Tips For Choosing Hardwood Flooring

With the growing popularity of hardwood flooring, new options are emerging in 2013 that offer choices in addition to the tradition blond or brunette woodfinishing. Some home designers are choosing unfinished flooring and staining it with vast array of modern color choices. In some Minnetonka full house makeovers white hardwood floors are becoming a popular trend. Interior home design therapist Liz Sprenger offers clients choices from checkerboard patterns for a summer home's cottage-style look or darker colors for more formal rooms.

99 Percent Of Realtors Say Hardwood Floors Help Sell A Home Faster

With such high demand for hardwood, some hardwood floor suppliers had a record year for sales in 2012. An astonishing 99 percent of real estate agents responding to the national 2012 survey conducted by the National Wood Flooring Association agreed that homes with hardwood floors are easier to sell. The survey also found that 82 percent believe that homes with hardwood floors sell faster and 90 percent said they would sell for more money.

Hardwood Flooring Sales Increased Three Consecutive Years

Despite a slowdown in the overall economy, home remodeling involving hard surface flooring, continued to make inroads in the U.S. floor coverings market in 2012, according to Catalina Research results. Ending the fourth quarter, hard surface flooring is estimated to have accounted for 48.5 percent of total dollar sales and 44.5 percent of total square foot sales. This is up from 47.0 percent and 43.0 percent, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2011, as noted by Catalina. Manufacturer hard surface flooring sales are estimated to have increased by 6.6 percent in dollars and 5.3 percent in square feet over this period.

American Made Hardwood

American made hardwoods for flooring remain a good option and sound investment for most houses. Besides supporting our own economy and providing jobs for American citizens, there is a wide selection of hardwood species available on home ground that make exquisite and durable hardwood floors.

"Hardwood floors are environmentally friendly, forever fashionable, and will last for generations. Plus, with an expected life span of up to 100 years for certain premium hardwood flooring, you can be assured that that the hardwood really is a one-time investment with a very long-term payoff." ~ Pembroke Jacobs, president of the Hardwood Manufacturers Association

"Twin Cities residential Realtors that I talk with agree that homes with hardwood floors hold their value better, sell homes quicker and fetch higher prices. When buyers have a selection, having hardwood floors may well make the difference between selling your home or watching a potential buyer turn around and purchase a home that does." ~ Butch Sprenger

Name Brands Of Hardwood Flooring

Talk to your builder about different types that are best suited for each part of the house.

It can make a difference which brand is purchased for an exotic hardwood floor choice in Minneapolis home improvement projects. Most raw material for exotic hardwood floors are sourced from Brazilian forests, although some are found in Peru and other South American countries. IndusParquet, Nature, and Scandian are all well established companies and brands that offer choices in hardwood flooring, and are often given access to the best raw materials. and are able to produce flooring quickly and efficiently. A more durable floor is best for high traffic front home entrances and in hallways than in a room that does not get as much traffic. Medium colored finishes work best in kitchen areas. Make sure you find out how scratch resistant the wood is and how easy or difficult it is to repair. In rooms, such as bathrooms, make sure you choose a hardwood flooring which is resistant to moisture. Exports of hardwood coming into the U.S. are closely monitored in accordance with sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act, for companies not investigated, we apply an ``all-others'' rate, which is normally calculated by weighting the subsidy rates of the individual companies selected as respondents by those companies' exports of the subject merchandise to the United States.

Types Of Hardwood Flooring Used In Home Renovations

Used when building nearly all Twin Cities luxury homes, adding hardwood floors during a home renovation lays a foundation to a room with warmth, sophistication, comfort, and class:

Solid - works of art are achieved by advanced manufacturing techniques that produce today's solid wood floors. Smooth solid wood floors are often chosen for a museum-like perfection or the high-end grace of a formal dining room. After a hardwood floor has been installed, you will not be able to tell the difference between the solid and the engineered versions since both are made from the same real hardwood species

Engineered - hardwood flooring which is comprised of three or more thin sheets of wood that are laminated on top of one another to create a more dense plank that is more stable and impervious to changes in moisture or temperature. They are often installed effectively on top of any other type of flooring by being nailed, stapled, glued or floated in place.

Hardscaped - Hardscaped hardwood floors can be a high ticket item that is an extremely attractive option. Hardscaped hardwood floors are distressed by hand in a factory to create the look of older wood, and would fit in well with a country-style decor or in a cabin. Despite having the look of distressed wood, hardscaped floors have the same tough finishes available for all modern floors, making them more durable than real distressed or that found in reclaimed wood flooring. Each plank has a different appearance and level of distress, requires a highly trained eye arranging the planks in a visually pleasing pattern when installed.

Click lock - A click together flooring that consists of hand-scraped hardwood that can easily create a vintage or "distressed" look to a home that will hold up well and be stunning for years.

Laminate - a look-alike hardwood alternative. When budget or lifestyle render the beauty of a true hardwood floors out of reach, new laminates are an alternative that mimics hardwood styles.

Vinyl plank floors - are similar to laminate in that they are not real wood, however they are one option if seeking only a "look-alike".

Benefits of Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood Flooring Is Cleaner & Hypo-allergenic

Homeowners who opt for hardwood flooring gain more benefits than just its stunning natural look and unique grain features but also the cleanliness. This can be a particularly helpful in families where a member or frequent homes guests have allergies. The alternative of carpeted floors can actually house more dirt, pet hair and mold (if dampness in a basement is a problem) if not taken care routinely and properly. A hardwood floor is hypo-allergenic.

Dings And Dents Only Beautify It

Followers of home design trends may recall back in the 1990’s, when reclaiming floors from older commercial buildings was a big hit. Today distressed floors remain of the top of many trend lists. The character of hardwood floors comes from all the scars from use, nail homes, gouges and scrapes along the way, and are regarded as part of the beauty and history of the wood.

Painted Hardwood Flooring

With the growing popularity of hardwood flooring, new options are emerging in 2013 that offer choices in addition to the tradition blond or brunette woodfinishing. Some home designers are choosing unfinished flooring and stain it with vast array of modern color choices. In some Minnetonka full house makeovers, white hardwood floors are becoming a popular trend. Interior home design therapist, Liz Sprenger, offers clients choices from checkerboard patterns for a summer home's cottage-style look or darker colors for more formal rooms.

Installing a Heated Hardwood Floor

Minneapolis area homeowners welcome products designed to retrofit a radiant heating system into almost any wood frame structure. A skilled home builder is familiar with how to open the floor joists from below, installing the correct tubing, securing it in place, and making sure heat transfers and lower water temperature can be adjusted by the homeowner. If you're in a cold climate and want heat, you are going to love this.

Premium Hardwood Flooring Costs

Jim Gould, president of The Floor Covering Institute, commented March 4th after returning from a show in Germany: "Compare today's floor coverings to those of 20 years ago. The improvements are impressive. I am excited and concerned when hard work, money and commitment to excellence made by our industry leaders are often boiled down to the lowest price per square foot". Value for premium hardwood flooring comes with a corresponding cost.

Current Lumber Composite Price

Home builders are renovating more home with exotic hardwood than ever

	Random Lengths Composite Price	CME Futures Price
March 8	$423	$395.0
March 1	$416	$378.0
Feb 22	$408	$395.5

Minnetonka home makeovers, whether they start from a homeowners dreams or a broken pipe, can result in becoming the home you may want to live a lifetime in. Call Destiny Homes at 952-934-5706 and ask for Butch or Liz Sprenger for your personal free consultation.

Butch and Liz Sprenger, owners of Destiny Homes Remodeling And Renovation Services Home page: www.destiny-homes.com. Service the entire Twin Cites Metro, from our main office in Deephaven, MN working as home Remodeler and owner of Destiny Homes.