The Benefits of Real Wood Flooring

Lacking the standardised manufacturing patterns, real wood flooring is as unique as every individual tree, bringing an air or originality and authenticity to your flooring. As it ages, real wood matures and changes slightly, each stage bringing its own uniqueness. 
When buying your flooring, you are faced with two choices; solid wood or engineered wood, both of these have their own unique benefits. Engineered wood is, as the name suggests, manufactured; this is done by pressing together several thin layers of hardwood. The uniformity of this type of flooring provides good stability and is especially suitable if you are considering, or already have, under floor heating. Because they are less susceptible to shrinkage, engineered wood can be bought in larger widths than natural wood. 
The downside of engineered wood is really just that it is engineered and does not look entirely natural. Whilst it certainly has a more natural look than some of the alternatives, it really can’t beat the real thing, aesthetically. If you are buying solid wood, then hardwoods offer the more hard wearing option, with oak and walnut being two of the more popular woods. Depending on the size of your room, darker woods work better with larger rooms but can make smaller rooms appear even smaller than they actually are, so, for these rooms, you may want to consider a lighter coloured wood. Don’t forget to look for sustainable certification if you want future generations to benefit from natural wood too. 
Although natural wood can be used in any room; if you are putting it in the kitchen or bathroom, where it is likely to come into contact with liquids, then you need to ensure that it sealed adequately. 
Wherever you fit your real wood flooring though, even if it is sealed, you should mop up any spillage immediately, if possible, as natural wood is highly porous and can easily stain if not protected properly. Over the years of course, this can actually add to the character of a floor, but leaving a spillage, hoping that it will work out that way, may prove to be an irretrievable gamble that does not pay off. 

In the event of excessive stains, or if you simply want a change, there is no need to rip up the flooring and buy anew. You can simply sand down the top surface of the flooring and re-varnish in a different shade. Real wood flooring, of course, does not come especially cheap, but it will last for a very long time, and the additional warmth and pleasure it will bring to your home is surely worth the few extra pennies that it will cost.