How To Buy Wooden Flooring For Less
Fitting wood flooring as part of a home improvement project is extremely popular. Although wood has the ability to uplift the appearance of almost any room, it does come with a price tag that may seem out of reach for some homeowners. Quality wood floorboards will never be a cheap flooring solution; nevertheless there are ways to reduce their cost, as we are about to detail.
Different Types of Wood
Unsuspected buyers are often unaware that wood flooring includes two types of wood and one is significantly more expensive than the other. The traditional and more expensive solution is called solid wood flooring. Solid floors are made from complete wood such as Oak, Walnut, Cherry and so forth. This construction makes the floor extremely strong, but also more expensive.
The alternative is engineered wood flooring. This time the floorboard’s construction is made from wood on the top (on average 6mm layer) that is supported by three to four layers of syntactic material such as Plywood, Softwood and MDF. Another affordable option for engineered wood flooring is Medite Premier MDF, which is made from durable and stable medium-density fibreboard and is suitable for DIY installation.
The result is a floorboard that looks precisely like solid wood flooring i.e. a ‘real wood flooring’ look, but at a more affordable price because less wood is used.
Waste
When calculating the required quantity in sq.m of wood flooring it is important to get the calculation right. This stage is often a contributing factor to waste and extra costs. Measurement should be done using a 10m to 20m tape using two people to ensure that one side of the tape is anchored securely to the floor. The calculation is based on the width x the length to equal the required s.qm of wood flooring.
In example A the required sq.m is 12×8 and in example B the required s.qm is 5×3 together with 10×6.
Fitting The Floors
When budgeting the cost of wood flooring, it is essential to take into account the cost of fitting. This cost includes physical labor cost, but also any related accessories. There are four methods of fitting wood flooring and while three of those methods will cost about the same, the last method can save you a hefty bill. Nail-down, staple-down and glue-down are the traditional methods of installation that are suitable for both solid wood flooring and for engineered wood flooring. Floating installation is the new alternative and only engineered wood flooring supports such method. Floating is also the most DIY friendly methods as it requires no previous experience in fitting floors. A floating floor is a floor that isn’t fixed down to the sub floor (using nails, glue or staples) as it relies on the weight of the floor to keep it in position.
So, if you are looking to fit wood flooring in your home, consider the type of wood, the methods of installation and double check your measurements to keep costs down.
