No matter your interior design sense or individual taste, chances are you’ve considered installing wooden floors at some point. But the idea can be daunting, with a large variety of options available and several considerations to be made. Where can we use wooden flooring? Laminated flowing, engineered wood flooring or solid wood flooring? Will it work with my under-floor heating? What about moisture? How do we keep it clean? And of course, do I need to re-mortgage to afford installing wood flooring?

Hopefully you’ll find the answers to some of these questions here, and you’ll discover that wooden flooring is more accessible than you think. With on-going wood flooring sales there are always bargains to be found but remember quality is very important. People consider wooden flooring for a number of reasons. It may be the elegance and refinement it brings it a room or perhaps its hard wearing properties. Wooden flooring is an environmentally friendly, renewable, non-allergenic product and one that can provide a particularly satisfactory return for the investment with an appreciable rise in the value of your home.

Let’s take a look at the decision making process that is involved in choosing the right product. You’ll need to determine what is essential for you.

Laminate flooring is a hard wearing synthetic product constructed from MDF board. This is topped with a photographic representation of wood and a layer of hard wearing melamine resin. Have a look at this laminate flooring sale to get an idea of the range of options for finishes.

Engineered wood flooring achieves a similar finish to solid timber flooring. It is manufactured from layers of wood bonded together and topped with a real wood veneer. It is an extremely durable product appropriate for both home and industrial settings. It can handle high foot traffic, copes better with humidity and moisture, is easier to install for the DIY man, and is appropriate for all those places where solid just won’t work.
Solid flooring has its place, but it doesn’t handle moisture well and is not appropriate for rooms with under-floor heating. So that’s a no go on cellars, basements, conservatories and bathrooms. Added to this it’s the most expensive, so your budget will play a big part in your decision.

While wooden flooring is tough, you’ll still need to look after it. Resist the urge to wax the floor or use conditioners and ammonia-based cleaners. Don’t use steel wool on the floor, and never use a wet mop or pour water directly on the floor. Enquire about the correct maintenance products from your supplier.

All types of wood flooring are environmentally friendly, typically coming from renewable and sustained resources. Some are even sourced from recycled wood. Your choice of finish should reflect the mood and atmosphere that the room is trying to embody. Lighter woods promote airy rooms with a spacious feel. Darker woods are more luxurious, comforting and rich.When choosing between a range of woods including oak, walnut, cherry, ash, beach and jatoba it is important to think carefully about how the flooring will affect the feel of the room. Each has its own unique characteristics, grain and colour, making this choice pivotal in obtaining the right finish. Bear in mind one of the charms of wooden flooring is that, much like it would in nature, it will change and shape over time, constantly evolving as it’s exposed to sunlight and natural wear and tear.

Whichever option you go for, wooden flooring will provide a hard wearing, enduring and easy to maintain finish to a room. Above all, it looks great, and goes with anything. Unlike other flooring solutions, wood flooring becomes more charming with time, deepening and growing in character as the years passed by.

Remember to keep an eye out for wooden flooring sales, whether you are looking online or on the high street, bargains are a plenty.