Engineered Oak Flooring

When you decide to do the remodelling you always end up whit the dilemma about which flooring to use. Hardwood flooring sure does look great and is very durable, but it is also very expensive. You can not lay it yourself, so you need professional installers. On the other hand laminate is pretty cheap, but then again, laminate is not real wood. Sometimes it feels like you are walking on plastic and you can't help to feel that thin layer of laminate under your feet.

The solution that is somewhere in between is engineered wood flooring. Engineered wood is real wood, not some wood substitute. You can choose from several types of wood, from maple to bamboo, but my personal favourite is engineered oak flooring. Traditional red oak is affordable and at the same time it looks absolutely great. The hickory is a good choice as well.

Engineered oak flooring is easy to install, because the wood is pre-finished. This means it is already sanded and sealed so you can start using it immediately after it is installed. What's great about it is the fact that you can actually repair if it gets scratched, which is something you can forget about with laminate flooring. Sure, the amount of times you can re-sand it is limited to up to three occasions, but with these three times of repairing option, you are probably looking at thirty years of not having to install new flooring.

You can use engineered oak flooring in almost all areas of your house, but be careful about the moist. Engineered wood is not overly sensitive about it, but all wood type flooring are better off in dry rooms. So use it in the kitchen and don't worry about occasional spills, but rather go for tiles in the bathroom.

Unlike the hardwood floor, you don't have to nail the engineered oak down. There are three options for the installation of engineered oak flooring you can use:

• Nail down

You should nail down the thin 3/8" floor. It is just to thin to be stable enough without being nailed down.

• Glue

The 1/2" is thick enough for the glue to give it full stability. Make sure you buy quality glue for this type of installation.

• Floating floor

The 5/8" planks can be left floating as they are thick enough. Floating floor means that the planks are attached to each other, but are not glued, nor nailed down to the sub-floor.

No matter which plank thickness you use, you can be sure your floor will be very durable and stable. You don't have to worry about placing the heavy pieces of furniture on it. Even your heavy leather corner sofa will not damage the floor at all.

If you are looking for a more affordable type of flooring, you should consider laminate flooring. Laminate floors are not only cheap, but are also more durable than you would expect, not to mention how easy they are to install. They are also quite versatile and some laminates can even be installed in bathrooms.

To save even more money, you should definitely look for a laminate flooring sale. You can get some pieces even fifty percent off, so this way you can get an amazing deal.