When it comes to flooring, nothing can add value to your home like hardwood flooring. Why? Hardwood simply offers a natural appearance that no other flooring option can truly replicate. Hyland Carpet One Floor & Home in Sudbury, Ontario, is your local hardwood expert, as we offer a great selection of high-quality styles and brands. Our flooring professionals are your local hardwood experts and are here to help you find the best hardwood floor for your home. We offer hardwood in a variety of styles, colours, planks sizes, and more. Hardwood flooring not only adds real estate value to your home, but is also easy to clean, durable, and long-lasting when cared for.

Solid vs. Engineered Hardwood

When most homeowners consider hardwood flooring, they think about solid hardwood. Solid wood is a time-tested flooring option that can add value to your home for years. But there is a more durable alternative to solid wood floor panels: engineered hardwood. Engineered wood planks look identical to solid wood at the surface, but they have special construction to better handle moisture and foot traffic.

What Is Solid Hardwood Flooring?

Solid hardwood is the traditional wood flooring option. Solid planks have a uniform construction, as they are made from a single piece of premium hardwood, such as natural oak, hickory, birch, maple, mahogany, and more. Typically, solid hardwood planks are 3/4" to 1" thick. This is thick enough that you can sand down the surface when it gets worn out and refinish them. Once scratches, dents, and blemishes are eliminated from the wood’s surface, you can add a new finish in a colour you like for long-lasting beauty and protection. Since solid wood floors can be reborn through this process multiple times through the years, this type of floor is designed to last for the life of your home.

The drawback to solid wood is that it’s more likely to warp in humid or extra-dry conditions. Wood is naturally porous and will swell in moisture-prone settings. Likewise, extra dry air and cold weather will cause the planks to shrink and gap. For the most part, you should only install solid wood floors on or above grade, and in rooms that are dry and free of any potential plumbing issues. You should also try to maintain your indoor temperature and humidity levels to keep the planks looking and performing their best.

What Is Engineered Hardwood Flooring?

What makes engineered hardwood flooring different is its special construction. Engineered planks are made from multiple layers of composite wood that are cross-directionally laminated together with a top layer of authentic hardwood. Given this layered construction, engineered planks are less likely to expand or contract. Unlike solid wood, you can install this flooring option on any level of your home, including the basement. It can handle foot traffic and moisture better than solid wood, but you should still avoid installing in high-moisture settings like the bathroom. In these areas, we recommend luxury vinyl, waterproof laminate, or tile.

You may not be able to refinish your engineered hardwood floors. This all depends on how thick the hardwood veneer is. Higher quality engineered planks have a thicker veneer that can be refinished just as many times as their solid wood counterparts. Other engineered products can only be refinished once or twice.

What is Cork Flooring?

For our environmentally conscious customers, check out our cork flooring collection. It is harvested from the bark of cork oak trees. Cork flooring has gained a lot of popularity recently because of its durability, beauty, green qualities, and other characteristics. What once was hidden and used only as an underlayment for other floorings, is now being used on its own and recognized for its unique features. Cork flooring is under the hardwood category because it is harvested from a tree, but it also falls under the resilient flooring category as well. Cork flooring can “bounce” back after being compressed, so you do not have to worry about furniture leaving imprints. It is naturally resistant to mold, mildew as well as termites and is anti-microbial.

Cork also is a natural insulator from temperature and sound, making your room warmer and quieter than if you want with another flooring option. Cork is also versatile in terms of style. You can choose from planks and tiles that come in different sizes and colours. Unlike a luxury vinyl floor, the cork’s pattern runs through the thickness of the floor and retains its look as it wears. Another plus is the manufacturing process for cork flooring generates almost no waste. Cork flooring is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cork stoppers for wine bottles. The residuals from the stopper production are collected and ground finely. Binders are then added to hold the ground cork together.

Where Can Hardwood Be Installed?

Hardwood flooring is suitable for home settings where there isn't significant moisture, meaning you should avoid installing hardwood in bathrooms, laundry rooms, and basements. Engineered hardwood is designed to handle a lot of foot traffic and some levels of moisture. We recommend installing hardwood in areas of your home like bedrooms, living rooms, home offices, and even in areas like hallways, stairs, and children’s playrooms.

Our Hardwood Selection

We offer many different hardwood options as part of our selection. We even have other types of wood flooring such as cork flooring. As your locally owned and operated flooring store, Hyland Carpet One is a member of the Carpet One cooperative. This gives us the buying power of 1,000 stores for us to compete against the big box stores. We offer Carpet One Floor & Home exclusive brands including Rustic River™ Hardwood and Nature's Walk. Come talk to our experts in our showroom or start browsing our hardwood flooring selection online now.

	Hardwood Installation   Installing hardwood is not always the easiest DIY project. That is why we offer professional installation of our hardwood floors. We can help prep your home and floors before installation so you can get the full enjoyment out of your new hardwood.     LEARN MORE
Hardwood Flooring Warranties Learn more about the warranties we carry for our hardwood flooring selection.     LEARN MORE