

You'll probably want to decide on the species of wood you prefer early on in your home design process. Our Quick-Pick icons immediately identify the species that interests you: beech, cherry, hickory, maple, oak, pecan, walnut or exotic imports.

Understand Product Variations

Many factors determine how your floor will look. Consider how much natural variation there is in the grain and coloring of a wood, a range that contributes to wood's endless appeal. How shiny the wood appears varies according to a gloss level rated as matte (low), satin (medium) or gloss (high). A matte finish helps to maintain your floor’s appearance in high traffic areas, while high gloss finishes will add elegance and grandeur to a formal space.

Choose Your Ending

Even the configuration of the strip's edge contributes to the look of the installed hardwood floor. Many strips (or planks - the wider version) offer you the choice of square edge (smooth and flat surface), micro bevel (mild bevel that can be felt with the fingertips), or full bevel (forming a strong groove to visually separate the strips and focus your eye on grain line).

All these elements make a difference in how your hardwood floor will look: our Quick-Pick Icons identify those differences so you're sure to get the look you want. Don't forget to check out Installation to learn all about the little details that make a big difference when transitioning from old floors to new.

Installation

Avoid any bumps in the road to your home design project. Use our installation guide for great tips on the transition of your old floors to the new.

Installation Matters

Today's hardwood flooring is extremely versatile. There are more ways than ever to install your hardwood flooring.

Our Quick-Pick icons indicate the preferred method for your selection: nailing, stapling, gluing, floating or the new "click" (glue-less) fit, where plank edges snap together like the pieces of a well made puzzle.

Learn about our Points of Difference Guarantee, because how your floor is installed will impact its performance and life. We provide a warranted installation by a trained, professional craftsperson who will finish the job to perfection-guaranteed.

Things to Do Before Installation

We want you to have a clear understanding of the services we provide as well as to be aware of items you will need to handle prior to the installer arriving at your home. After your purchase, items crucial to the smooth installation of your new flooring will be detailed by your sales professional in a pre-installation check list and may include some of the following:

• Verification of the installation date.

• Ensuring the removal of all "breakables" from the room.

• Determining who will remove furniture, appliances and the sub-floor, if needed.

• Arranging for the disconnection of gas appliances and icemakers.

• Determining if any change to the height of the floor require adjustments to doors in order for them to close.

• Ensuring the removal of items in storage areas and closets where the floor is to be resurfaced.

• Make certain drapes, wall hangings and pictures are removed from walls.

• Verify that your in-home temperature is appropriate for installation.

Installation

Your local Flooring America store offers expert installation for all of the flooring products we carry. You can trust our installers to create a great-looking floor for your home. Whether it's a solid-color carpet or a detailed, custom tile design, our licensed and insured professionals will get the job done accurately and beautifully.

We are so confident that you will be more than satisfied with our professional installation that we will be happy to correct any installation-related problems for free during the intended life of your floor.

Get started today and bring your colors, swatches, photos and ideas into your local Flooring America retailer. Find the store nearest you.

Overview of Hardwood

As a major part of your overall decorating scheme, your home’s flooring can make the boldest statements regarding your personality. But flooring choices are as much practical as they are aesthetic, and hardwood floors provide the look and durability you need in a floor, with the beauty and excitement you want in your interior design.

There are three major types of solid wood flooring available:

Strip Flooring – this is the most common, with strips ranging from 1-1/2 inches to 3-1/4 inches wide depending on the look you want. These are installed by nailing to the sub floor, and come in oak, maple, walnut, cherry, hickory and even bamboo.

Plank Flooring – these boards are at least three inches wide, but usually larger, up to 12 inches wide. They can be nailed to the subfloor, but are typically screwed in. The screw holes are then covered with wooden plugs.

Parquet Flooring – these 6" by 6" blocks come in a range of design patterns, allowing you to achieved dramatic geometric effects. Some specialty patterns are as large as 36 inches square; these can also be inlaid into more traditional wood flooring for a unique design detail.

Wood flooring can be purchased finished or unfinished. Unfinished wood flooring must be sanded, stained and finished after installation. On the other hand, these extra steps can be avoided by using finished wood flooring, which only requires installation.

The type of flooring you purchase is determined strictly by the look you want to achieve, although sometimes the architectural style of your home lends itself more to one type of flooring than another. In addition, the types of wood that are used, how the wood is laid out, whether it is painted or not, the color of stain, and the glossiness of the finish all effect the overall look of your room. Let’s look at some of these elements as they relate to your home.

Country & Colonial

Beginning with oldest home styles, you might own a colonial or country home, or want to achieve that look in a modern house. In these cases, wide plank flooring is your best basic choice. These planks are usually 4-12 inches wide. They can be purchased new, but because so many larger trees that would yield these wide boards have already been harvested, an entire secondary industry has arisen that salvages wide-plank flooring from older home and industrial buildings scheduled for demolition.

A colonial look would be extremely basic, with a light stain and urethane varnish. A hand-painted floor cloth is a perfect contrast to the plain wood in a colonial-style home.

With country, the stain may be a little darker, but here you have the additional design element of stenciling a border around the floor to give the look of home-spun craftsmanship. You may even wish to inlay one thin strip of darker wood as an offset to the larger planks. A different look can be achieved by painting the floor, whether solid or patterned with a checkerboard or the like. Where floors are painted, strip flooring will do in place of plank flooring.

Victorian

The fun with a Victorian home is all the exciting wood patterns you can achieve using different types of strip flooring with different stains. Victorian homes are known for bright colors and bold statements, so a striped inlay flooring of contrasting colors looks great. One option is two rows of lighter maple flooring, with every third row being a darker walnut or hickory. You can also paint a Victorian floor, but use more vivid and contrasting colors than in a country home. And rather than a simple checkerboard pattern, offset it to a diamond pattern.

Arts & Crafts

This is where the whimsy of Victorian meets the sophistication of more traditional styles. An Arts & Crafts look calls for traditional strip flooring, but with inlaid borders of contrasting colors and woods. These borders can be simply smaller strips of wood, or more intricate classical motifs. A decorative wood inlay can make a spectacular statement. These inlays used to be installed by skilled craftsmen, but are now manufactured as preassembled pieces, and can be set into existing strip flooring by the handy do-it-yourselfer.

Traditional & Modern

Here is where the options are almost unlimited in the use of strip or parquet flooring. Perhaps you might opt for simple strip flooring throughout the home, but with dramatic parquet flooring in the foyer. Stains used can range from light to dark, depending on the style of your furniture and wall coverings, as well as the amount of light entering the room. Furthermore, the choice of varnish will enhance the look of the room. Use a plain or semi-floss urethane for the more casual rooms in your home, and a high gloss urethane for more formal living and entertaining rooms. Remember that your wood flooring is an extension of the interior design of the rest of your home, and it should blend with and complement that design.The great advantage of wood flooring is that it can be bold and colorful, and yet exude a subtle warmth that welcomes guests to your home. Limited only by your imagination, the design of your wood floor is an extension of your personality and style.

Enviro-Friendly Bamboo as a Flooring Option

You want the beauty and warmth of wood flooring, but are concerned about the environmental impact of harvesting mature hardwood trees? How about a product that grows to maturity in about five years? How about a product that is technically a woody grass, regenerating itself by sending out runners that result in new canes? Or what if you knew that this flooring material actually improves the soil in which it is planted? If you find all these attributes appealing, then Bamboo may just be the right flooring choice.

You might think of Bamboo as lightweight and flimsy, but it has the tensile strength of steel. In fact, Bamboo is 25% harder than Red Oak; the most commonly installed wood flooring. And it is as hard as Rock Maple, making it an extremely durable form of flooring. One concern of wood flooring is that it can swell or shrink depending on changes in relative humidity. Bamboo flooring has 50% more dimensional stability than hardwoods, making it a practical choice in homes or climates with high humidity and temperature variations.

Because of its unique characteristics, Bamboo undergoes an extensive manufacturing process. After harvesting and splitting, the wood strips are kiln dried down to a 10% moisture content. The wood is then treated to prevent insect and mildew damage, with additional treatments to conform to fire prevention standards. The strips of Bamboo are planed down on all sides, sorted by color, and then fused into planks, which are stained and prefinished on all sides.

Because Bamboo is prefinished, it is one of the easiest wood flooring products to install. The planks are precut with tongue-and-groove on the sides and ends to achieve a long-lasting, tight installation. There is no need for sanding, or varnishing, and Bamboo flooring can be installed over wood or concrete, using nails or glue. And because it is so resistant to temperature variations, Bamboo floors are perfect for installation over a radiant-heated surface.Bamboo now comes in over 30 colors, from its natural blond hue, to darker amber shades achieved through a smoking process. The heat from smoking carbonizes the grains of Bamboo, which take on a darker, caramel tone throughout the wood.Bamboo’s unique appearance is all the more enhanced by its being an environmentally sound flooring as well. Strong, durable and beautiful, Bamboo is a great choice for any home or business décor.

The Beauty and Durability of Cork Flooring

It’s hard to think that after all those bottles of wine and champagne, there would still be enough cork left over to cover whole floors, but that is the beauty of this amazing, environmentally friendly product. Used for centuries, cork can add beauty and durability to your flooring.

As a flooring product, cork’s resiliency is unmatched. Cork’s structure is composed of millions of tiny, completely enclosed air cells. It is these air cells that allow cork to be compressed, and then spring back to its original form. Properly maintained, cork flooring will provide decades of beautiful, reliable service in your home.

Cork has a highly frictional, non-slip surface that makes it ideal for kitchen or bathroom floors. In addition, it is highly resistant to liquid penetration, especially with the special finish layer applied by manufacturers. Cork also has outstanding insulating properties, which help to reduce heating and cooling costs, and a strong ability to absorb vibration. This makes it perfect for dampening sound in a room, or for reducing sound transfer between floors.

Cork is also a logical choice for families that suffer from allergies or asthma. Cork flooring is naturally hypoallergenic, resisting the growth of mold and mildew. And because it is antistatic, it won’t attract and accumulate dust and pollen particles. Cork does not give off any gases or shed fibers of any kind, making it ideal for those with respiratory problems.

And cork flooring can be applied over any subflooring, or existing flooring except carpet. It can be glued down or floated, and comes in planks or tiles with tongue-and-groove joiners. As with so many other flooring products, modern manufacturing technology now offers many coloration options, in both finished and unfinished varieties.

Cork, which has been in use since 2,500 BC, is actually the bark of an evergreen oak tree variety that grows only near the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, the vast majority of cork production is centered in Portugal and Spain. The cork is first harvested from the tree when it is 20 years old using a specially designed hatchet that strips the outer bark, but leaves a thin, protective layer of inner bark. By using care in the stripping process, the living tree will be protected, and can continue to grow new cork bark. In fact, cork can be harvested from the same tree every six to nine years, and the trees live for over 150 years.

A renewable resource that provides stability, durability and beauty to your home, cork just might be the best choice for your new floor.

Strip Hardwood Installation Overview

The beauty of a classic wood floor can be yours with just a little preparation, and a few readily available household and rental tools. This article will focus on installing a strip wood floor, which always requires nailing or stapling to a wooden subfloor. Other types of wood flooring, such as parquets and engineered wood floors, can actually be glued down.

The first step is to choose the flooring. A typical wood floor consists of solid strips of wood, one-half inch thick, with tongue-and-groove joints along the edges. These joints keep the surface of each board flush with the one next to it. In addition, this construction allows for the nails to be driven through the tongue portion, which is then concealed with the groove from the next strip of flooring. Oak strip flooring is the most popular choice, but other species such as maple, walnut, cherry, hickory and even bamboo can add a distinctive look to your room.

Most strip flooring is available in 2 1/4-inch or 3 1/4-inch widths, and sold in bundles of approximately 22 square feet. You can purchase it either unfinished or prefinished with stain and urethane varnish already applied. Though the cost of prefinished flooring is higher, the advantages of saving you the time and expense of sanding and varnishing your newly installed floor are quite significant.

As a general design tip, strips of flooring should run in the longer direction of the room, as this makes the room look bigger. Furthermore, remember to alternate the wood strips’ length for a more natural appearance. Longer pieces of flooring should be installed near doorways and entryways, while shorter pieces can be alternately placed throughout the middle of the floor. In all cases, never end a row of flooring with a piece less than a foot long. Instead, measure for two midsize pieces to complete that particular row.

Once you’re ready to begin installing, see the related article "Do-It-Yourself Strip Hardwood Installation" below for step-by-step guidance.

Do-It-Yourself Strip Hardwood Installation

So now you’re ready to install your hardwood floor. For an introduction to the process, see the article entitled "Strip Hardwood Installation Overview" above. Assuming your old floor has been removed and the wooden subfloor is prepared, the following steps will help you achieve that perfect floor.

1. Remove base molding and any shoe molding.

2. Tack down building paper.

3. Determine the width of the starter strip.

4. Install the starter row.

5. Nail down subsequent rows.

6. Use crosscut pieces for the ends of each row.

7. Fit flooring around obstacles.

8. Cut and fit the final row.

9. Sand and Finish the floor – if required.

10. Reapply the base and shoe molding.

As a first step, carefully remove base molding using a pry bar to pull it from the wall. Note that when installing your floor, you will leave a 1/4-inch gap along the entire wall to allow for expansion of the flooring. The molding will hide this gap when it is reinstalled at the end of your project.

While not required, it is still a good idea to tack down building paper, which can help to reduce squeaks and sound transmission. It also adds a vapor barrier. In any event, the paper is inexpensive and easy to install; just roll it out and staple it every 10 inches or so. Overlap the paper about three inches.

The next step, determining the width of the starter piece, is very important. Ideally, lay out along the width of the floor all the starter strips for each row. This will give you an idea of the width required for the first and last row. If you’re lucky, your wood will fit perfectly. More likely, you will need to rip-cut the start and finish row to a uniform width. A rip-cut is a cut that goes parallel or with the grain of the wood. Don’t take a shortcut by just planning to cut the final row because you may end up with a very thin strip that looks awkward against the rest of the flooring.

In order to install the starter row, you will need to snap a chalk line at the width of your starter piece. Bear in mind that this line must be straight, because the straightness of the starter row affects the entire installation. Never use the wall as a guide, as it may not be straight. Next, align the tongue-edge of your starter piece along the chalk line (remember to have left that 1/4-inch gap along the wall for expansion). Predrill holes every 12 inches along the length of the strip, driving #6 finish nails to secure the wood to the subfloor. This is the last time you will have to hand-nail the wood in, until the last row.

Subsequent strips are simply slid into place, and nailed in using a flooring nailer that can be rented. Simply position the nailer on the tongue edge of the board, and strike the plunger head with the heavy rubber mallet. Keep in mind that for a more balanced look, you will stagger the end joints of the pieces at least a foot apart. This typically is as simple as just using different lengths of wood at the start of each row. You will need to crosscut end pieces to fit, remembering to always use lengths longer than a foot at the end of rows. A cross-cut is a cut across the grain of the wood.

Most rooms do not have the advantage of being perfectly rectangular, so when you come up against a bend in the wall, simply position the strip as close as you can to the wall, then use those measurements to cut the piece to fit, always leaving that all-important 1/4-inch gap against any walls.

The final row, just like the starter row, will have to be face-nailed by hand into place. In order to tighten the joint between the last two pieces, use a pry bar with a scrap block of wood to protect the wall. Nail the final row in. Unless your flooring is prefinished, it will need to be sanded, stained and finished before reinstalling the baseboards and shoe molding. See the article on finishing wood floors for details of this project.

With patience and attention to detail, you can install your new wood floor just like a professional.