Home Flooring Guide

Solid wood flooring is one of the most intimate, relaxing and yet sophisticated and elegant ways to create atmosphere in a room.  If you install solid wood oak flooring in your living room, you will notice how people naturally gravitate to that room.  Wood has a natural appeal that draws people to it.  It also creates a sense of openness and social times that is unlike any other interior decoration décor.  Small wonder so many restaurants and nightspots use wood flooring to create the right moods in their establishments.

There is a lot of variety in flooring options.  Even within the category of wood flooring, the diversity of types of hardwood flooring   is pretty impressive.  But if you are leaning toward solid oak wood flooring, you will not go wrong with the choice of that "old reliable" wood.  By insisting on oak, you are insisting on quality.  That emphasis on just what you want in oak wood flooring should help you develop some criteria for what to look for when you begin to shop for a supplier of the oak flooring you want.

Quality Costs

The last thing you want to feel when you begin shopping for quality oak flooring is sticker shock.  So its best to be prepared in advance that solid hardwood flooring is one of the more expensive ways to go when investing in wood floors for your home.  There are ways to reduce that cost such as buying hardwood laminate flooring or engineered hardwood floor which is still solid wood but only the outer veneer is genuine oak.  But these compromises will mean you will not be getting solid oak through and through.

This is not to say that a high price tag is a criteria for quality oak wood flooring.  The quality of the price tag should reflect quality construction that includes the history of how the flooring was made. One way to be sure you are getting top quality in your oak wood flooring is to bring your installation expert with you.  If he knows his wood flooring, he will be able to examine the sales sample to determine if the construction meets the standards that you deserve at those high prices.

If you don't have access to a flooring expert, there are ample online resources to give you some pointers on how to examine a flooring sample to look for shoddy workmanship.  The flooring representative should know his flooring so learn the language of flooring and ask the tough questions.  You deserve the right answers before making this kind of investment.

Quality is Demanding

Once the flooring is installed, you should also expect to continue your investment in that high quality oak flooring in the care and maintenance of that floor.  This is just part of owning the best in hardwood flooring.  Your flooring supplier and the installer should be prepared to help you learn how to clean your flooring and how to protect it from harm from dirt, moisture or excessive light.  If you learn well how to take top notch care of your oak wood flooring, you will get top notch performance from it for years to come.

Quality Support and Installation

The trustworthiness of the manufacturer and your local contact when it comes to support both during the sale and afterwards is also important.  Like having a great dealership when you buy a luxury car, that local supplier and the manufacturer should have five star ratings in support from current and previous customers.  Ask for references and learn the history of both businesses.  You want to know they have been around a long time and that they will there to help you with answers and help with your wood flooring a week, a month or even years after the sale.

The installation of your flooring should be just as particular about quality as the flooring itself.  Oak hardwood flooring is top quality product so your installer should be the best in the business.  If the flooring retailer does not employ the finest in flooring installers, seek out the best in town.  It will cost more but the result will be a installation you can depend on.   

By insisting on quality from the construction of the flooring to the people and businesses that you patronize as you invest in hardwood flooring, you are making sure that when that floor is in and you are enjoying the elegance that it brings to your home, you have the inner calm of knowing it was nothing but the best for and for  your family and friends.