Wood flooring is suited to every room in the home, but before embarking on a wood flooring project, it’s important to know which types of wood flooring you can fit where. In this article, our aim is to de-mystify what sorts of wood flooring you can use in which rooms. We hope you’ll find it useful.
To make your journey easier, we’ll walk you through our imaginary home room by room.
The hall
The hall is the first room you enter when you come into the home. Halls have a tough time when it comes to flooring. The first few meters of flooring in any hallway is arguably one of the highest footfall areas in the home. For this reason, when you choose your wood flooring for your hall, you need to know it will stand up to what your life will throw at it.
If you don’t have underfloor heating in your hall, you can safely choose between solid or engineered wood flooring. Either will look great and with the right care and attention will last a lifetime. One of the advantages of solid wood flooring over engineered wood flooring is that you can re-sand and re-finish it more often. So, if you suspect your hall will need a regular re-fresh and you don’t have under floor heating, you should plump for solid wood.
TOP TIP for hallways: make sure you invest in good quality outdoor and indoor door mats to protect all your floors.
The lounge
Your lounge, in many ways is the jewel in the crown of your home. It’s where you partake in relaxed time with your family and it’s where you take your guests to chill after a nice meal or just to enjoy a moment together. Because of this, you want your lounge to be great to look at as well as functional.
Like hallways, lounges that don’t have underfloor heating are as suited to engineered as they are to solid wood flooring. And because you are unlikely to have quite as much traffic going through your lounge as you do your hall, you can safely choose an engineered solution here without worry that you’ll need to re-sand and re-finish it on such a regular basis.
When it comes to choosing the right colour, style and finish for your lounge floor, you can go as wild or stay conservative as you wish, knowing that your new wood floor will be the envy of all your friends and family.
The dining room
Dining rooms that are solely used for dining tend to get used much less frequently than the likes of lounges or even bedrooms, and for this reason, once again, unless you have underfloor heating, you can choose any wood floor that pleases you. No matter whether you want a traditional, formal looking finish or you want a more casual, relaxed style, there is a solid or engineered wood flooring option that’ll tick all your boxes. However, if you do happen to have underfloor heating, it’s important to choose engineered wood flooring that is confirmed as suitable for installation over underfloor heating by the manufacturer.
The bedroom
Bedrooms tend to be spaces where we’re kind to our floors. For this reason, once again, you can choose from either engineered or solid wood flooring. That said, once again, don’t forget to take note of what we’ve said about underfloor heating.
The kitchen
The kitchen isn’t just a busy room in most homes, it’s also a room where things can get hot and steamy. Temperature and moisture changes in kitchens can play havoc with solid wood floors and that’s why they’re not generally recommended. When you choose your wood flooring for your kitchen, we recommend that you choose from our engineered range. Why? Simply because engineered wood flooring is much more stable than solid wood flooring and doesn’t expand and contract to nearly the same extent. What this means is that when your room heats up and cools down or the moisture levels peak and trough, your floor will expand and contract, but only ever so slightly. As a result, it won’t get damaged like a solid wood floor would through excessive expansion and contraction.
The only other thing to bear in mind in the kitchen is that if you have underfloor heating, you make sure you choose an engineered wood flooring option that is made for the job.
The bathroom
The bathroom is exactly the same as the kitchen and in fact might even suffer a bit more of a challenge when it comes to splashes, so once again, you should plump for a suitable engineered flooring option.
Ultimate Wood Flooring Suitability by Room Type – at a glance
| Room | Is solid wood flooring suitable? | Is engineered wood flooring suitable? |
| Hall | Yes | Yes |
| Lounge | Yes | Yes |
| Dining room | Yes | Yes |
| Bedroom | Yes | Yes |
| Kitchen | No | Yes |
| Bathroom | No | Yes |
If you’d like more help to choose the right wood flooring for your room, why not get in touch? At Wood and Beyond, we’re always happy to help.
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FAQ
Question: Is wood flooring suitable for hallways?
Answer: Yes, wood flooring is suitable for hallways, which tend to have high footfall. Both solid and engineered wood flooring can be used if there is no underfloor heating. If the floor is likely to require regular refinishing due to heavy traffic, solid wood may be the better option.
Question: Can I use wood flooring in my lounge?
Answer: Absolutely. Both engineered and solid wood flooring are suitable for lounges. As lounges generally see less traffic than hallways, engineered wood flooring can be a practical choice without the need for frequent refinishing.
Question: What type of wood flooring is best for a dining room?
Answer: Dining rooms that don’t have underfloor heating can use either solid or engineered wood flooring. However, if underfloor heating is present, it’s crucial to use engineered wood flooring that the manufacturer confirms as suitable for installation over underfloor heating.
Question: Can I install wood flooring in my kitchen?
Answer: In kitchens, which can experience significant temperature and moisture changes, engineered wood flooring is recommended over solid wood. Engineered wood flooring is more stable and less prone to damage from expansion and contraction caused by temperature and moisture fluctuations.
Question: Is wood flooring suitable for bathrooms?
Answer: Given the likelihood of splashes and humidity in bathrooms, it’s recommended to use engineered wood flooring that is specifically designed to withstand such conditions. Solid wood flooring is generally not suitable for bathrooms.