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Oak Hardwood Flooring – Why It’s Still the Best Choice

By: Decorated Life Team |

 

The warmth, texture and allure of hardwood flooring never goes out of fashion and a perfect way to increase your home’s comfort and value. Beautiful wood grains come with unbeatable practicality for years of long lasting wear and tear. When considering hardwood floors, remember that not all wood species are the same.

Weathered Oak Hardwood Floors

Weathered oak flooring from Sand & Sisal

They all have varying degrees of hardness, grain character, and durability.  Oak flooring is always trending because of so many factors.

The floors are California Classics – Mediterranean Collection – French Oak – Color is Khaki. The suspended brass shelves are custom fabricated from Brandino. The hardware is from Restoration Hardware Modern. The island sink is Kohler 24″ x 18 1/4″ x 9 5/16″ under-mount single bowl. Cabinets Color: Gray Huskie by Benjamin Moore.

Source: Home Bunch

It will to remain a strong flooring trend for 2019 and years to come and here is why.

Affordable

Hardwood floors are expensive, especially if you are installing them in a large home. Oak hardwood floors are great value for money without short changing you on quality.

“I call the style of our home “Modern Mountain”, which is appropriate I think for our mountain setting. I chose finishes in keeping with my love of black, white, and wood. I love simplicity in

Source: Home Bunch

Compared to more exotic woods like maple, hickory and black walnut, oak hardwood flooring comes in much cheaper but it is as tough and beautiful as its expensive cousins. This makes oak flooring perfect to increase your home’s curb appeal without over-spending.

Strong and Structurally Stable

Oak is one of the most structurally stable wood products on the market. Characteristics like being naturally resistant to fungus and insect infestation means oak flooring is not prone to degradation. You can expect your oak flooring to have a lifespan of 25-years plus when treated correctly.

Herringbone wood floor

Source: Houzz

Even if you flooring has heavy foot traffic, minor scuffs and scrapes will not be noticeable, and signs of wear won’t surface easily either.

Solid wood flooring is not suitable for areas of high humidity and moisture, and to get around it  manufacturers fit engineered boards with a 100% real oak veneer. That means you can have the look of traditional oak where ever you want.

White Oak Rustic 4mm Wear Layer Engineered Prefinished Flooring

Source: instagram

Low Maintenance

One of the most loved aspects of oak flooring is that its easy to maintain. No matter which finish has been applied to the surface, your wood flooring will always be easy to clean. Most of the time all its needs is a quick sweep and gentle mopping.

oak hardwood flooring

Source: Iowa Girl Eats

Of course, you can always sand and refinish your floor boards if they are ever damaged in some way without replacing your entire flooring.

 Versatile Appearance – Availability

Oak is also popular because of its neutral appearance. That makes rooms with oak flooring easy to decorate because it blends well with many decorating styles.

Red oak floors stained with classic gray

Source: Home Improvement Club

And if you like deeper or rich tones, you can choose stained oak flooring. This will bring out any knots, grains and textures in the wood and make your flooring even more unique and appealing.

Oak flooring is easy to find and is manufactured in many styles, shades and plank sizes and styles.

oak flooring ages well

Source: Coastal Shows

Ages Beautifully

There are some beautiful, affordable alternatives in flooring like laminate, bamboo, carpet, and LVT. They tend not to age well, but manufacturers are making them tougher, stain and UV resistant to mimic hardwood flooring. This is also making them more expensive.

Oak hardwood flooring is timeless, and unlike man made materials becomes more aged, beautiful and full of character. As the years go by, your oak flooring will deepen with rich detail, worn, weathered, classic and timeless and increase the value of a property based on its quality to mature with grace.