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You have questions, we have answers. Explore the most frequently asked questions about solid wood flooring below. Need assistance or want to know more? Contact Carlisle or call 800-595-9663 today to get all your inquiries answered.
Since solid wood floors are a highly popular feature for buyers considering a new home, installing new hardwood flooring may add significant value to a home. By some estimates, new hardwood floors may add up to 2.5% to the sale price,[1] though many realtors believe hardwood floors will add 6 to 10% or more.[2]
In addition to increasing the value of the home, solid wood floors add a timeless and natural beauty to any room, which is why they are so prized by homeowners. Wood floors offer excellent durability and can be expected to last for decades – solid wood can be sanded and refinished multiple times, adding years to the life of the floor. Since trees are a renewable resource, wood floors are considered an eco-friendly choice. Hardwood flooring is a highly versatile surface that can support a wide range of decors from traditional to contemporary. Hardwood floors are easy to maintain and better for people with allergies, since wood will not trap dust and allergens as carpets do.
Explore and select from our gallery of our most popular finishes, specially categorized by the personalities and traits of the floor designs.
ExploreSleeping and vacuuming wood floors regularly will remove dust, dirt and debris that can cause scratches. Lightly mopping a wood floor with a solution of vinegar and water (1 or 2 ounces of vinegar to 2 gallons of water) is an effective and eco-friendly way to remove more stubborn grime.
When considering what type of floors to install in a home to increase its value, luxury wood flooring is an excellent option. Luxury floors are made with finer materials, greater care and with an eye toward design. These services include wide plank floors, reclaimed hardwood floors, parquet floors and floors that are distressed or textured to achieve an older or antique appearance.
While laminate, luxury vinyl and tile floors have been trending in recent years, hardwood floors continue to dominate the flooring market. When installing hardwood floors, homeowners are increasingly interested in engineered wood floors in addition to solid wood flooring.
The floorboards of an engineered wood floor look and feel like solid wood, but they are made of a veneer of hardwood that’s glued to multiple layers of backing material such as plywood, high-density fiberboard or Baltic Birch, with the grain running in different directions for each layer. This construction provides a more stable core that is less likely to expand or contract with larger changes or higher levels of moisture and humidity. Consequently, engineered wood flooring is less prone to warping, shrinking and cracking.
Engineered wood floors are not necessarily more prone to scratches than solid wood floors. It’s rather the type of hardwood used to make an engineered or solid floor that determines how easily a floor is scratched. Floors made of Cherry or Walnut, which are softer hardwoods, will scratch more easily than floors made of much harder woods like Hickory and Maple.
Wide plank wood floors are made with floorboards that are 5” to 20” wide and up to 16’ long. In contrast to standard commercial flooring – which may be only 3” wide and 4’ long – a wide plank floor has far fewer seams, making the surface less “busy” and adding a sense of spaciousness to the room. Wider planks also allow the natural beauty and personality of the wood to be appreciated more fully.
Because wide plank floorboards must be harvested from older trees and require more labor to produce, wide plank floors are more costly than standard hardwood flooring.
A wide plank floor makes a room look and feel more spacious. Installing wide planks on a diagonal can further increase the sense of space in a room.
Reclaimed floors are made with floorboards cut from timbers that have been salvaged from old buildings like factories, barns, warehouses or homes. The wood in a reclaimed floor will have an aged and worn appearance, along with nail holes, saw marks, splits, cracks, wormholes and discoloration that adds a unique character to the surface.
In a parquet floor, the floorboards are arranged in a pattern rather than being laid out side-by-side in parallel lines. Herringbone, Chevron and Versailles patterns are quite common, but homeowners are free to choose any pattern or to create their own. Patterned floors add a sense of elegance and sophistication to the home and inevitably become a major design element of any room.
Distressed or textured hardwood flooring is treated with a variety of techniques to make new floorboards appear as if they have been lived on and walked on for generations. Hand-scraping edges is a popular distressing technique where craftsmen smooth the edges of the floorboard, just as woodworkers did a century ago as they prepared boards for installation by hand. Another popular technique involves wearing away the softer grains in a floorboard with a wire brush to re-create the look of a floor that has been gently worn by time and foot traffic.
Carlisle Wide Plank Floors offers a wide array of flooring options, including solid and engineered wide plank floors, patterned floors, textured floors and reclaimed hardwood flooring. Our expert design consultants work with each homeowner to help choose the type of hardwood or Pine and the grade of wood, along with the ideal width of the planks and the stain color and finish for each surface.
