On design blogs, hardwood floors tend to all look pretty similar. There are some truly stunning hardwood floors, but they tend to range from light brown to dark brown. Most of them are made from domestic hardwoods that look great when stained. However, every once in awhile, you might come across a floor that truly stands out. One of the most striking colors you’ll likely see is purple. Purple hardwood floors are still fairly rare, but they’re growing in popularity. There are two ways to achieve a purple floor; you can choose purple wood, or you can stain it. Staining hardwood it is fairly straightforward. It’s just a matter of choosing the color of purple you would like. Purple woods are available for hardwood flooring, though.
Hardwood Floor Makes it Easier to Sell Your Home
It is conventional wisdom that hardwood floors will increase the resale value of your home and also make it easier to sell your home. Is that true? While it is difficult to gauge because the housing market is subject to fluctuate and every home sale is subject to dozens of different mitigating factors, it does seem to be true that hardwood floors increase your home’s value. The first factor in the calculations is a return on investment (ROI).
Do Hardwood Planks Need To Be Acclimated?
The amount of moisture in the air is known as humidity. Everywhere you go, the humidity is going to be slightly different. That means that the humidity in the Pacific Northwest is different than the humidity in the Southeast. It also means that the humidity in your house is different than the humidity outside or even in your neighbor’s house. It’s influenced by your HVAC system, your house size, house shape, insulation, and much more.
Penetrating Oil Is Trending For Hardwood Floors
For a long time, penetrating oils were the most popular finish for hardwood floors. Recently, polyurethane has completely overtaken penetrating oil as the preferred hardwood finish. However, penetrating oil is making something of a comeback. There are several reasons for this.
Which Rooms Are Getting Hardwood Floors?
Hardwood floors have long been the preferred floors for certain parts of the house. Hardwood is popular in dens, living rooms, and entrance ways. However, the advent of new hardwood flooring technology has spurred many homeowners to choose new places to implement hardwood. Hardwood is being installed in libraries, home offices, hallways, kitchens, powder rooms, and bedrooms. Each of those new installation locations has some unique difficulties that you need to account for.
Prefinished Hardwood Floors Come With Longer Warranties
Hardwood flooring trends come and go, but the floors themselves don’t. Someone who bought a hardwood floor a decade ago likely still has the same floor. In fact, they might not have even refinished it yet. That’s because hardwood floors are very resilient and last a long time as long as you do some routine upkeep. That means sweeping them and doing a deeper clean occasionally.
Read More Prefinished Hardwood Floors Come With Longer Warranties
Standard Grade Blackbutt Is a New Favorite for Flooring
There are several domestic hardwoods in the United States that are very popular. Hickory and oak are very popular for many customers for many reasons. Some of them who are looking for an exotic wood often look to Brazil and other parts of South America. However, Australia has begun to export more wood to the United States and has been growing in popularity for many homeowners. The reason is that Australian hardwoods tend to be very unique in the United States. If you’re looking for a very distinctive hardwood floor, you would need to look somewhere other than Brazil and South America. Blackbutt is an example of the kind of wood that has grown in popularity.
What Is Blackbutt Hardwood?
Blackbutt is an Australian hardwood that is named for its appearance after a bush fire. After the fire, the buttress is often blackened. Thus, the tree is known as blackbutt. Blackbutt ranks at 2045 on the Janka hardness scale. That means it is harder than most domestic hardwoods but not as hard as some of the very rare South American hardwoods. It is a very durable and strong wood, but it is easy to work with. That makes it a great choice for use as flooring. The durability and strength are the functional reasons for choosing blackbutt.
There is also the aesthetic reason. Blackbutt is usually very light in color. The heartwood is a medium brown. The sapwood is a pale straw color. Due to its color and its composition, it holds stain very well. You can stain blackbutt practically any color you want. It can be stained anywhere from a very light honey color to a deep black.
The Grades
All blackbutt is popular, but standard grade is the most preferred grade at the moment. Australian wood grades are slightly different than the grades used in the United States. Blackbutt is typically ranked as natural grade, Australiana grade, standard grade, and classic grade. Classic grade is the highest grade of wood. It has very few natural features and very few variations. A classic grade board will likely be free of knots, burrs, tracks, and mineral deposits. Natural grade has the most inclusions. It has mineral streaks, insect marks, burrs, gum pockets, surface checking, and knots. This is what an American company might call rustic grade.
Australiana grade and standard grade are sometimes confused. They’re close to being the same thing. Both grades feature more natural features and inclusions than classic grade but are not as rustic as natural grade. Sometimes, a manufacturer might just mix natural grade and classic grade boards into the same batch to call it Australiana.
Questions about any type of new and exotic hardwood? Colorado Hardwood Floors is your Denver hardwood flooring specialist and is ready to help! Just give us a call!
Choosing a Wood Species for your Home-
White Oak-
White oak is a beautiful flooring species. White oak boasts open grain with natural wood character including knots and checks. The rustic features of the white oak can be showcased with specific cuts. White oak is a great option for homes with pets and high traffic. White oak is a great option for homeowners looking for low maintenance flooring.
White oak can be life sawn, quarter sawn and a few other cuts. Different cuts feature different grain patterns and color variations. These specialty cuts are a great way to get a more custom finished product and an ideal look for your home.
Hickory
Hickory is another very common flooring material. Hickory features a tight grain pattern with rich color variations. The natural beauty of this wood is unsurpassed. The color variation can add a lot of depth to the boards and showcases the beauty of the wood wonderfully. When selection hickory you can choose between different grades to achieve a more rustic or more contemporary look. Some of the grades feature more knots and checks while others keep them to a minimum.
Hickory does stand up well to high traffic and pets. It is very durable and requires no additional maintenance steps. Hickory can also be stained so the look can be changed over time.
Ash-
Ash is beautiful unique wood choice for your home. Ash isn’t as common as hickory or oak but offers a lot of rich character and pronounced grain patterns. Ash can contain knots and checks or higher grades can eliminate these. High traffic spaces and homes with pets can be ideal for Ash flooring. The grain pattern can help to mask imperfections. The pronounced grain pattern in ash can add a lot of visual interest to your space and when stained it can be very sleek.
Maple-
Maple is a great choice for homeowners looking for less grain pattern and color variation. Maple has very little color variance and a minimal grain pattern. Maple is a great neutral wood flooring and can be very modern and sleek. Maple is not a great wood to stain so it is commonly left natural. Depending on the grade of maple chosen there may be some knots.
Walnut-
Walnut is another loved flooring species. Maple boosts a warm brown tone and will continue to warm over time. The grain pattern and color variations add a lot of character to walnut flooring. Walnut is best in moderate traffic areas and may not be a good choice for pet owners. The warm brown town that walnut is known for is timelessly beautiful and inviting.
Red Oak-
Red oak has been a top flooring choice for a century. It has a rich grain pattern with mild color variations making it an ideal choice for many people. Longboards can better display the grain pattern and color variations. Red oak is resilient and depending on the finishing technique it can last for years and years to come. Red oak can be stained but some of the more hip stains like white or gray do not work well with the red tone. Red oak is the ideal neutral flooring choice for a timeless and traditional home.
A Few Cost-Saving Ideas For Hardwood Flooring
Hardwood floors have long been the most desired floors that you could choose from. For centuries, hardwood has been used to create long-lasting floors that have stood the test of time in terms of resilience as well as style. However, there’s one thing that can hold back many people from getting the hardwood floor they really want; that’s the price. Hardwood is not the least expensive of all flooring options, especially in the age of synthetic floors. However, there are several things you can do that will keep the price of your hardwood floor low. When you consider the resilience of a hardwood floor, you might even save money. Also, hardwood floors have been shown to increase the value of a property; thus, they’re an investment. So, here’s how you can save money on your hardwood floor.
Multiple Batches of Wood
Hardwood flooring planks are sold in batches; ideally, the batches of wood are from the same tree. They are batched because they are of the same quality, the grain matches, and the color is similar. However, it can be difficult to find a single batch of wood that covers your entire floor. That means that small batches of wood are oftentimes discounted because they’re less useful. If you want to save money on your hardwood floor, you could choose several discounted batches of wood.
The small batches of wood won’t cover your floor, but you can mix and match them to create a multicolored floor. When you are mixing multiple batches of wood, you should actually try to find batches that don’t match at all. If you try to find batches that are similar, it might look like you made a mistake. If, on the other hand, you choose drastically different batches of wood, it will look like a deliberate stylistic decision.
Burn Pile
At construction sites or hardwood flooring manufacturers, there are often piece of wood that are not fit for production. The pile of these discarded pieces is often called the burn pile because they’re going to be discarded. However, many companies don’t actually burn them anymore. Instead, they sell them as factory seconds or factory rejects. If you choose them, you’ll save a considerable amount of money on your wooden planks.
The factory rejects will be have cosmetic problems that are often thought of as flaws but work great if you’re trying to design a rustic look. Some of them will have structural defects that will require you to discard them, but most of them will be usable.
Why It’s So Important to Take a Hardwood Flooring Sample
When you are shopping for hardwood flooring, you need to avail yourself of the hardwood flooring samples. In many places, the sample will even be free. Typically, the sample is a piece of a hardwood plank; it could even be an entire hardwood plank. You should take the plank home with you and recreate all of the common conditions in your home. That means opening the blinds, turning on the lights, smudging it with a thumbprint, and so on. Here is why.
Light Temperature
Light temperature, also called color temperature, is a scientific term that involves measuring the color of light emitting from a theoretical radiator of heat. Essentially, it means the color of different kinds of light. For example, a typical incandescent light bulb is a warm orange color that is about 2700K. A bulb designed to mimic daylight is usually 5600K. However, the color temperature of daylight actually changes depending on the time of day, the cloud cover, and the amount of pollution in the air. So, sunrise and sunset are usually warm colors near 2700K. High noon is closer to about 5600K but it can even be as much as 7000K. The higher the number, the cooler the color.
A 5600K daylight bulb is generally pretty neutral white light. So, you should bring the wood sample home and place it under several different kinds of light. If you open your blinds or curtains regularly, make sure to do that in the morning, during the day, and at sunset. That will tell you how the wood looks under different daylight conditions. Also, turn on your normal lights to see how it looks.
Light Sources
The source of light matters as well. For example, a 5600K fluorescent bulb might emit what looks like white light. However, the undertones of the light are different. A fluorescent bulb has blue undertones; that can make a tan hardwood look greenish. It can also make a reddish hardwood look purple. That’s a good thing to know before you invest in an entire floor.
Decor
You also need to figure out if the wood you choose complements your decor. A lightly colored white oak might look great in the store and might even work great with your furniture, but it might actually clash with lightly colored walls. The white walls could serve to wash out the light floor, making everything look sort of bland. Similarly, a dark wood might not work well with other dark decor; it could make the house look too dark.