Timber Flooring Vary in Style and Grade

Aside from the various types of timber floor, there are also many variations in style and grade. Timber floors are made up of planks or boards, which individually contains a number of strips. For example, a plank with a three-strip design basically has three thin strips running its entire length and once these are installed, your floor will yield a random strip pattern. There are various thickness of the planks or boards, depending on your particular base requirement. The thickest planks of about 22 mm is suitable as structural floorboards that are laid on joists. The thinnest variation of about 7 to 15 mm are used as overlay to a pre-existing even and dry floor.



The finish or coating applied to timber floors is also graded. The smooth, even and knot-free timber are considered as superior or first-grade planks. You will also find timber with lower grades, which are called “natural” or “rustic” type. These are typically timber floors that have a natural look to them, like you got them straight from the forest and into your floor. It is very important that prior to ordering your floor, study the sample of the plank that you chose. Pay close attention to the strips, color, grade and finish. The trend, nowadays, is the preference of darker colors and reclaimed flooring over pale and narrow ones. Oak is almost always the most popular, most likely because of its color, not too dark nor light. It also complements beautifully any color scheme or  home décor theme. Really wide planks for as wide as 76 cm in some timber, are highly in demand as well. Many planks with “smoked” finish or with many marks on them are also finding its way into many homes. It seems that markings on wood is considered very attractive for it gives the wood a very rich character. For laminates  with textured surfaces or  in particular, with grooves shaped like a V in the long and short ends of the planks are also very popular. These characteristics look very realistic as opposed to smooth and even ones.



In choosing your timber floor, it is not just your aesthetic preference that you should consider, but also its suitability as to your particular use. Timber floors installed upstairs tend to amplify the noise made by your footsteps so you need to place some rugs that will mute the sound. A better solution will be to use insulation, which you could inquire from your installers. Timber flooring from reclaimed wood is very durable and suited to almost all living quarters, but it is not a fitting choice for your kitchen and bathrooms. Where there is water, the possibility of seepage is high, causing discoloration and the swelling of your planks. The same applies to engineered wood flooring and laminates. 



Timber flooring is an environment-friendly option for as long as the timber is sourced from sustainable forests. You can check from your timber merchants as to their supplier and sources, making sure that these are from renewable forests. You do not want your timber to be illegally logged from designated natural reserves or preserved parks.