Wood flooring is an excellent choice for Central Florida homeowners because it complements any interior design and provides a natural aesthetic that accentuates the fluidity of our indoor/outdoor lifestyles.
As with any major home project, it’s always best to visit a local flooring showroom (or schedule an in-home consultation) to learn about all of the options – along with their pros and cons. Receiving professional, expert design insight is essential to enjoying your new wood flooring for years or decades to come.
Choosing The Best Wood Floors For Your Orlando Home
There are several things you can review ahead of time to ensure the hardwood floors you select are the right fit for your household’s lifestyle and short—and long-term goals.
Wood-look flooring options are well-suited to:
- Households with kids or pets.
- Homeowners looking for low maintenance and high durability.
- Those who plan to age in place or who have frequent visitors who use mobility aids.
- Anyone considering renting their home in the future.
- Rooms adjacent to outdoor living spaces as they’re easy to sweep and wipe up.
1. Visit Local Flooring Showrooms
As we mentioned above, visiting local flooring showrooms or scheduling an in-home consultation means you have expert advice from start to finish, not to mention connections to the Orlando area’s most professional flooring installers.
You’ll have the opportunity to see all of the different types of “hardwood flooring” we offer, and we’ll also learn more about you and your household to choose flooring selections best suited to your lifestyle.
NOTE ABOUT HARDWOOD FLOORS IN FLORIDA: We emphasize that genuine hardwood floors aren’t typically a good match for Orlando homes. Our humid climate and continuous exposure to moisture cause warped, water-stained floors – not to mention susceptibility to mold/mildew growth.
Instead, we recommend taking advantage of luxurious wood-like options that look gorgeous but can also stand up to all our climate and indoor/outdoor lifestyles bring to the surface (pun intended).
2. Learn About the Options
There are several options for luxurious flooring that replicates your favorite wood species and preferred stain. Here are some of the ideal wood flooring options to consider.
- Engineered Hardwood. This option uses “real” wood that is very thinly planed and then adhered to a composite core. The composite and the final finish are all water-resistant and can withstand fluctuations in temperature and humidity without showing any effects. While engineered hardwoods will eventually warp with long-term direct water exposure (like a flood), they have no problem resisting spills or puddles of water from a recent swim in the pool until someone can wipe them up.
- Laminate. Laminate is another beautiful option, and waterproof lamiante flooring products are the best laminate option if you’re on the water or have a pool or hot tub. Like engineered hardwood, laminate wood flooring is a hybrid product. However, in this case, instead of a thin veneer or genuine hardwood, manufacturers use incredible artistic renderings that replicate hardwood and are adhered to a fiberboard and resin core. Water resistant laminate is made with extra layers of durable, waterproof finishes.
- Luxury vinyl plank. Another popular option is luxury vinyl plank (LVP). These planks are installed just like hardwood planks and use artistically rendered planks in various styles. Because no wood is used in the product, they are waterproof from bottom to top. LVPs are also considered one of the most child—and pet-friendly flooring options on the market.
- Wood-look tiles. Finally, wood-look tiles are another great option. They are the most indestructible version on the market, and many of our clients appreciate that the textural finish on the tile surfaces seems to look and feel the most like real wood. That said, tiles are the hardest available surfaces and can also be colder on bare feet.
Let Creative Floors Help You Make the Best Choice
Choosing the ideal wood floors for your Orlando home starts with a visit to one of Creative Floors’ showrooms. Whether you visit or have us come to you for an in-home design consultation, we guarantee the final results will provide 100% satisfaction for the lifetime of your new, beautiful wood floors.
