Top Flooring Choices for Every Room: Part 2

Dining, living, and family rooms are the main gathering places of the home. Since you and your guests likely spend a lot of time in these rooms, a lot will be asked of your flooring in both style and durability. Let's take a look at two popular hardwood flooring options that meet the needs of these spaces well: prefinished and engineered.
 
Furniture feet, pet claws, and lots of foot traffic are just some of the abuse your dining, living, and family rooms endure almost daily. Despite its greater potential for damage from scratches and moisture, hardwood still takes the cake for one of the most popular floor coverings for these spaces. There’s a reason real estate ads mention wood floors too. Hardwood adds timeless value and aesthetic appeal to your home. While hardwood isn’t the most durable flooring, there are some hardwood options that can help you get the most out of your wood floors.
 
When it comes to solid hardwood, prefinished has a hand up over unfinished wood flooring. Prefinished hardwood is sanded and stained in factory, and the factory stain and finish comes with a warranty you won’t get with unfinished hardwood. Factory-applied finishes are also significantly tougher-wearing than what a contractor would likely apply. When you have prefinished hardwood installed, you can go back to walking on your floors shortly after installation. Unfinished hardwood takes a sufficient amount of time to dry before you can get back to your regular routine.
 
Engineered wood floors have a veneer of finished wood attached to the substrate, but it has all the beautiful wood looks of solid hardwood with some advantages. Engineered hardwood is often cheaper than solid wood flooring. Because of this, exotic wood species such as Brazilian walnut or tiger wood are often more affordable. These woods also make a good choice because they are more durable than oak or maple. Although all wood is effected by moisture, engineered wood floors are less susceptible to seasonal shrinking and swelling. In addition, engineered wood floors are more flexible in that they can be installed directly over concrete sub floors and even sometimes over existing flooring.
 
Dining, living and family rooms take a lot of foot traffic, spills, and scratches, but also are the most seen and used parts of the home. Hardwood is still a popular choice for these spaces for its timeless look and the value it adds to the home. Prefinished hardwood floors are a more durable choice than unfinished wood, but engineered wood floors are a more affordable and durable wood flooring option.