Avoid These Mistakes When Choosing Timber Flooring

Construction & Contractors Blog

Timber or hardwood flooring is a great choice for any home, as timber has a classic look that can coordinate with an upscale or modern design or with country cottages and farmhouses. Hardwood is also very durable and may hold up better over time than carpeting or tile, while being much more comfortable underfoot than concrete or hard stone.

As durable and attractive as hardwood is, you might note some mistakes to avoid if you're planning on installing timber floors in your home. This will ensure you love the look of your new floors for many years to come.

Replacement slats

You may have your heart set on a rare or expensive species of timber and may have figured its installation costs carefully. However, remember that you might need to replace some timber slats over time, as an individual slat might get chipped or dented or may suffer stains that cannot be cleaned. If you choose a species of timber that is so rare that you cannot easily find replacement slats, you may wind up needing to live with that damaged or stained floorboard! Be sure to consider how easy it is to get replacement slats rather than looking at the installation options and costs for those slats alone.

Width of slats

When choosing the floorboards themselves, don't forget to note their overall width, and not just their colour and tone. Very wide slats have a somewhat rustic look that might not work well in your traditional home, and narrow slats might look better in a modern home, but can also look cluttered in a large room. When shopping for timber floors, be sure you look at lots of photos and note how the flooring slat width affects a floor's appearance, rather than choosing by price or colour of the wood alone.

Dark wood

Dark, rich hardwood floors can make a home seem very elegant, and a wood species such as mahogany or walnut can complement a traditional style of home interior. However, flooring that is overly dark, especially in a large space, can make your home seem like a cave! It's also more difficult to cover a dark wood with a lighter paint if you should eventually want to change the floor's colour. Be careful about getting a dark hardwood, and choose something in a medium or lighter tone that you can paint as needed rather than starting out with a dark floor colour that is difficult to cover once it's installed.

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20 July 2018

Finding the Best Contractors for the Job

Welcome to my blog, my name is Blake and from now on, I will be writing a series of blogs which will deal with the process of finding and working with contractors when constructing a new building. I am not a construction specialist but last summer I gained a lot of experience in this area when I hired a team of 32 contractors to build a holiday home. When hiring contractors, it is important that you understand how to communicate with them and their ways of working. Below are a series of blogs which will help you to find the best contractors.