Are you looking to make your home more eco-friendly? Consider installing green flooring! Eco-friendly flooring is a great way to enhance your home’s interior while helping the environment. Contrary to what you may think, green flooring is actually very beautiful and can add elegance to your home. You don’t have to sacrifice style to be eco-friendly when it comes to your floors! Let Elegant Floor Service install new green flooring in your home so you can experience the beauty of eco-friendly floors!

About Green Flooring

So what exactly is green flooring? For a type of flooring to qualify as green, the way it is harvested must be sustainable. So the tree must be fast-growing to keep up with demand for the wood. This way, when the wood is collected to make flooring, more of these kinds of trees will regrow quickly to replace the ones that were harvested. This is a much more sustainable way to create flooring for your home. Instead of cutting down big trees that have taken hundreds of years to grow, trees that make up green flooring will regrow almost as quickly as they are cut down.

Benefits of Green Flooring

Green flooring has a wide variety of benefits – even some you can’t get with traditional wood flooring! Green flooring is:

• Eco-friendly (as the name suggests!)

• More durable than many types of wood

• Available in a variety of colors

• Attractive

• Easy to install

Green flooring is a great option for both new homebuilders and homeowners looking to renovate. No matter what stage your home is in, green flooring can make it stand out from the rest. You’ll love your new flooring for both its beauty and sustainability!

Bamboo Flooring

A popular type of green flooring is bamboo. Bamboo grows very quickly and comes in variety of colors and varying levels of hardness. In fact, bamboo can grow around 40 inches in 24 hours in optimal conditions! Your bamboo flooring will be customized to your home – you can choose different colors and textures to find the one that matches perfectly with your space. You will also have the opportunity to choose between solid and woven strand bamboo flooring, whichever best fits your home! Bamboo flooring can also be less expensive than other flooring options – so you really can’t lose with bamboo!

Green Flooring from Elegant Floor Service

If you’re ready to see the difference green flooring can make in your home, contact Elegant Floor Service. We can help you choose the best green flooring for your home and install it with as little disruption to your home as possible. We directly employ all of our flooring technicians, and we never use sub-contractors. We’ll even bring samples of our green flooring to your home so you can see exactly how it will look in your space! We’ve been meeting the green flooring needs of customers in the Maryland, Northern Virginia and Washington, DC area since 1987, so you can rest assured you are dealing with a reputable company you can trust. If you ever need repair or maintenance service later down the road, we offer that too – in short, you can come to us with all your green flooring needs! Contact us for green flooring today!

Are you getting ready to install wood floors in your home?  Do you have old wood flooring you want to replace?  You may want to consider exotic wood floors!  Exotic wood flooring has a number of advantages that make it a great choice for any style of home – or office!  If you’re in the Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia area, call Elegant Floor Service for exotic wood floor installation and transform your space from ordinary to extraordinary.

More on Exotic Wood Floors

Are you looking for wood floors that are a little more interesting and can add a unique look to any room? Exotic wood flooring may be exactly what you need.  Strong and hardy, exotic wood woods – mostly from South America, Africa and Asia – have become a popular flooring option in both homes and offices across the U.S.

Ranging in colors from dark red and deep orange to beautiful shades of brown, exotic wood is not only attractive but versatile as well – each exotic wood has specific characteristics that make it suitable for all particular types of environments (for example, Brazilian Cherry is one of the hardest types of woods in the world, making it highly resistant to denting).

Types of exotic hardwood – you have a wide variety of choices when it comes to exotic wood flooring!  Brazilian Cherry (a very popular choice), Australian Cypress, African Blackwood, Dominican Mahogany and White Limba are just a few.

Benefits of Exotic Wood Flooring

The benefits of exotic hardwood flooring are numerous and include:

•    Durability – many exotic wood floors are extremely durable, some lasting up to 100 years!  The color lasts for a long time, remaining as beautiful as it was the day you installed the floors.

•    Little maintenance – certain types of exotic wood flooring can look great for years without much maintenance.  All that is required is a little vacuuming and rubdown with a professional recommended cleaning solution – there is no special care.

•    Comfort – exotic wood flooring is warmer on the feet since it’s a natural insulator – some floors, like laminate, tend to be cold on the feet.  Exotic wood flooring is perfect for those who hate walking around bare foot on cold floors on chilly winter mornings!

•    Value – due to its durability and visual appeal, exotic wood flooring can add value to your home, so if you’re thinking about selling your house sometime down the road, installing exotic hardwood floors can be beneficial.

When it comes to maintenance and care for your exotic wood floors, there is not whole a lot required, and cleaning tips are basically the same as for cleaning domestic wood floors.  Important ones include:

•    Never wax floors with a urethane finish

•    Never use ammonia, dust cleaners or other floor cleaners – only use the cleaning product recommended by the flooring company that installed your floors

•    Avoid spills as much as you possibly can – hardwood floors don’t handle moisture as well as stone floors

Whether installed in a sophisticated, elegant living room, a cozy, intimate kitchen or an inviting and beautiful foyer, exotic wood flooring can add distinction to any room and achieve the effect you want.  If you want exotic wood floors in your home or office in the Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia area, contact Elegant Floor Service today!

If you are looking for a new floor for your home, you want a type of wood that is durable and will last for years to come! So what is the most durable wood flooring? To answer this question, one thing you have to consider is the amount of pressure the wood can stand.

The Most Durable Wood Flooring

The Janka Hardness Test determines how many pounds of force it takes to insert half of a steel ball into different types of wood. Based on the ratings from this scale, you can determine the most durable wood flooring. The most durable type of wood flooring readily available to the public is Brazilian Ebony. This exceptionally durable wood flooring reaches 3,692 pounds of force on the scale! It is grown in several South American countries and comes in a variety of colors. This is one of the most durable (and beautiful!) wood floors you can have installed, so if you’re looking for floors that will last for years and years, try Brazilian Ebony!

Common Durable Wood Floors

If you are looking for a more traditional option for your wood flooring, there are other durable wood floor choices available to you. Hickory, bamboo and beech also make very durable wood floors. These types of wood have a range of 1,620 to 1,820 pounds of force on the scale. They can withstand the heaviest objects with little to no damage. You won’t need to worry about bulky appliances denting your floors, or even damage years from now due to everyday use. These woods can withstand almost anything you can think of – heavy furniture, human traffic year after year, etc.

Wood Flooring to Avoid

If durability is your top priority when it comes to your flooring, there are some floors you should avoid. These types of wood rank low on the hardness scale. Mahogany, commonly used on furniture or paneling, is one example. Another less durable wood flooring, teak, is generally used on boats. These two types of flooring can be very beautiful in less-traveled areas of your home, but for high-traffic areas it is better to choose a more durable wood floor.

Get Your Durable Wood Flooring from Elegant Floor Service

If you are looking for the most durable wood flooring, call Elegant Floor Service. We will go over all your hardwood flooring options with you to help you choose the flooring that is right for your home. We also offer expert installation of your new durable wood flooring. In fact, whatever your flooring needs are, you can expect us to exceed you expectations!

Once your new durable wood flooring is installed, if you need maintenance or repair – we are here to help! You can trust us from the installation of your new floors to any needs you might have down the road! We have been helping our customers in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC area install durable wood flooring in their homes since 1987, so you can trust your home to our experience. Contact us for durable wood flooring today!

Are you looking to install new wood floors in your home?  Make sure you know what types of wood flooring works best with what rooms – this is critical when it comes to maintaining the appearance and ultimate lifespan of your floors.

Whether you have some sort of knowledge about different types of wood flooring and therefore, know exactly what you want in your home – or have absolutely no clue – the hardwood floor experts at Elegant Floor Service can help.  We can make your Maryland, Washington, DC or Virginia home look beautiful with new wood floors that will not only be beautiful but last for many, many years as well!

Types of Wood Flooring

Before we get into which type of flooring works best for each room, let’s talk a little about the different types of wood flooring.

Solid wood flooring – solid wood flooring is exactly what it sounds like!  It is flooring that consists of planks made from solid pieces of wood, varying in thickness.  Solid wood floors can be sanded and refinished multiple times and will look great for many long years!

Engineered wood flooring – engineered wood flooring consists of strips made from three to nine layers of wood (these strips get laminated together), and these layers don’t necessarily have to be the same species of wood.  In environments where the humidity and temperature fluctuates, engineered wood flooring is ideal since it doesn’t expand or contract as readily as solid wood flooring.

Best Type of Wood Flooring for Kitchens

Your kitchen is one of the rooms in which you spend the most time in, so flooring for this room is something you should put a lot of thought into.  When installing wood floors in your kitchen, think about the traffic the room receives, as well as other environmental factors.  Your kitchen’s temperature changes more often than in any other room in the house (except maybe the bathroom), so engineered wood flooring is ideal.  Since many people walk in (and through) the kitchen, it’s best to choose hardwoods (ash, walnut, cherry, oak, poplar, mahogany, etc.) rather than softwoods (fir, pine, cedar).

Also keep in mind that darker woods, such as mahogany and walnut, will more quickly show wear in the floor due to traffic.  So if you’re interested in the perfect kitchen wood flooring, a lighter hardwood (engineered) such as ash or oak is perfect!

Best Type of Wood Flooring for Bathrooms

Since wood floors don’t handle moisture as well as other types of floors, they may not be ideal for bathrooms.  However, don’t let this stop you if you want wood flooring in your bathroom – there are ways to solve this problem.  Certain finishes, such as polyurethane, will better protect your wood floor from water damage.

We also highly recommend installing engineered wood flooring rather than solid wood flooring, as it won’t warp or contract as easily due to changing temperatures and humidity. Very much like wood flooring in kitchens, you are better off with hardwoods such as oak, maple or cherry, since they don’t absorb moisture quiet as readily as softwoods.

Best Types of Wood Flooring for Living Rooms

When it comes to wood flooring for your den and living room, you have more options.  Since these rooms don’t retain a lot of moisture or experience temperature fluctuations like your bathrooms and kitchen, you have more freedom in terms of the type of wood to use.  If you want solid wood floors rather than engineered, go for it.

Is the room a high traffic area or is it hardly ever used?  If it receives a lot of traffic, you still may want to use harder woods.  This is especially true for dens and family rooms where you spend a lot of time.  If you don’t often use your living room or use it mainly for special occasions, softwoods like pine and cedar are good choices.  Living rooms and dens are also great rooms for parquet flooring, which can be a little fancier than the typical plank or strip wood flooring you tend to see in many kitchens.

Best Types of Wood Flooring for Foyers

Since your foyer or front hall is an extremely high traffic area, consider lighter hardwood flooring.  Foyers are also a good place to use parquet wood flooring, rather than the typical strip or plank flooring.

Whether you’re installing wood flooring in every room or just a single room, the experts at Elegant Floor Service can help you determine which type of wood flooring works best for you.  Call us today for wood flooring installation in your home in Maryland, Washington, DC or Virginia!

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