All About that Wood

One of the first things we knew about our next house-- whether we ended up buying or building-- was that we needed hardwood floors in the living areas. We were spoiled by them in our first house, and they are infinitely easier than other flooring options (in my opinion) to clean and deal with when a problem arises. Even our experiences with tile in living areas has been problematic. That stuff shatters when hit right, and either we are awesomely accurate at dropping kitchen items and optimizing the damage, or we had seriously bad luck, but we have a solid track record of at least two broken tiles per year in our former kitchen.

Here in 2015, the options for wood floors are many. Did we want hardwood or engineered wood? Shiny or matte? Pre-finished or stained on site? Painted? Dark, light, white, gray? Wide or skinny planks, or something in between? Laid traditionally or in some kind of pattern? Heavy or minimal grain? Hand-scraped? Beveled or smooth? And the choices go on. But given my aesthetic, most of these choices were easy. It was really in the breakdown of engineered versus traditional that we wavered for a while.

ENGINEERED HARDWOOD FLOORS: The wood surface is much thinner than in a traditional plank-- it's a veneer. There are multiple layers of material that have been pressed together, and normally the center is plywood although the specifics vary a bit. Due to the thinness of the exterior veneer, engineered hardwood can only be resurfaced a finite number of times (some can only be recoated and not refinished, but many can be refinished a few times if needed) but also its construction makes for less expansion and change due to weather and settling as well as creates an overall harder surface. Engineered hardwood can be low quality, but it can also be very high quality; it depends on the manufacturer.

TRADITIONAL HARDWOOD FLOORS: These are also layered, but the exterior part is much thicker than engineered hardwood and it is sliced from the log. This is just traditional wood flooring and prone to the same problems-- moisture, settling, dings and dents, etc..  It goes without saying that overall wood quality and hardness/ softness varies based on both the tree and the manufacturer.

Ultimately we found that the differences between the two were not nearly as dramatic as some of the other decisions that we're coming up against (see: vinyl versus fiber cement) and that furthermore, both options have great advantages as well as some disadvantages. We wanted pre-finished flooring for multiple reasons, including a more consistent finish that wouldn't depend on dust/ dirt/ hairs and people not walking on them for some time after installation, the durability of factory finish, and of course the cost advantage. So ultimately, this battle came down to our simple preference. We ended up choosing a number of wood flooring options-- both engineered and hardwood-- and looked at them both in pictures and in real life. A hickory hardwood ended up being our clear favorite and the winner, and I cannot wait to see them installed in our house eventually.

First of all, we love that hickory is one of the hardest domestic wood species, which we hope means that it will hold up nicely against the demands of our young and wild family. But most of all, we love the slightly rough but not insanely wavy finish, the darker color of it (it is notably darker in person), and the high variation of tone within that dark finish for a more organic look.

Countertop finishes are up next!