Shopping for hardwoods is such a fun process! There are (nearly) endless options when you take into consideration all of the elements that make up a wood floor like stain color, board width, floor texturing (like hand scraped or wire-brushed), and the various finishes/gloss levels.

Today we’re excited to break down each of these hardwood elements to help you pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for!

Lets start with the basics. Solid vs. Engineered.

Solid hardwood is one solid piece of ¾” wood milled with a tongue and groove.

Engineered hardwood has layers of wood stacked in a cross-grain configuration and topped with a thinner piece of solid hardwood.

Should I choose solid or engineered?

The purpose of the different core in engineered hardwood is for dimensional stability. Whether on a tree or in plank form, hardwood has the tendency to expand and contract with moisture differences.

Both solid and engineered hardwood come in a variety of species, stain colors, and styles. Engineered hardwood is available in wide planks than solid hardwood due to the dimensional stability of the core.

Both solid and engineered hardwood are beautiful and can increase the value of your home. The maintenance on both solid and engineered is the same depending on the finish.

Due to the dimensional stability of the core, engineered hardwood is a better choice when wanting anything wider than a 3 ¼” plank. Solid hardwood is a great choice when you are trying to match up with existing floor height or love the look of a narrower planked hardwood.

Solid hardwood can only be nailed down above grade, meaning over a crawl space, over a basement, or upstairs. Engineered hardwood can be nailed, floated or glued, and can handle area with higher moisture, such as basements or concrete subfloors.

Species

Species is another vital piece to the flooring puzzle that will determine durability as well as the look of your floor. All wood is rated on the Janka Scale, which is the rating scale used to compare the relative hardness of various types of wood. The Janka Hardness Test measures the force required to drive an 11.28mm steel ball into the wood until half the diameter of the ball is embedded in the wood. No steel ball? Just try the scale below!

Species also effects the way the floor looks, for example hickory and oak both have a heavy grain pattern, where a floor made of maple or birch have a much smoother grain pattern.

Stain color

The floors we sell are predominantly pre-finished, meaning the stain and finish have already been applied in the factory. Most all manufacturers have multiple collections of flooring that come in a variety of stain colors.

Stain colors can vary from natural to as dark as a black stain - and there is every shade in-between!

Board Width

Board widths are a trend in flooring that have changed throughout the decades. We started with the thin strip hardwood 2 1/4” wide, to the 3 1/4” wide, to the 5” wide plank that was popular about 10 years ago. Now we’re seeing predominantly wide planks around 7” wide to be our most popular plank width.

Another popular style of flooring is a mixed-width flooring, where a variety of plank widths are installed in an alternating pattern. This is a great way to add a bit more character to your floor.

Floor Texturing

Another element of the floor that adds some added character is floor texturing. The two main types of floor texturing are hand scraped and wire brushed.

Hand scraped is when either by machine or by hand the floor is made to look old or somewhat distressed, often by the use of chisels, hammers, saw blades, chains and more.

Wire brushing is where the top layer of the softer wood is removed with a wire brush to give it a unique texture. This form of texturing is very po

The Finish

There are a variety of hardwood flooring finishes on the market. Floors with a urethane finish tend to have a medium to high gloss level, and floors finished with an oil finish or a UV cured oil finish tend to look very matte as if there were no finish applied to it at all and it is just raw wood.

Final Thoughts

We’re honored to be your local hardwood flooring experts. So, if you have any further questions about hardwood flooring we would love to talk to you! You can email us at flooring417@gmail.com, give us a call at (417) 883-4720, or visit our showroom at 2516 W Battlefield Rd in Springfield, MO.

We offer free in home estimates and design consultations, you can get set up for an appointment here. We also post weekly rug sales, new arrivals, design inspiration, completed job site photos and more on our social media platforms, so be sure to follow us where you can!

Want to see more hardwood photos? See our entire hardwood gallery here.