Solid Oak flooring is one of the most common forms of flooring around the world. Some choose to carpet over the top of it, but it remains the case that oak flooring is in common use, and for a number of good reasons. It is a strong, durable, and long lasting material that can undergo significant stresses and resist damage throughout the process. Some choose to leave it uncovered, and solid oak flooring can fulfil a range of different design styles in this capacity. To get oak floorboards, homeowners typically expect to pay a significant amount of money for the service, but there are some important methods for reducing these overheads that we hope to make you aware of.
Oak floorboards are typically rated as being one of the best options in terms of flooring. This is because, like many other natural wood products, they are able to outperform many other flooring options, such as concrete. Concrete can be a great flooring option, however, its weight can be a significant problem when implemented in higher floors. If you intend to use concrete on multiple floors of a new home, you should expect the actual development of your home to increase significantly, if only to increase the ability of the structure to withstand the added weight that concrete brings. Also, while concrete is a harder material than wood, it is also far more brittle, which can present problems in various scenarios.
Oak is a hardwood, which basically means that the wood is slower growing and has smaller grains. As a result of this, degradation of oak floorboards takes place over much longer periods, and solid oak flooring made hundreds of years ago can still be found in use around the world. Hardwoods such as oak is also a much stronger material than softer woods, and can be used in various structures to add stability, and can bear much greater stresses without harm. All this leads to the conclusion that over the long-term, oak flooring will require less maintenance, and will need to be replaced less regularly, leading to a lower overall pricetag.
One of the best ways to reduce the overall pricetag of your solid oak flooring is to purchase reclaimed wood. When a home or other property is demolished, there is often an abundance of suitable wood for reclamation. After a treatment carried out by experts, you will see that reclaimed solid oak flooring is virtually indistinguishable from recently produced wood, but the overall cost of the wood is significantly reduced. The one area where it is potentially different is that the age of wood can be apparent in some cases, with the wood looking older. Many consider this aged look to aesthetically pleasing, but if not, this wood is still a great and cheap option for using where carpets will be installed anyway, or when you plan to add a finish to the wood, such as a varnish of some description.
Another area you can reduce the cost of your wood is by making sure that you go to carpenters to pre-shape the wood to meet the precise size requirements of your property and your design choice. Many choose to use solid oak flooring in specific artistic formations and patterns in order to enhance the overall appeal, and one of the ways that people run afoul with this is by purchasing standard sized wood, whereas significant costs can be avoid by getting correctly sized wood straight from a supplier.