What types of hardwood floors can I choose from?

Several factors come into play when choosing hardwood flooring in Maryland. Some of these factors include color, species, hardness and price range. First, you will have to choose between solid wood flooring and engineered wood flooring:

• Solid wood flooring features one solid piece of wood from top to bottom (no layers).
• Engineered wood flooring features multiple layers of wood, with the top layer being the highest-quality wood.

An engineered wood flooring offers less expanding and contracting than its solid counterpart, but you can’t sand and finish engineered wood flooring as many times as you can with solid.

Additionally, you can also categorize wood by its grade. What type of grade you select will depend on whether you’re interested in a uniform or rustic look. Different wood grades include:

• Clear wood features minimal character marks.
• First Grade wood features limited character marks and some color variation.
• Select wood contains color variation, knots and streaks.
• Common wood contains more knots and color variations than select wood.
• Second Grade wood has some knots and some color variation.
• Third Grade wood features rustic character marks, knots and streaks.

Next, you can decide what style of wood you want, which will determine the width of the wood as well as the way the wood is laid out:

• Strip (or traditional) flooring has a linear design with thin planks.
• Plank flooring has a linear with wide planks.
• Parquet flooring has a non-linear, geometric design.

Other decorative options are available, including staining, painting and borders.

Please contact us today if you’re interested in installing hardwood flooring in Maryland. We install hardwood floors in Maryland cities including Bethesda, MD, Potomac, MD, Silver Spring, MD as well as Washington, DC and nearby areas.