What Is Solid Wood

Solid wood floors are as the description suggests a piece of flooring cut from a single piece of wood and usually has a tongue and groove on all four sides of the board they will be either unfinished allowing you to apply your own finish or pre-finished with a lacquer or oil.

Solid wood floors can either be fully glued to the floor or nailed down with a porta-nailer which drives a nail through the groove at an angle into a wooden sub floor or batten. Solid wood floors can be sanded and resealed numerous times over the years, so you can keep the appearance of your floor looking immaculate. Solid wood floors can last up to a hundred years or more.

The elegance of a hardwood floor adds character to any room in a home or work place. The natural characteristics of wood add a dimension to the room that many try to duplicate but because each floor is of natures own making it is unique and as such never replicated. With the demand for hardwood flooring growing manufacturer’s are increasing their product ranges with better quality finishes though the choice of wood in the UK is mainly Oak.
Hardwood floors come in a species, colours, widths and thickness. Besides the classic hardwoods (like red oak, white oak, maple and ash) many manufacturers now offer exotic hardwood species from all over the World and are increasingly trying to ensure that the wood is sourced from sustainable forestry. Exotic hardwoods give you the chance to install woods with deep rich colours that provide you with an end result that will be the envy of your friends.

All solid wood floors will react to the presence of moisture so it is important to ensure that you guard against moisture ingress and follow the installation instructions. In the winter months when you almost constantly have your central heating on the flooring will begin to lose moisture which causes contraction of the wood which create gaps between the planks. Then in the summer months the humidity rises and the wood expands closing the gaps. This is simply nature at work on one of its own products, and it is because of this that important when installing a solid wood floor to leave the proper expansion area around the perimeter and to acclimatise the wood prior to installation. However, if there is too much moisture it may cause the wood planks to cup, or buckle.