Hardwood flooring has been the traditional flooring alternative for years. A major reason for this is that hardwood flooring adds warmth and elegance to any interior. However, choosing hardwood floors may be challenging since there are a lot of types and styles to choose from. It is crucial to get the best and right type of hardwood flooring that is worthy of the investment at stake. One of the choices that homeowners must make is to choose pre-finished hardwood flooring or to have the finishing done after the hardwood floors are installed in their home.
There are a number of homeowners who prefer the on-site finishing once the hardwood flooring has been installed and sanded. However, there are still a lot more that prefer the factory-applied finish or pre-finished hardwood flooring for the following reasons.
- Faster install time. Since they are already pre-finished, it will only take relatively shorter time for pre-finished flooring to be installed in your home. After installation, you will only need to wipe the floors clean; and then you can already use them.
- No fumes or dust. When you do an on-site finish, you will need to sand down the installed wood flooring, stain them to the color of your choice, and then apply clear coats of finish on them for protection. All these processes will produce saw dusts and chemical fumes that may linger in the home for quite some time. With pre-finished hardwood flooring, you will no longer have to worry about the messy dusts, the chemical fumes and the amount of drying time needed before you can use your home floors.
- Better performance. Floors that come from reputable manufacturers such as Armstrong solid hardwood flooring are of the highest quality. They are stained and finished in a controlled factory environment to prevent them from getting deformed or damaged. Pre-finished hardwood flooring is also given as much as seven coats of finish and is cured under ultraviolet light in order to preserve them longer.
- Longer manufacturer’s warranty. Since the finish is done inside environmentally-controlled conditions, manufacturers of hardwood floorings are sure that all their hardwood floorings are of the highest quality. Because of this, pre-finished hardwood flooring will give you a long-lasting performance with a given warranty of as much as 50 years for residential use.
Armstrong solid hardwood flooring boards are all pre-finished and are easy to install and maintain. For highly active homes, Armstrong has hardwood floors under their Performance Plus trademark that are highly resistant to scratches, dents and scuffs that may be caused by too much traffic in the home. Highly resistant hardwood flooring minimizes the occurrences of these dents and scuffs.
The type of finishing you choose for your hardwood flooring will determine the amount of maintenance that is required on them as well as how long your hardwood floors will last. So choose your type of finish wisely.
