Category: type of trees

Plywood is an engineered wood. It’s made up of layers of cross-laminated wood veneer or layers of lumber with a central multi-layered core lumber strip. Engineered means that we added our own mix of science and material design principles to the original wood source to create our own form of “wood” – many people will refer to any manufactured wood product, even fiberboard, as “engineered wood.” Wood veneer over plywood is another type of engineered hardwood. However, wood veneer flooring can refer to fiberboard layered with wood veneer and kraft paper, or it can refer to wood veneer over plywood. Veneer is simply a thin sheet of wood. “Lamina” means a thin sheet or plate. “Laminated construction” implies that layering is a part of the process.

Laminate and engineered flooring are made from layers. Design, construction and manufacturing companies struggle to agree upon distinctions in terms. “Engineered” and “Laminate” define a process, but they are also often used to define material. Unfortunately, the terms are sometimes used to deceive consumers into thinking they’re buying a higher-quality product than they actually are. Make sure you identify the materials and layers of your flooring choice. Laminate flooring uses a printing process (or a sheet of wood veneer), wood chips or/or synthetic materials, along with some glue and heat to give you the look of finished hardwood. It’s similar to using artificial chocolate to create a surprisingly scrumptious chocolate cake.

Laminate flooring comes about 6-9 millimeters thick. The number of layers vary, but it’s usually between four and six layers. The layers generally include a top protective layer, the décor paper or wood veneer layer for the “look” of the hardwood, the baseboard and edging, and a stabilizing layer on the bottom that also works as a moisture barrier. The material used in laminate flooring is not consistent through manufacturers, so make sure you are buying a quality product. Accepted international standards rate A-1 for bedroom use to A-4 for commercial use.

It’s a lot easier to eat a piece of chocolate cake than it is to choose a hardwood floor, but by exploring the layers of hardwood flooring types you’ll better understand your hardwood floor plans. Then you can focus on the more delicious layers of a chocolate cake.

Unless you’re a termite, chocolate cake tastes better than a hardwood floor. But “Hardwood Flooring” describes flooring about as precisely as “Chocolate Cake” can describe the precise ingredients for a chocolate cake. One ingredient is common in every chocolate cake – and that’s chocolate. One ingredient is common in every hardwood floor – and that’s hardwood.

Chocolate cake ingredients can consist of pure chocolate, a mix of chocolates, artificial chocolate, or any one of 100 different percentages of chocolate as a part of the whole chocolate cake. It’s still called a chocolate cake. Hardwood floors can have pure hardwood, a mix of hardwood, a percentage of hardwood, or just look like hardwood. A cake can be one or many layers. A hardwood floor can be one or many layers. The differences will change quality, properties, texture and taste. (In most cases, a cake will always taste better than a floor. But there are always exceptions.)

Solid hardwood flooring is always 100% of one type of timber. Engineered hardwood flooring can be all wood, but it will have different types of timber. Wood veneer flooring has a thin wood layer frosted on top of another wood or non-wood layer. Laminate floors can be wood-laminate or plastic-laminate, and they may or may not contain natural hardwood. Not only do these flooring types contain different concentrations of wood, they are also all manufactured differently.

Solid hardwood floors are cut whole from a trunk of a tree. The wood is dried first, cut and planed down to size, then milled to precision so the strips, pieces or blocks can lock into place.

Engineered hardwood flooring is made from wood layers of (usually) different timbers. It goes through a longer manufacturing process than solid hardwood, and a special drying process tightens the sealed layers to restrict wood movement. Heat and pressure create the seal. Engineered floors with a layered 90-degree composition contribute to the floor’s steadfastness during temperature changes because the layers counteract each other. At temperature changes where solid hardwood floors contract and expand, engineered hardwood floors remain steadfast and true.

Hardwood floors have a natural complexity, yet can bring luxurious simplicty or an intricately patterned design into any room. The long-lasting attributes of hardwood flooring and its ability to conform with the décor and design of any room makes hardwood flooring a flooring choice you can make in confidence. However, once you choose to install a hardwood floor, you have many other decisions to make. One of those decisions is to determine the type of hardwood you will be using for your floor.

Any wood that comes from a broad-leafed tree is considered a hardwood. Softwoods come from needle-bearing trees. Well-known hardwood-bearing trees are maple, oak, ash, hickory, chesnut, cherry, walnut, beech and the beautiful mahogany. There are many other hardwood trees around the world that fall under exotic or tropical hardwood categories, but you can also get the look of exotic finishes on less-expensive local hardwood if you don’t have an unlimited budget. Not all hardwoods are used for floors (ebony is an example) because the price would be exorbitant. If you are environmentally conscious, make sure you choose your hardwood from an environmentally sustainable forest. Characteristics of some hardwood species are unsuitable for flooring.

The grains of hardwood trees are larger than the grains of softwood trees, but each tree will come with its own characteristic grain, knots and pores. No two grains will be identical, because the grain of the tree is determined by the tree’s age, climate, cell structure and numerous other environmental factors. No other home in the world will hold the same grain pattern on its floor as yours. It is customary for retailers to charge more for a grain that is rich and fluid, or plainer and knot-free. Less expensive woods run in between the perfectly fluid and perfectly stark ideals.

Hardwoods will also vary in color – refreshing whites, warm reds, rich red browns, stark black browns, and neutral beiges are all available to fit into the color palette of your decorating scheme. You can also finish and paint a hardwood floor in virtually any color you can think of.

Oak and Maple are the two most popular choices for hardwood floors. Oak is an open-grained darker hardwood, with a strong, wider grain pattern. It does tend to absorb paint slowly. Maple is a light subtly grained hardwood, a good choice when a light, non-obtrusive floor is desired, and it willingly takes in a coat of paint. Maple, Ash and Beech are all lighter colored hardwoods with a close grain– although beech can run from a light red to a darker red. Ash is known to take on an excellent finish.

Walnut has a thicker grain and can carry the rich color of dark chocolate. It will take on a finish well if its large pores are filled. Teak and mahogany are darker colors sometimes used for floors, but are significantly pricier than traditional wood flooring material. Mahogany, walnut and cherry are considered to have medium pores. If you can’t resist the dark, rich colors and patterns of pricier exotic woods, but have to resist their price tag, you can always opt for a similarly colored finish or a less expensive hardwood laminate that has a thin layer of the desired wood affixed on top of less-expensive woods and materials.

Color and grain will help you decide on the type of hardwood you want for your floor. Keep in mind that colors, grains and knots will vary between each hardwood floor piece, even with the same tree species. But the shades, grain patterns and hues will blend together to create a naturally fluid design.

Look at your room’s color palette, furnishings, size and décor, and start comparing colors and grain patterns. By simply deciding if you want a dark wood or light wood you significantly narrow down your choices, and your complex decision can turn out to be satisfyingly simple. Once you choose your tree – your hardwood floor can be designed to be as complex or as simple as you want it to be.