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Thoughts on Wood Flooring (and My Favorite Engineered Wood!)

My kids know that if the car makes a sudden U-turn, Mama found a new thrift store or saw an open house sign. :) A few months ago I flipped one of those big U’s and walked through this pretty home that was for sale in Mesa’s downtown historic district.  The house had recently been…

My kids know that if the car makes a sudden U-turn, Mama found a new thrift store or saw an open house sign. :) A few months ago I flipped one of those big U’s and walked through this pretty home that was for sale in Mesa’s downtown historic district. 

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The house had recently been gut-renovated and was gorgeous in person! The cabinetry and millwork everywhere was especially TOP NOTCH. I wish these photos did them more justice!

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The staging was so much more tame than my style, but it was really pretty and soft. Those bobbin chairs have my hearth though. They were from Home Goods apparently!

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I also fell in love with the floors. So much so that I poked around on the instagram feed of Project Beautify, who had rehabbed the house, and discovered that the floors were from my favorite flooring place Floor & Decor!

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Later that week I went and checked out the product in person. It’s called Montpellier and it’s an oiled French Oak in almost a 9″ wide plank. And it is only $5.49/sq ft! If you’ve ever shopped for wood flooring before you’ll know that price is pretty unreal for the size of those planks!

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Floor & Decor has a great selection of every type of wood flooring – solid (including Timberclick!), engineered, laminate, and everything you need to install the floors yourself if you’re a DIYer.

It can be overwhelming to figure out what type of wood flooring is right for your house, but I always ask three questions that usually help narrow down the playing field:

1) Will the flooring be in a kitchen or bathroom? 

How terrified are you about the idea of potentially needing to pull up and repair areas effected by future leaks? If your answer is highly terrified, then you might want to consider a product like Aquaguard (which is a water-resistant laminate).

That said, I put engineered wood in kitchens and baths all the time. Rugs help a lot with day-to-day water spills and if a bigger issue happens, the wood can usually recover if the problem is caught the same day. I always suggest buying 50-100 sq ft of extra wood as a precautionary measure, just in case a few pieces have to be popped up and replaced down the road.

2) Wide or skinny planks?

Planks under 4 or 5″ wide are usually only found in solid woods anymore or unfinished engineered wood. Usually wider planks are more expensive, especially in solid wood. Once you’re looking beyond that 5″ width in solid wood, the prices start to get astronomically higher. If your budget needs to be under $14/sq ft and you are wanting a 7-9″ wide plank, you’ll definitely need to be looking at pre-finished engineered wood or laminate.

3) Most importantly, what is your existing subfloor? 

Solid wood is a great option if you already have a plywood subfloor (though you’ll want to get verification that it is level and does not need to be replaced before laying your beautiful new floors on top!).

And while I love the idea of being able to refinish a solid wood floor five or six times in it’s lifetime, I almost always recommend engineered wood, especially in places like Arizona, where most houses are built on concrete slab. Speaking from experience, it can be a very expensive and time-consuming process to add plywood subfloors to a slab foundation. Also it is comforting to know that engineered wood is a more stable product than solid wood, which means the planks are more resistant to changes in humidity and moisture levels.

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Laminate is another great option. Every time I look at the latest offerings, I’m blown away. So many of them look very similar to engineered wood and often they are half the price! Just don’t skip on a good underlayment, which helps with the swooshing sound that old school laminate flooring is notorious for.

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Here are a few of my favorite wood flooring picks from Floor & Decor. I usually prefer an ashy undertone to reds and pinks, but I don’t usually want anything too bluey-gray either. All of these are gorgeous in person – and super affordable!

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B – Bordeaux Oak Engineered Hard Wood – $5.49/sq ft
C – Oak Coffee Wirebrushed – $4.99/sq ft
E – Allegheny Oak Laminate – $2.29/sq ft

Do you have any great tips for picking a wood flooring? What type did you chose in the end? I’d love to hear!

A big thanks to Floor& Decor for partnering with us on this series. Read about wood-look tile here and accent tiles here!

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81 thoughts on “Thoughts on Wood Flooring (and My Favorite Engineered Wood!)

  1. There are different types of floors are available and from this, if you select hardwood floors then it is one of the best options. But to maintain the durability of the floor you should do follow some important tips so that it will look good. Take your shoes off so that it will look good. Use a vacuum or dust mop before you wash the wood floor.

  2. The most impressive thing is that you installed it all yourselves. Your floor looks outstanding and this is the specialty of Lauzon. I am hooked up this post of yours and waiting for the next. Thank you very much.
    Lauzon Floors

  3. Really well written and thorough article! Ive definitely found it to be true that if you try to go above 7-9 inches on the width, the prices skyrocket.

  4. This is really good clarification over the flooring. I really appreciate their productivity of this company. But you may check the following website for the definition of flooring.

  5. Hi there! I’m curious how your floors are holding up? We had these floors installed 6 weeks ago abc they are already peeling on the edges and chipping. I’m very surprised and disappointed. They certainly didn’t seem like the cheap option. I’m wondering if we got a bad batch or something. Thank you!

  6. Very informative! I have hardwood floors so I should keep my floors clean at all cost, other wise, the floors start to stain. However, since I have 4 kids and work, I’m unable. I have found that The Top Cleaner is a website that has helped me find the best companies to clean my floors!

  7. Do you know the SKU of the wood flooring? There are several colors of the Montpellier Wood flooring at Floor Decor and More. Thanks so much!

  8. A very good blog post and thanks for sharing it with the community! Cosmo Floor is one of the leading suppliers of wood flooring in Asia just browse through their wide variety of collections and you will surely love them.

  9. Hi,

    What is the SKU # for the Montpellier flooring in the Mesa Reno? Love it, but there are a few different floors with that name at Floor & Decor. Thanks!

  10. Hello Amazing floors I also am building new home need 4000 square feet. Looking at Montpellier European Oak Engineered Wood. But multiple products same name, do you have products sku? And was it $5.49 or $5.89 as link brings up different price? Also how is durability I have 3 toddlers and a large dog, worries cleaning, scratching and staining issues?

    1. I love hardwood floors. I recently moved into a beautiful house with gray hardwood floors and I cant brag about how much I love it compared to carpet floors. I had carpet for 3 years and you sometimes get annoyed when you have guests over and they accidentally spilled something. With hardwood floors, you can pick up a mess with swifter and cause no damage at all. http://www.bostonflooringpros.com

  11. What wood or wood look flooring do you recommend for a snow bird home where from May to November the air is set at 90 degrees and little humidity?

    1. Wood floors are in trend again. Contemporary homes have beautiful wood floors, while classic ones have wood floors that have been polished to a high lustre. Wood floors are resilient. They are easy to clean, maintain, and even repair. You can also choose from a wide array of colors and designs, from the traditional to the contemporary and from the rustic to the sleek. If You want to know more about wood flooring visit The best-engineered wood flooring in UK

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