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Interestingly, most people are unaware of the many choices for hardwood flooring, which includes prefinished hardwood flooring. The key with any floor is to choose the look and quality that matches your particular needs. However, with any type of flooring, you want to ensure the installation is done appropriately for both appearance and functionality.
First, we suggest when looking at prefinished hardwood flooring that you choose the thickest wear layer possible. Typically, engineered hardwood flooring has a one-eighth inch thickness or more, which means a strong and durable floor. As long as the floor has a good subfloor, the hardwood could easily be refinished two, possibly three times. Keep in mind that when you refinish floors, you sand out some of the color and richness. For this reason, a prefinished hardwood floor is a popular choice in that you avoid the hassle of finishing. Major differences between an unfinished and prefinished floor are as follows: Unfinished Hardwood Flooring In this case, the floor could be solid or engineered but in either case, the wood would be installed and then finished on site. As you can imagine, putting unfinished floors in an existing home would cause a tremendous amount of dust contamination. In fact, the sanding process can take days to weeks, depending on the size of the floor, the type of wood, stain used, and the topcoat finish. Once the wood flooring is sanded and stained, it would then need time to cure. The benefit is that the hardwood would last a lifetime if cared for properly. The cost of unfinished hardwood flooring ranges between $2 and $4 a square foot. Typically, this price would include three different sanding processes and three different coats of finish. However, you would likely pay more for the prep work, moldings, and installation. Of course, the price would go up if you were to choose a more expensive type of wood. For prefinished hardwood flooring, you would have three choices to include engineered, solid, and acrylic impregnated. Over the past several years, the prefinished type of flooring has become extremely popular. The finish on the wood coming directly from the factory is strong and durable, much more so than unfinished wood. Best of all, prefinished hardwood flooring eliminates the mess of dust from sanding during the installation process and the price is very comparable.
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Wood Flooring by Type