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If you are a home owner considering redesigning your home or you just bought a house that needs new floors, then hardwood flooring is definitely a good choice. There are some hardwood basics you need to know about. The best case for installing hardwood flooring can be classified in three ways: profound sheer beauty, excellent strength and pure durability.

You can be sure that genuine hardwood flooring will add significant beauty and quality to the value of your home. A hardwood floored house possesses the rich look and smooth feel that can never be possible with any other flooring material. Unlike the other flooring materials, the value of your Hardwood floor if maintained properly increases with time. And it will be amazing to see your house value increase tremendously just because you installed wood floors.

In hardwood flooring there are two types, the solid hardwood and engineered hardwood. Solid hardwood flooring is a single piece of a 100 percent solid wood that is easily sanded and refinished. It is a 100 percent Wood product. On the other hand engineered hardwood flooring is a higher-performance product made by bonding several wood layers with the featured species showing distinct designs. Numerous, but not all engineered wood floors can be refinished.

To begin with you must think like a designer as you have options to choose the colors and textures of the hardwood. Hardwood colors range from cooling yellows, to warm reds, to neutral umbers or naturals. Most hardwood floors will change color overtime, so you can select your own color according to your taste and match it with your home. The show off of your floor will depend on the lighting system in your home. You can choose low gloss, satin gloss or high gloss as finishing touches.

Some hardwood floors come in rustic, hand- scraped or smooth tailored contemporary styles. You can use hardwood flooring styles throughout your house to get that special magnificent style. The surface texture and the natural designs on the hardwood will definitely add to the decor of your House. It is desirable to use solid wood at or above ground level so that you can avoid damages occurring due to moisture. Engineered wood can be utilized virtually anywhere, even over concrete.

So now you have the facts, selecting hardwood as your flooring will add magnificent beauty to your house while providing a true sense of increased value to all that visit your welcoming home.

Tags: 57 by Jerry
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Are you considering a home improvement project? Is seems that time of the year when everyone is working on some home improvement project or another. These projects can range from a fresh coat of paint to major change. One of the surest ways of improving the look of your home is through the use of hardwood floors. There is such a variety of hardwood floors that there is bound to be an option that fits every budget.

A number of the older homes have hardwood floors under the carpeting. Wall to wall carpeting covered many hardwood floors in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Carpeting was considered more energy efficient as well as more comfortable than hardwood floors.

The trend is now to restore hardwood floors in older homes and to install this flooring option in newer homes. Part of the trend of going back to hardwood floors started with the research that links carpeting to allergies to dust, mold and other particles that can get trapped in carpets. When you have hardwood floors it is much easier to get rid of these allergy causing culprits. In the past people also considered blemishes in hardwood floors a reason to cover them up, today these blemishes are seen as part of the natural beauty of hardwood floors. The natural blemishes are what distinguish the natural hardwood floors from the products that resemble wood.

Many of the new homes that are going with hardwood floors are installing heated flooring. This is popular in geographical areas that experience cold winters. The heating elements are installed under the hardwood floors. Some of the heat is electric and others get their heat through a hot water system. This can be a very nice option in bedroom areas, so that you do not step out of bed onto a cold floor. It also reduces your energy costs.

The installation of hardwood floors adds usefulness to the home. When carpeting is used its color usually dictates the color scheme for the room. With hardwood floors the color scheme can be changed by the use of area rugs. It is much more suitable and cheaper to replace an area carpet than wall to wall carpeting.

Many of the laminate flooring options that are available are a less costly alternative to hardwood floors. The higher quality laminates look like wood and are more resistant to scratch marks. The installation system used in laminate flooring allows you to place it over the existing floor. This helps save time and expense. Many people find that they can follow the step by step instructions and install the flooring themselves.

Another alternative to saving cost on hardwood floors is to purchase flooring that has been removed during a changing project. Remodeling contractors often have materials for sale that they remove from homes that they are working on. The contractor will often sell the materials rather than having to pay for their disposal. This allows for the recycling of hardwood floors from one home to another.

Tags: 57 by Jerry
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These are some of my best tips if you need to know how to clean your hardwood floors and how to best take care of them and not damage them in the process. These will help you whether you have hardwood floors now or plan to get them soon, either by DIY (doing-it-yourself) or by installing using a hardwood floor contractor.

It doesn’t matter what type of hardwood you have – exotic, oak, maple, cherry, Brazilian cherry, etc., to remove surface dirt, vacuuming is the easiest and best way to start. If pollutants are sticking to the surface, such as smoke, you can remove them by rubbing the surface carefully with a slightly wet cloth. You can dampen the cloth with water or use commercial furniture cleaner but make sure to test a corner of the wood with the product you’ll be using so that you don’t damage it.

Commercial cleaners are generally water-based. They usually contain degreasers besides the cleansers. These are used for hardwood floors and for wood furniture and are usually safe for people but use gloves to protect your hands. And be careful about breathing any fumes that are emitted from the hardwood floor cleaners. Use good ventilation too.

If your cleaner is oil-based it will be flammable. If you choose to use the oil-based cleaner, after you finish, be sure to soak the rags in water and put them outside in a fire-proof container such as metal, away from your house and any wooden structure.

Try not to use any hardwood floor cleaners that contain silicone. The silicone will give a smooth finish but you will not be able to refinish the hardwood floor in the future even if the original coating is stripped off. Also lemon oil cleaners should not be used because they show fingerprints and the shine will have a smudged appearance. But worst of all these cleaners usually contain kerosene which will hurt most finishes and exposure to it is not good for your health.

When wood furniture is exposed to ultraviolet rays from sunlight it will become damaged as time goes by and the same is true for hardwood floors. To avoid this you can tint the windows to stop the UV rays from shining on the flooring.

If your floors need waxing just a thin coat of wax is best. If you put on a coat that is too thick it won’t dry evenly. This will leave a finish that is spotty.

When you wax your hardwood floors, a hard, waterproof wax is usually recommended. Waterproof wax will prevent the white ring problem. If you’ve ever placed a water pail or other container on a hardwood floor and it left a white ring, it’s because the water or moisture penetrated below the wax and it actually breaks the bond with the hardwood surface. Waterproof wax will prevent this from happening.

You only want to wax hardwood floors once a year or so. Make sure to apply just a little bit of wax because a buildup of wax is messy and difficult to remove. You want to choose a paste wax instead of a liquid wax because it will contain more wax.

With these tips you will know what to do to help preserve your hardwood floors and most importantly what to avoid so you won’t damage them. There are still other tips that you can use to help preserve your flooring or help you decide what flooring to get whether you already have hardwood floors or are thinking about putting in hardwood floors yourself or through a hardwood floor contractor.

Tags: 57 by Jerry
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