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You still can get good old wood, which is known
in the trade as solid wood. But the category has
grown to include flooring products referred to as
engineered wood and pre-finished flooring. I'll
talk about each type here. No matter which one you
choose, it's hard to go wrong with a wood floor
in a kitchen. The cost is moderate, and a wood floor
is a resale plus. |
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| SOLID WOODS |
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Solid means the same piece of wood, and nothing but that wood, for the entire thickness of the floorboard. A typical wood floorboard is 3⁄4 in. thick and 21⁄2 in. wide, with a tongue-and-groove profile to make it interlock. Red and white oak still rule, together comprising more than 90% of all of the solid hardwood flooring installed nowadays. But plenty of other species are well suited to kitchen flooring, such as ash, maple, beech and cherry. The Hardwood Council has a terrific Web site that illustrates all the readily available North American species of hardwood.
Then again, if you live in an older home
with wood floors, they might not be
hardwood at all. Many older homes
have wide-plank pine floors, which
you may want to choose if you’re
creating a vintage look. Here in Connecticut,
white-pine plank flooring up to 12
in. wide costs £3 per sq. ft.
Beyond regular sweeping and vacuuming,
the floor’s finish dictates
maintenance specifics. A practical
choice for this hard traveled floor
is multiple coats of a water-based
urethane finish. A solid-wood floor
can last the life of the structure. |
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Oak feels right in an
Arts and Crafts home.
Flat-sawn red-oak floors
and quarter sawn red oak
cabinets are a timeless
combination. |
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| PREFINISHED |
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| Pre finished means that a multistep
surface finishing program was completed
prior to the flooring’s trip to
the retailer. The finish on Harris-Tarkett's
engineered flooring, for example, is
an acrylic urethane formulation containing
aluminium granules, which have been
added to toughen the finish. Mohawk
Corporation adds ceramic material to
strengthen its finish. The technology
is 'no kidding' rocket science. Even
if the drawbacks discourage you, take
advantage of manufacturers' Web sites,
as well as that of the National Wood
Flooring Association. |
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Prefinished solid wood. hard and softwoods
with a tung-oil finish. From the top,
antique oak, heart pine, maple, white oak
and antique chestnut. |
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| ENGINEERED |
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| Engineered wood flooring is a laminated product with three to five layers. The top layer is clear, top-quality wood (photo right). It represents a growing percentage of the flooring market, and it often is sold prefinished. Every major manufacturer has several product offerings, combining different features, price points and warranties. Engineered wood is more dimensionally stable than solid wood. So if your kitchen is in a potentially damp location, such as a room below grade, consider using engineered instead of solid-wood flooring. Some engineered-flooring products are impregnated with acrylic. When dyes are added, the results are rousing. PermaGrain Products makes its Timeless 3 series in juicy colors. It should be ordered with PenThane (urethane) finish, or it will water-spot. The product cannot be refinished. |
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| Your room is ready now. Prefinished engineered lumber goes down in a hurry and doesn’t require the messy steps of sanding and applying multiple layers of finish. |
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(Image Left) A sandwich works fine in a kitchen.
Engineered flooring is composed of a sandwich of thin layers of wood laminated together. |
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| PROS |
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CONS |
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Warmth, beauty, relatively comfortable underfoot, enormous range of species and price, good resale value, new finishes require less maintenance, can be refinished many times (solid), dimensional stability (engineered), speed of installation, immediate use of room (prefinished) |
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Finish maintenance required, subject to dents, expands/contracts with humidity (solid), limited choice of stain colors/sheens (prefinished), no overall finish coat applied to “seal” seams (prefinished), limited number of refinishings (engineered) |
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