Attracting Buyers with Wood Floors: Adding Beauty and Value to Your Home

If you were looking to sell your home, why would you bother to go to the hassle and expense of installing a hardwood floor?

Well, consider how prevalent wood floors are in new houses. The new house market is full of freshly built homes with modern hardwood floors instead of carpeting. This reflects the trend to long lasting flooring and healthier home environments. Wood floors don't out-gas chemicals to the air in your home or hold dust mites, pet hair, or mildew. Wood floors hold their value better than other types of flooring and they're made from renewable resources.

There are two types of wood floors that you can choose from, engineered or solid wood. Solid wood planks are one continuous piece of wood the whole thickness of the flooring. Due to the nature of wood grain, solid wood planks cannot be used in areas prone to dampness like below-grade rooms or bathrooms. Engineered flooring has thin slices of wood layered and glued together to make a strong sandwich of wood that resists warping due to moisture. As a result of this strength, engineered floors can be used in below-grade rooms.

Both engineered and solid wood floors can be purchased as either unfinished or pre-finished. Unfinished wood floors require staining if you're looking to change the colour of the wood, sanding, and finishing with a sealant. This is a big dusty job and the biggest reason why it's preferable to install a pre-finished wood floor if you are renovating. Pre-finished flooring of either type is cheaper and easier to install because once the flooring is in you can move back into the room right away. Each strip of flooring comes with multiple coats of finish applied in a controlled factory environment.

There are three main styles of wood floors to pick from as well, parquet flooring and the more popular plank and strip flooring. Parquet flooring is composed of wood tiles made of pieces of wood that form a pattern. This results in a geometric design much like a quilt pattern. The more commonly seen plank and strip floors are composed of long pieces of wood usually running all in the same direction across a floor. Plank flooring is wider, usually three to eight inches wide, whereas strip flooring is made up of strips that are three inches or less in width but can be glued together to make a wider piece for ease of installation.

With the myriad of colours and styles available it is easy to add a beautiful wood floor to any decor. Whether your home style is country or classical, there is a wood flooring that can boost your home's appeal to buyers.

Mike Andruff leads one of the topfirms in the Vancouver real estate industry. To find homes for sale in South Vancouver, be sure to visit Mike and his team at VancouverPropertyFinder.com.