Hardwood flooring provides insulation, cozy ambiance

Dear Jim: I have always like the warm feeling and beauty of hardwood floors, but I wonder if it really is an earth-friendly material. What type of hardwood is best for durability and that warm feeling? – Patti R.

Dear Patti: I recently visited a hardwood logging team and found it to be environmentally friendly. Each mature tree was handpicked and only a few were cut per acre. Today there are 90 percent more hardwood trees than 100 years ago. Even the logging equipment which removes trees from the forest is designed with special tires to minimize damage to plants and animals.

Hardwood flooring does produce a warm feeling unlike other flooring materials. This is due to its millions of tiny insulating pores and its appearance. Most wood used for flooring will have a similar insulation value. The natural look of real wood creates a warm, cozy ambiance.

Most types of hardwood flooring perform well, but there are differences in the durability. Durability is often defined by the hardness of the wood surface and its stability. Hardness will affect how well the hardwood flooring stands up to foot traffic and impacts (something heavy dropped).

Stability refers to how the plank size and shape changes with varying room temperatures and indoor humidity levels. If you heat all winter and air-condition all summer, stability is less important. When you like to open windows whenever possible as I do, stability should be a consideration.

If you are concerned about using earth-friendly materials and are on a tight budget, consider using engineered hardwood flooring. It has a thick hardwood veneer (so it can be refinished) on top of several plies of other wood. This makes it stable and it looks identical to solid hardwood flooring.

Be cautious when selecting the specific type of wood. Just knowing it is an oak or a maple is not enough. The properties of various species within each general type of wood can vary significantly. Some beautiful flooring is made from pine reclaimed from beams in old Kentucky distillers. This type of pine is hard. It is cut into veneer and made into engineered flooring.

If you are going to do the installation yourself, you might consider using a floating floor. This uses tongue-and-groove hardwood planks which are attached to each other, but not to the subflooring. Also consider using hardwood planks or strips with beveled edges to hide some imperfections.

Some hardwood flooring manufacturers offer beautiful ornate patterns as trim, a border or a centerpiece. Select ones that create the pattern using woods of different natural colors. If the wood is instead stained to create the colors, you may have a problem refinishing it someday.

Write for (instantly download – www.dulley.com) Update Bulletin No. 462 – buyer’s guide of solid-engineered hardwood flooring manufacturers, wood types, sizes, patterns, hardness-stability-finishes selector guides, and floating floor details. Include $3 and a business-size SASE, and send to James Dulley, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244.