Cheap Hardwood Floors just cannot Compare to Quality Hardwood Flooring

Refinished & Prefinished Hardwood Floors!

The so called laminate hardwood floor falls under the category of discount wood flooring. Laminate flooring is known in the business as a hybrid surface, which is a mixture and fusion of various materials to give the appearance of real woods. On its own, a laminate floor looks fine, but place it next to genuine hardwoods that have such a diversity of grain and a multitude of hues, then the difference in look, feel, and appeal will make the Laminate Vs Hardwood a nonstarter in everything but cost.

So beautiful is the natural wood floor, that folks who have them often go to painstaking lengths just to restore an old, tired, or damaged surface rather than replace it with cheap imitations. Wood floor repair is no picnic that's for sure, as anyone who's attempted to refinish hardwood floor surfaces will tell you. However, they will also go on to say that refinishing wood floors is worth all the time, money, and effort that it entails. Okay, so sanding hardwood floors can be back breaking, dirty work, but this laborious task is necessary part of the restoration work, and the alterative of purchasing a quality prefinished hardwood floor, helps with the incentive

It's true that Old hardwood floors, and particularly those which have been neglected, are difficult to clean, but try to clean long neglected cheap wood floors, and you'll probably not bother. In fact, if you really want wood floors but the old ones are just too far gone, then it's better to buy hardwood flooring that's new and not waste your time, effort, and money, revitalizing floors which have been uncared for over the years. Believe me, it's no easy job, and far from fun, sanding hardwood floors, even with an electric floor sanding machine. Ok, so allow me to pass on a bit of experience my husband and I had when trying to put some life back in the marvelous hardwood floors of our new home.

We actually had quite a few obstacles to conquer after we bought this house. The previous owners were pet lovers and had a number of cats, dogs, and caged rodents in the home at all times. This place absolutely reeked and we knew that nothing short of a good gutting and refurbishing was required when we decided to purchase the property. There was one really nice surprise though! When tearing up some of the tattered old carpets, the most beautiful hardwood floors were revealed, and I'm not talking cheap wood floors, but real quality wood.

Unfortunately for us, the previous owners of this property were not big on hygiene in the home. There were major issues with fleas throughout and sadly that beautiful wood flooring stank of animal urine and also soiled by dirt and grime. If these were cheap wood floors we wouldn't have had any problem with ripping them out, but they were just too good to dump. However, we knew the road ahead would not be easy and that we'd have to learn all about sanding hardwood floors, ridding the stench of pee, and then restoring them to their former glory. Still, we committed to the project and so the work began.

There's nothing worse than moving into a new home only to find there are awful stenches which are not of your own making. Mildew can be bad enough, especially if it's gotten into walls and wood, but then again if there was a problem with rot, then we probably wouldn't have purchased the house. No, we had pet orders and lots of pungent cat pee to deal with. If this was soaked into cheap wood floors it would have been better to rip the surface up and sling it, but as I said previous, this was no cheap or discount wood flooring, and well worth restoring.

If any or you have had some experience trying to bringing neglected wood flooring back to life, you will know that this is no easy task. Sanding hardwood floors is perhaps the messiest, noisiest, and most labour intensive part of the whole process, but the end result will remind you why you did what you did and you'll be thankful that you didn't give up and settle for cheap or discount wood flooring after all. After the sanding came the odor removal...

Like most DIY jobs around the home, there is an easy way and a hard way. Unfortunately, when it comes to home improvements, the less time the house is in a state of disrepair, the better, but don't cut corners just because you're in a rush to finish, because you will live to regret it later. Unfortunately, we have some experience in this area! Removing odours from wooden floors, and in particular pet smells, don't shop for products like Murphy's Oil soap and other so called wonder cleaners, as they are not right for stench removal. There are products which are made specifically for cleaning animal odours out of hardwood floors, and nothing less will cut it.

It's easy to make wrong decisions when dealing with problems that need immediate attention. Old wives tales and short-cut solutions are too tempting to ignore sometimes, but the bottom line is this: There are usually specific products for specific problems, and they not only work very well but they usually work fast too. Sanding hardwood floors is not only back breaking but it's not going to get rid of pet smells that have seeped into wood. Nip down to Wal-Mart of local pet store and buy a purpose odour remover, and you'll be done in a jiff.

Great news! Our beautiful prefinished hardwood floor is now completely odour free. So bad was the smell, that even though the surface looked okay and didn't require any wood floor repair as such, if the latent was not treatable, then there would have been no other option but to rip the floor up (as beautiful as it was), and head down to the DIY store to invest in some new discount wood flooring. Happily, that was not necessary thanks to being advised on the right liquid pet odour remover for our surface, and there lies the trick. choosing the right product for the right floor, for the right smell. If in doubt, consult the experts.

I'm so happy to report that our smelly ole hardwood floors are now our beautiful clean and odorless wooden surfaces that look fantastic, smell of nothing more than polish, and are real easy to maintain. Gone are the days where I was almost gagging at their mere presence. Hardwood floors really do beautify a room and add to the overall décor and theme of any living space.

Floors For Folks says the 6 Most Popular Hardwoods used in Floors for Homes are: Acacia, Ash, Birch, Maple, Red Oak, and Walnut. The actual list of course is exhaustive, but the above will give you something to start your research with if you're thinking of hardwood floors for your home.