Hickory Flooring

If you are looking for a wood flooring product that is durable and will stand up to high traffic areas, then you might consider installing hickory flooring. Hickory flooring is a type of wood flooring material that not only adds to the beauty of your home, but will stand up to tough use and water exposure. Hickory is a hardwood and comes in colors ranging from reddish to light tan and works well in homes that have a country or traditional decorating style.

Hickory flooring is made from hickory wood produced in North America. It is used to create such products as baseball bats, golf clubs and wood veneers. It is very strong and resists scratching and scuffing.

Advantages of Hickory Flooring

Hickory flooring is a very high density hardwood. This makes it a perfect choice for rooms in your home that receive high traffic and intense use. Consider installing it in rooms such as living rooms, dining rooms and hallways, where the flooring receives the most wear and tear.

Hickory wood flooring is extremely strong; it compares will with steel and can withstand tremendous force if items are dropped on it. Not only is it strong, but it is extremely beautiful, with many variations in color. This offers homeowners a wide range of options to choose from when picking out hickory flooring for their homes.

Hickory flooring also lasts a long time and will not need to be replaced for decades to come. In fact, it has been known to last generations and can be found in some of the oldest existing homes in the United States today.

If you have rooms with tile in them, you might consider replacing them with hickory flooring. Not only is it strong, but it will not break or crack, unlike tile flooring. It is beautiful and will stand up to water exposure in rooms like kitchens and bathrooms.

Maintaining Hickory Flooring

Hickory flooring needs to be dry mopped on a regular basis. You can easily accomplish this by using a soft cloth mop or one that is made from microfiber. Also, hickory floors should be wet mopped approximately once a week.

Another aspect of maintaining a hickory wood floor is that it needs to be sealed and varnished with a clear polyurethane finish approximately every two or three years.

Hickory Flooring Installation

First you need to seal the concrete floor that will be underneath the hickory flooring. You can use an epoxy coating for concrete floors. If your floor base is wood, then lay down kraft paper.

Next, lay down adhesive over the floor. It works best if you lay down the adhesive in sections and work on laying down the hickory flooring in corresponding sections. This way you will not risk having the adhesive dry before you get the hickory flooring planks laid down.

Now lay down the hickory planks, making sure that you leave a small gap between the wall and the flooring for expansion of the wood during damp or humid weather.

Pre-drill holes for the fasteners (you need to do this because the wood is very hard). If the hickory flooring materials you are using are designed to be glued into place, then you can skip this step. Insert and tighten the fasteners.

Hickory flooring is a beautiful addition to almost any home. It is extremely hard and durable and will stand the test of time and last generations.