Changing the flooring will give any room in the home an instant facelift, with wood being an excellent choice for bringing nature indoors and adding warmth as autumn rolls around.
By Peter Keane
Wood flooring is a very practical choice, being easy to clean and maintain so ideal for the busy family home, but also extremely versatile aesthetically. Wood flooring will sit comfortably in any style of property and is suitable for virtually any room in the home, from hallways to kitchens.
While the temptation can be to opt for wood-effect flooring to help keep costs down, nothing quite beats the real thing, with engineered wood flooring creating a high-end finish that is surprisingly simple to care for and extremely durable.
Historically, solid flooring was the primary choice for interiors, but this option is not suitable for environments with high humidity and can’t be used with underfloor heating. Needing to be screwed or nailed to the sub floor, solid flooring can also prove tricky and time consuming to fit, making it a bit of a headache for a refurbishment.
Engineered boards, on the other hand, can be fitted in most rooms in the house and can be floated or fixed to most types of subfloor together with an underlay. An engineered board has up to 11 layers of plywood backing, with each layer glued at a 90-degree angle to the adjoining layer. The surface layer of a precious hardwood is then glued on top, resulting in a much more stable floor with a robust construction, which can be used with underfloor heating too, so your real wood floor is as warm to walk on as it is to look at.
Once laid, keeping wood flooring looking as good as new is straightforward too; a combination of dry cleaning to remove dirt and dust particles, and damp cleaning too.
THE NATURAL WOOD COMPANY
Chosen well and with the right care, this is a flooring option that will look the part for many years. For more details visit naturalwoodfloor.co.uk
