Flooring 101: Wood You Know the Difference?

MAY 21, 2009

After square feet, the most important thing in your dream apartment may be what's on the floor.

Your apartment's flooring will always be a selling point. The most expensive choice is a solid hardwood floor. The wood may be solid oak, maple, or cherry, or exotic woods like olive, Brazilian cherry, teak, or wenge wood. Solid wood adds the most value to your home, has lasting beauty and wears well over time.

In newer apartments, the hardwood floor might also be engineered wood (a more complex product consisting of several pieces of thin plywood with a layer of actual wood on top.). This combination can be refinished several times to change or update its appearance. Laminate—plywood or masonite with a thin layer of finished hardwood or a synthetic surface on top—is another "wood" flooring choice—more durable, but it can't be refinished. Parquet is a term for flooring made of small panels of solid wood which are arranged in decorative patterns such as herringbone and geometric mosaics. Imitation parquet flooring tiles are available in laminate or engineered form and glued to the underfoor layer.

If you're doing your own floor renovations, a newly popular, less expensive wood-floor option is bamboo, which is quite durable and comes in a wide variety of colors.

Companies like Pianeta Legno Floors specialize in wood flooring, and sites like CityHammer, The Nest and Apartment Therapy list a full range of flooring resources.

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Flooring 101: Wood You Know the Difference?

MAY 21, 2009

ALSO IN NEW YORK CITY INSIDER

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