Open any interior design magazine or browse photos of dream homes online and there’s one thing you’ll spy in almost every photo: gleaming hardwood floors. The rich, classic look of hardwood is a must-have design feature of top designers and anyone who wants a home to feel warm, inviting, and beautiful.
So it’s no surprise that at our Adair Homes Design Centers you will find lots of options to add hardwood floors to your home. But what makes one hardwood floor selection better than another? Why are some hardwood floors less expensive than others? And what about wear and tear over time?
Recently our partners at Shaw Floors, the exclusive provider of hardwood floors for all Adair Homes, shared some insights that we’re passing along to you to help you feel like a pro, even if you’ve never selected flooring in your life.
Here is the essential guide.
Hardwood Collections
The first thing many people consider when selecting hardwood floors for their home is color and style. At Adair Homes we offer several different wood options, including:
- Oak
- Maple
- Hickory
- Kupay (also known as Brazilian Cherry)
- Birch
The right flooring for you will depend on the color and style you prefer as well as the budget you are working with.
How is it Made?
Hardwood is made a couple of different ways including both solid hardwood and engineered hardwood. Solid hardwood floors were more common years ago before advancements made engineered floors possible. Engineered floors consist of 3 ply or 5 ply layers that are glued together with a finish coat added on top.
Engineered hardwood floors became popular because they offer several advantages over solid hardwood. First, engineered hardwood is more dimensionally stable with less expansion and contraction in temperature and humidity changes. This means less gaping in the floor that was common in old ¾” solid wood installations.
Another advantage is that unlike solid floors, which are still finished on site in some cases, engineered floors are finished at the manufacturing plant under controlled conditions. This means a better quality finish.
Engineered can be better for the environment, too. Shaw Floors offers a Duras Core product that is still fairly new, but uses 50% fewer trees. That’s because flooring is made in part from “fall off” (limbs and sawdust from the trees) and recycled wood.
When you visit an Adair Homes Design Center you will see that we offer engineered hardwood exclusively. The durability of engineered hardwood means that you’ll still love your floors long after you move into your new home.
Durability
And speaking of loving your floors for years to come, what about durability? After all, as much as we would all love to live in those homes we see in a magazine we know you need a home that can stand up to everyday traffic from people and pets and, well, life.
And that’s where hardwood floors from Shaw Floors really shine. Every hardwood floor we offer (except the Delray collection) comes with ScufResist, a proprietary process developed by Shaw Floors. ScufResist creates a surface that is up to 7x stronger than hardwood floors that do not include it.
Watch the video below to learn more about ScufResist:
Maintenance and Care
So, what about refinishing your engineered hardwood floor? Over the years, refinishing has been a popular way to give old hardwood floors a fresh-as-new look after years of wear and tear. The good news is that engineered hardwood can be refinished if the top layer is at least 2 millimeters thick.
The (even better) news is that Shaw Floors’ proprietary ScufResist process means that less refinishing is needed to keep your floor looking beautiful. (One thing to keep in mind when selecting your floors is that hand-scraped floors cannot be refinished.)
When Should I Upgrade?
Since all engineered hardwood floors (except the Delray Collection) offer ScufResist, what is the benefit of upgrading your hardwood flooring selection?
Here are a few things to consider:
- Premium colors and woods: One reason to upgrade your hardwood flooring is to enjoy a wider selection of colors and woods.
- Premium styles: Another factor to consider is style. Popular hand-scraped flooring or mixed width plank floors are premium options that give your home a more expensive look
- Premium thickness: If you have high traffic areas or anticipate a lot of wear on your hardwood floors you may want to select a thicker hardwood floor for added durability
Can I See Samples?
Absolutely! Our Design Centers are filled with plenty of options that you can see, touch, and compare. In fact, our Design Centers are the best way to begin exploring all of the options for your new custom home. Our Home Ownership Counselors can help you find the right custom home floor plan and then provide ideas for how to customize every room to suit your style.
