Everything You Need to Know About Wood Floors

The appearance of the wood should not dictate the choice of flooring. We expose flooring to physical and chemical factors regularly. The strength of the top layer determines the service life.

The floor significantly affects the character and aesthetics of the premises. But the main criteria for choosing a coating should be:

• resistance to abrasion, scratches, pressure, and moisture;
• anti-slip properties;
• ease of maintenance;
• good heat and sound insulation;
• antistatic properties of the floor;
• the effectiveness of damping sounds and vibration.

Solid wood meets these requirements. The type of room determines the type of flooring and its functional characteristics.

Choice of floor material

The thickness of floorboards, parquet and mosaic strips varies from 8 (mosaic) to 35 mm (boards). Finished floors should be level and not create burdensome thresholds.

Wood species for floor

Traditional types of wood for flooring are pine, larch, oak, ash, beech, and birch. Modern manufacturers use exotic wood species from African countries for production.

The names of such coatings are misleading to the buyer. The Latin name for a wood species is its most reliable distinguishing feature of the breed. Contact your dealer or parquet manufacturer for this information. Suppliers often sell low-grade timber under the guise of noble raw materials. Knowledge on this topic will help you not to overpay.

Criteria for choosing a wood species for a floor

The price of decorative wood is high. The quality of the premium material explains the price. We select goods based on external data.

Tree drawing

It includes annual growths, tree rays, and specific fibre arrangements. Exotic wood has several characteristics that distinguish it from temperate (domestic) wood. Rainforest trees show no noticeable annual growth and are usually heavily coloured. The origin of the batch of wood affects the colour.

Density and hardness of wood

The main advantage of wood is its thickness. Physical and mechanical properties depend on this. The strength and elasticity of wood determine the thickness. The thickness of the parquet must be 600 kg / m3. For coniferous wood, this number should be 500 kg / m3.

The density of some wood species is over 800 kg / m3. They are best suited for corridor floors. Such wood can withstand high loads. Mahogany and padauk are heavy species. Pine and larch are light species. Conifers are not suitable for flooring.

There are 4 classes of wood hardness:

• class A has low wear resistance (pine, larch);
• class B – medium abrasion resistance (birch, teak);
• class C is highly resistant to abrasion (beech, ash, oak, billing, padauk);
• class D has a very high abrasion resistance (gombeira, merbau, kempas, qurbial, ipé).

Dimensional stability

Solid wood is sensitive to air humidity. Wood shrinks from accumulated moisture when it dries. Wood expands when the air contains high water vapour. All types of coatings are subject to dimensional changes in different ways. The sizes of the coatings can vary in different ways. The cutting method of timber affects dimensional stability. It is better to choose coatings with a longitudinal section.

Choose wood according to your home climate. The interior will sparkle with new colours with durable and practical finishes.