By Gail Bicknell ASID, CAPS
One of the biggest decisions clients face in renovating or remodeling is what to do with their floors. There are a lot of options today. Let’s take a look at some of the market’s most popular wood and wood-look alternatives
Stock photo ~Getty Images
Hardwood floors remain the gold standard in both desirability and price. Organic, timeless, classic, and extremely long-wearing, hardwood gives warmth and character and adds value to your home. Real wood is cured, planked, kiln-dried, and milled into interlocking planks of varying widths and lengths which must be professionally installed. Varieties are almost endless; cherry, walnut, teak, hickory, and oak provide different grain patterns, textures, and colors. Every floor is one of a kind. However, wood floors will scratch and are not waterproof. Wet spills must be wiped up promptly. Scratches can be minimized with felt furniture protectors. Over time, natural wood will compress and expand, which may cause creaking and even gaps. Hardwood floors can be sanded and restained, making this a highly sustainable flooring option. Properly maintained wood floors, swept clean and occasionally damp-mopped with a specified cleaning product, can last well over 100 years.
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Luxury Vinyl Planks (LVP) is a very popular up-and-coming alternative. The product is made of PVC resins which are melted and combined with fungicides and stabilizers, then stamped with a high-res photographic film image that looks like stone or wood. It’s then heat pressed into strong, resilient sheets and cut into rectangular strips which interlock when installed without glue. Installation is simple and quick. Water-resistant, durable and affordable, styles are endless, mimicking stone and woods beautifully. Easy to maintain, LVP requires only a good sweeping and occasional damp mopping. Be mindful that not all LVP is UV resistant~ some brands may fade in a sunny area and it lacks the texture of real wood options.
Laminate flooring is attractive, easy to install, and durable. Until LVP came along, laminate was hugely popular. This all-man-made product consists of a stable fiberboard base with high-definition imagery of stone or wood bonded on top, sealed with a transparent wear layer. It’s a heavier product than LVP, installed as a floating floor with interlocking edges. Over the years, graphics have improved considerably and laminate is usually now sold with 5-10 images on the planks in a carton, either in squares to mimic stone or in planks to look like wood. This means there is replication when the flooring is installed, not unlike LVP. Laminate floors typically resist scratching and provide a consistent look over large areas. These floors, however, cannot be refinished and without a high-quality sound-absorbent underlay, they may sound hollow. Maintenance is as with other flooring~ sweep and damp mop. Spills must be wiped up promptly.
Engineered hardwood is made by bonding a layer of real hardwood onto a substrate of high-quality plywood and finishing it with a strong top wear layer. Installation is nailing and/or gluing and must be done by a professional. It looks great~ what meets the eye is real wood, however, the engineered product can be as expensive as real hardwood. It can be sanded and refinished at least once, depending on the thickness of the upper layer. This product provides superior stability, texture, and a huge variety of styles. Depending on the application, it can be a better solution than real hardwood.
Be sure to work with your designer, architect, contractor, or flooring professional to find the best solution for your home.
Gail Bicknell is an interior designer who has worked in furniture and design for more than 20 years. She founded Fair Street Interiors in 2017. Gail holds degrees in Interior Design, Marketing, Entrepreneurship/Gerontology and is an ASID Allied Member and a Certified Aging in Place Specialist.
Fair Street Interiors