The next best thing to wood flooring
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011According to estate agents, solid wood floor comes high on the list of things that middle-class middle-income potential buyers appreciate in a house. Anyone who has invested in authentic wood floorboards or had the good fortune to discover some beneath carpeting upon renovating a new home can attest to this; one of the first things strangers appreciate about the home is a good quality floor. Modern interior design wisdom dictates that carpet is firmly out of fashion for many buyers, while vinyl and laminate are associated with a cheaper finish. Anyone keen to sell a home in Britain would be wise to consider the effect a quality floor has on potential buyers.
However, one well-known drawback to the luxury of a solid wood floor is upkeep; even high quality solid wood boards are susceptible to warping and cracking, as well as suffering rot and expanding in damp or humid conditions. Such possibilities might well put off buyers unwilling to invest money in something famously unstable.
There is, however, a third option for the buyer unconvinced by laminate approximations of wood and unwilling to pay for natural wood floorboards; the space-age solution of engineered floors, which arem ade of multiple thin layers of real wood pressed tightly together to form a dense wooden board. Available in a selection of woods, finish levels and styles from sleek and lacquered to rustic or distressed, engineered wood floors are more affordable and considerably more hard-wearing.