Wood Flooring Maintenance - Refinishing and Replacing

As years pass by, flooring can become dull or boring in appearance and in some cases damaged. Quite a few external forces can harm a floor, such as water damage or high traffic areas that have lost their finish.

Deciding to actually invest money into your homes flooring is just half of the battle. After you have decided to do something about it, you will still continue to decide to either refinish it or to completely replace it altogether.

Several older homes have great old flooring that can be sanded, restored and sealed over and over again. This kind of flooring gives a unique patina only found in lumber that has been worn out through time. As you may be able to possibly bring an old floor back to its original glory, the majority of old homes have fix issue's that have to be addressed first.

After decades of changing seasons, a home will "settle" as well as the building joists can start to sag ever so slightly. As a home settles the wood floor may eventually begin to show cracks or signs of warping. Home in this condition can make repairing the wood floor quite challenging.

Once a home has had all of its underlying concerns and issues corrected the floor can then be refinished. In some instances, it cannot be refinished more than a couple of times. Engineered flooring is comprised of multiple layers of wood that are attached together. Once the top layer of wood is sanded away the underlying wood plies becomes exposed, basically destroying the wood.

A popular alternative material is oak engineered wood flooring. Oak engineered wood flooring not only provides unmatched beauty, but also offers durability under extreme conditions. Selecting an engineered wood floor over solid planks will not only save a lot of money on installation costs, but oak engineered flooring will last several decades before needing to be replaced again.

If you have actually thought about changing or refinishing your homes wood floor yourself, you may want to think again. Floor refinishing requires hours of back breaking effort. From all of the various refinishing tools needed, to the time needed to planning the repair, floor repair is a lot of work!

Research first before you buy! With all of the resources online you can easily be familiar with all of the top manufacturers and all of the different types of products available. Once you are done with your research and have located a type of wood floor that you really want you can begin looking for a local flooring contractor to order the wood floor and install it for you.

Installing and refinishing wood floors is the primary home improvement. Newly refinished floors not only add worth to the property, but will also provide a unique atmosphere specific to your homes vision. The best home improvement you can make to your home!