Video: Wood and Faux Wood Flooring Options

SAN RAFAEL — Host, Sarah Rutan: If you’re planning to install wood flooring in your home, make sure you know the full spectrum of your options. Today we’re in San Rafael with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Steve Villa of Rafael Floors, Abbey Carpet Center to learn more.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Steve Villa: Wood-like floors are very popular these days. And so, today I want to discuss the various options, of which there are several. And the first and probably the most obvious option is real hardwood floors. With real hardwood there are 2 options. One would be an unfinished wood floor, which we would install, sand, and finish in your house. And the other option would be a prefinished or factory-finished wood floor.

The advantage to a sanded floor, an installed sanded finished floor, is we would be able to give you the smoothest floor available. We would be able to sand out imperfections in both the flooring material and also in the subfloor. In addition to that, with a sanded floor we have the option to fine-tune our stains and create an almost unlimited color palette. And the third benefit to an unfinished or sanded floor is that if you wanted to incorporate borders, or insets, or medallions, a sanded floor lends itself to that type of custom work.

With a prefinished floor, basically, what you see is what you get. But there are some benefits to it. There are many choices and styles in prefinished. You can see some of those here behind me. The main advantage to a prefinished or factory-finished floor is: It does not require sanding. So, as a consequence, you cut down on the mess associated with a sanded floor. It’s a quicker, cleaner installation. The other benefit to a prefinished floor is that the factory finish is more durable than the applied finish that we use with a sanded floor. So, quicker and cleaner finish, and slightly more durable finish.

The second category of floor that I want to discuss today is a laminate floor. Now, a laminate floor is a very durable imitation wood floor. It consists of a melamine wear surface and a melamine backing fused onto a fiberboard core. And under heat and pressure those layers are all fused together. That’s the lamination process. And what you end up with is a floor that is harder and more durable than real hardwood. So, in terms of dent resistance and scratch resistance, a laminate floor might be a good choice. If you have an active lifestyle, if you’re raising kids, if you have pets, a laminate floor’s durability might be a good choice for you to consider.

And the third category of flooring and probably the newest is the floating vinyl plank. It’s also known as luxury vinyl plank. By “floating,” I mean that it clicks together. It is not attached to the subfloor. And it’s similar to a laminate floor. What’s different about it is instead of having a wood core, it’s actually extruded plastic. So, the benefit to that because it’s a plastic product that looks like wood is that it is waterproof. So, if you have concerns about spills or if you’re going to use it in an area like a laundry room, like a bathroom, this might be a good choice for that application.

Host, Sarah Rutan: To learn more from local, top rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified Expert Reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.