Wood floors are a hallmark of taste, style, and tradition. Combine this with its durability and ease to clean, and you have a great choice for any home.

Your floors handle a lot! From pet claws during a game of fetch to chairs being dragged across rooms to build forts, those with active households know that scrapes, dents, and scratches can happen. Here’s how to choose the best wood Flooring for you and your family.

Step 1: Understand the difference between solid wood, engineered wood, and laminated wood flooring.

Solid hardwood is an instant classic. Each plank of Solid wood flooring is, as you’d guess, a solid piece of wood. This gives you the ability to refinish the flooring whenever you’d like. If you have multiple large dogs or other situations where you know scratches are inevitable, being able to refinish your flooring is a great perk. Plus, you can change up the look of your home by choosing a new color when you refinish them!

When to use it: Solid hardwood flooring should be installed in rooms with controlled temperature and humidity.

Engineered wood floors are another great option for your home. They’re made of real wood and enhanced with a cross-ply construction.  This type of flooring resists expansion and contraction from humidity changes.

Key benefit: Engineered wood has the same great look as solid hardwoods, plus it can be installed in multiple ways on any level of the home.

Wood laminate is one of the most durable options, and it keeps that beautiful wood appearance that we all love. Although it can’t be refinished like solid wood, its protective layer resists scratches and scuffs for long-lasting beauty.

What to look for: Choose an option that is 100% waterproof, trapping liquid on the surface so your floors and subfloors are protected.

Bonus benefit: It can be installed anywhere in the home, even your basement.

Step 2: Now on to the fun part!

Color and Finish:

Consider contrast.  Take a look at the finishes in the room you’re planning. For kitchens, pay attention to the contrast between the cabinets, counter tops, and even your appliances. Pick a floor color and finish that will set the tone between all the other colors in the room.

Plan ahead. For active households, style isn’t the only aspect to consider! Lighter-colored woods actually hide scratches more effectively than darker, and a wood style with lots of color variation is very concealing. For finishes, matte or satin is the best choice instead of glossy, as it allows the scratches to blend in even more.

Take note of texture. Texture can also play a huge role in concealing scrapes and scratches. Styles that are distressed or hand-scraped look fantastic and can do wonders since new scratches will blend in with the original design. Also, any hardwood styles with lots of knots in the grain provide great camouflage as well.

We’ve partnered with Mohawk to give Beazer homeowners great wood flooring choices that marry durability and style. As the world’s largest flooring manufacturer, Mohawk builds quality into every flooring product we offer in our design studios.

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