Finished hardwood flooring keeps growing in popularity. An increasing number of homeowners are deciding that it provides more value and pleasure than other common flooring choices like carpeting and vinyl.
Ralph’s Hardwood Floors has been installing and restoring hardwood flooring for nearly 50 years, so we have a pretty good understanding why more and more people are choosing finished hardwood flooring. In our experience, it’s because of at least one—and many times all—of these four reasons.
Style
Whether it’s elegant or rustic or somewhere in between, finished hardwood flooring exudes stylishness. It’s one of the classiest choices you can make, right up there with other high-end options like natural stone or marble tile.
And the variety of finished hardwood flooring is so great that it provides a perfect opportunity to express your unique personal taste and set the tone for your interior design.
When selecting hardwood flooring to make a stylistic statement, you have a rich palette to choose from. The variables that go into the final appearance include:
- Wood species.
- Color.
- Texture.
- Grain.
- Grade.
- Milling method.
- Stain.
- Finish.
- Length.
- Width.
Whatever style you go for as you make these choices, the result will almost certainly be stylish.
Character
There’s just something about quality hardwood flooring that seems more authentic than most other flooring choices. Maybe it’s because hardwood flooring has been around so much longer than manufactured carpeting and vinyl. Or maybe it’s just something about wood itself. Whatever the reason, hardwood floors unmistakably impart a feeling of naturalness, genuineness, and tradition.
Although many people who love the character of hardwood flooring prefer a rustic look, that’s by no means the only option. Even when the hardwood is selected, stained, and finished for a pristine, smooth, and formal look, it still keeps its time-honored character.
Value
Buying finished hardwood flooring can pay dividends when selling your home. Generally speaking, hardwood floors add to the resale value of homes. At the very least, they make homes more marketable, resulting in less time on the market. Often, hardwood floors can be the factor that makes a buyer select a home over others.
Durability
Finished hardwood flooring, like other hard-surface flooring, lasts a lot longer than carpeting, which usually needs to be replaced about every five years or so. When properly cared for, a hardwood floor can go twice as long before it even needs refinishing.
Perhaps because the recession slowed the housing market and homeowners began thinking about living in their homes longer, there seems to be a move toward more-durable, hard-surface flooring—and because of the beauty, character, and value of finished hardwood flooring, it’s the hard-surface option of choice.
