Quick Tips for Choosing the Right Timber Flooring for Your Home
If you're looking for a durable and beautiful flooring choice that will enhance the look of your home and provide warmth to the space, you can't go wrong with timber flooring. Timber floors come in a wide range of styles and shades, so you can create an elegant and upscale look or something more rustic and casual in your house. When you're ready to choose timber floors for your house, note a few quick tips that will ensure you're happy with that choice for as long as you own your home.
Colour and tone
Choose a timber species that is close in colour to the shade you want for your floors so you don't need to paint or stain the floors. If you know that you'll want to continuously change the look of the timber over the years, opt for a very light colour, such as oak or pine. It's typically easier to paint over a light colour than it is to cover up a dark shade or tone, so avoid walnut, cherry,and other such dark woods if you're not sure of the colour you'll want for your home's flooring, or if you know you will be repainting them on a regular basis.
Another tip when choosing colour is to factor in the light that's in your home's interior. If you're putting timber floors in a room without many windows, be cautious about choosing a darker shade of wood, as that room might start to look like a cave. On the other hand, timber flooring with a whitewash finish can look overly bright and white in a room with very large windows and lots of sunlight.
Remember the source
Exotic hardwoods can look very nice in your home and may be dense and durable, but note how easily you can source those woods when you need replacement slats. You might consider choosing a native species or one that isn't very rare and expensive or difficult to find so you know you can always change slats on your floor quickly and easily, as needed.
Consider humidity
If your home tends to hold humidity, it's good to invest in a very dense species of timber so that the wood won't absorb that humidity and then cup and bow over time. Humidity can also make some softer species of wood more prone to splitting or cracking. Considering humidity levels can be especially important for upper stories, where heat collects and doesn't allow the wood to dry out as it should.
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