Solid hardwood floors have continued on in popularity for centuries because of the natural elegance they provide to a home. Solid hardwood flooring has become so popular that some technology based rivals have appeared, such as engineered wood floors and acrylic floors. Yet solid wood floors continue to be a popular option among those who value natural quality and natural elegance in the spaces in which they live and work.

Solid hardwood flooring is exactly what its name implies. It is solid hardwood flooring. The floor panels are made up of milled hardwood that fit together to form your floor.

Solid wood flooring is not a matter of one-type fits all. You can install floor panels in either a finished or unfinished form. The wood can range from 1/4 inch to 25/32 inch hardwood panels. The panels basically come in three different forms for installation. You can choose either strip, plank, or parquet hardwood floors.

Strip Hardwood Floors - A strip floor installation is very easy to accomplish. It is also relatively easy to remove the floor if you install them using the floating hardwood floor method. Strip floor panels hook together by having a tongue on one panel go into the groove on another panel. Each floor panel is around 2" wide.

Strip floors are very well suited for people who like to do the installation themselves, rather than hiring expensive professional floor installers. Anyone who has assembled a 100-piece puzzle and has ever used a circular saw ought to be able handle installing solid hardwood flooring using strip panels.

Additionally, being easy to install and coming in square strips makes this floor more tolerant to weather conditions, such as humidity and temperature that can cause your hardwood floor to expand and contract over time.

Plank Hardwood Floors - Planks are essentially the same as strips, except that they are much wider, ranging between 3" and 14". They are very sturdy. They can handle a lot of punishment. They don't creak much and they feel very firm as you walk across them. However, all of the extra weight makes them a bit harder to install and extremely hard to remove if you ever change your mind.

Parquet Hardwood Floors - Parquet hardwood floors are all about looking beautiful. They form geometric mosaics out of small hardwood planks. They can be custom designed to make up a logo or a nature scene. It is much like having a piece of grand artwork in natural wood grain beneath your feet.

As you may have guessed, parquet hardwood floors are not easy to design, install, or remove. So you probably want to choose your parquet hardwood floor well and have a very trusted professional install it for you.

There are different solid hardwood flooring options available for different levels of installation expertise. If price is no object and you are an expert carpenter or don't mind hiring a professional, a parquet hardwood floor can be an excellent, stylish option.

If you are not really much of a wood worker, but you need a do it yourself hardwood floor installation, the prefinished strip floor is an excellent, affordable option. It will last many years and it is relatively easy to maintain the quality look of a strip hardwood floor.