Hardwood Flooring Types

With a little basic understanding about the different types of wood floors you can be better prepared and more confident in your selection. Wood flooring is produced in both solid and engineered planks and strips and come in a wide variety of wood species. To help determine which type of floor will work best for your situation depends upon the location within your and the type of subfloor.

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Solid Wood Floor Solid Wood Floor

 Solid wood floors are one solid piece of wood and are generally 3/4″ thick. Mohawk Solid Hardwood Floors are produced from the finest domestic and exotic hardwoods including red & white oak, American cherry, hickory, maple, and Brazilian cherry, and are available in several widths. Because solid hardwood floors are more susceptible to humidity and temperature changes than engineered wood floors they should only be installed above grade over approved wooden subfloors and must be nailed or stapled down. Solid wood floors can generally be recoated and refinished several times.

Engineered Wood Floor Engineered Wood Floor

 These floors are produced by laminating several hardwood plies together to form the planks. Most engineered floors can be glued-down, stapled-down or floated over a variety of subfloors including wood, dry concrete slabs and some types of existing flooring. Engineered hardwood floors have cross-ply construction which reduces the expansion/contraction of planks caused by variations in humidity and allows these floors to be installed on any level in the home. Available in plank and longstrip format, Mohawk Engineered Hardwood Floors come in a wide variety of widths, thicknesses and colors in both North American and Exotic hardwoods.

Exotic Wood Species

Today wood flooring is also offered in a variety of hardwood species that are not found in North America. Mohawk Hardwood Flooring Collections include some of the finest exotic hardwoods from all over the world. These floors offer many unique and visually striking appearances that are distinctly different from the North American hardwoods. Many of these exotic species are photosensitive and may change color over time. Please refer to sample panels for the level of photosensitivity of each product.

Prefinished Versus Unfinished

Unfinished floors require several days to install, stain and finish the flooring. Prefinished floors are less messy and can be installed and completed the same day. A factory-applied finish like Mohawk’s exclusive Scotchgard™ or CrystalShield™ finish with aluminum oxide is extremely durable and could not be duplicated with a job-site finish.

Wood