Wood Flooring Guide With Bob Vila

Wood Floors: All You Need To Know

(CBS)  Wood flooring is a popular choice for many reasons. Wood floors don't
harbor dust, bacteria or dust mites the way that carpet can. Wood floors come in natural styles, are durable and, when properly sealed and finished, can be cleaned with a wet mop.

Woods such as oak, cherry or fir don't dent as easily as pine, and most gouges can be restained to hide the damage. Hardwood floors can be left their natural color or given a stain, ranging from light (blond) to dark (cherry). Simulated wood products, such as laminates, look like wood but are made of synthetics that don't scratch or dent as easily as the real thing. Yet, they offer the same eye appeal as wood, including the grain that defines hard woods. These synthetic floors are particularly well-suited to high traffic areas like kitchens and mud rooms.

The following are a few wood flooring options and examples Bob Vila will use on our show:

Traditional Unfinished Wood

Standard unfinished hardwood flooring is the most common and least expensive option. It can always be found in stock, it's easy to work with and easy to repair, and if properly maintained, it will last a lifetime. Labor is involved since the unfinished wood needs to be sanded and stained.

Example: Unfinished oak wood strip.

Pre-Finished Wood

Pre-finished wood floors offer some key benefits: longer finish warranties, uniform stain application, and a cleaner indoor environment. Unlike standard wood flooring, pre-finished floors arrive on location stained and sanded. Once installed, they require no additional finish work. There is no dust and clean-up time or cost due to sanding, and no harmful fumes trapped in the home from the application of stains.

Examples: VersaLock Glueless Hardwood from Shaw Industries in Brazilian Cherry, Amber Oak and Maple Natural. These products are all 1/2" looks. There are two samples of each so Bob can demonstrate how the tongue is inserted into the groove for a
seamless, glue-free finish.

Reclaimed Lumber

Antique Heart Pine has become rare with a steadily diminishing supply. Old-growth longleaf pine, the tree from which Antique Heart Pine comes, is virtually extinct. Today, two sources of antique are timbers reclaimed from old buildings or logs recovered from river bottoms. Note: Most antique woods are pine.

There are four primary differences between antique pine and new heart pine that influence consumers when choosing a wood. Those are color, hardness/durability, cost, and environmental impact. And although Antique Heart Pine starts out a yellow color when it is first milled, it turns red after exposure to natural light. The high resin content enables the wood to turn the rich tone without using chemicals to attain these hues.

Expect a difference in price when there is a difference in a product. Antique woods can cost nearly double what new heart pine costs and for good reasons.

Examples: Reclaimed 16" wide heart pine slab and a wide heart cypress board. Courtesy of Goodwin Heart Pine.

Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo is a very environmentally friendly natural construction material. Bamboo is a grass rather than a wood. Bamboo grows so fast, (about 24" the first 24 hours), bamboo shoots are harvested in three to five years. Quality bamboo flooring is usually 25 percent harder than Northern Red Oak and more dimensionally stable, which means floors are less likely to cup or bow as the moisture content of a room changes from season to season.

Examples: 3 5/8" or 6" 3/8" wide, three ply, 100% bamboo flooring. Green World Imports.

Laminate Flooring

Laminates are made for living. Where hardwood floors are forever being protected from sand and spills and muddy pets, laminates are
made to handle the battle of daily life. Laminate flooring material is showing up in many different forms and applications. Hallways, foyers and family rooms, bathrooms and kitchens are ideal for the material. It is durable, easily maintained and relatively inexpensive.

Examples: Weathered Heirloom Collection from Formica.

Reproductions of rustic 8" by 48" hardwood and pine planks.

Each plank is textured by saw marks, grooves and knots and is finished with a clear wear layer that requires no scrubbing, waxing or polishing.

Ceramix Collection from Formica.

Designs include realistic tile patterns

Grouted tile formats: 12" x 12" squares and random size blocks. Both are sold as 12" x 48" planks

Laminate Installation: Most laminate flooring systems are floating, which means they do not fasten to the subfloor with nails or glue. Rather, they use an interlocking system that is glued or snapped together. The new floor "floats" above the existing floor.

For more from Bob Vila, go to his Web site.