Wood Floor Installation Types

When you think of a wood floor, you’re thinking of the finished result – and so you should.  If you are thinking about them at all, you’re holding a warm, organic, naturally decorative surface in your mind. There is a reason that wood floors have something of a timeless appeal.  There is something about them that fundamentally hits our interior design pleasure center, so to speak.

But, before that timeless look can be achieved, it’s important to figure out not only who is going to install your wood floor (maybe it’s you, maybe it’s a professional depending on your experience),  but what that process will entail.  What kind of wood flooring installation have you got ahead of you?  Well, like many important questions, the answer is ‘it depends’.  On what?, you ask.

toklo-chestnut-lg-01It depends on the kind of wood floor you’ve got in mind.  If you want a solid hardwood floor, you’re going to have to nail it directly to your subfloor.  You say that your space is a concrete slab?  Well, you’ll have to strike solid hardwood off your list. But, then again, there’s always engineered hardwood floors.  Those can be floated (meaning that they’re installed over the subfloor but aren’t attached), or even glued down in some cases.

Speaking of floating and gluing down, bamboo flooring can be installed this way.  Some choices in bamboo can be stapled down as well.   Laminates are strictly floating floors, which makes them pretty versatile.  They also generally feature glueless click systems,  although some installers like to apply glue to the tongue and groove edges for extra hold.  This is true of bamboo and engineered floors too.

So to review:

  • Nail down – solid hardwood (requires a wood subfloor)
  • Glue-down – bamboo and engineered floors
  • staple-down – bamboo
  • floating – engineered and laminate(sometimes with a glued-edge for extra hold).

The great thing about wood floors is that regardless of how you install them, you still get that great look you’ve held in your mind when you first had the idea of putting them into your space.  And these days, there are many choices that help you get the look you want, no matter what kind of subfloor you have.

Cheers,

Rob.

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