A house may use various styles of designs for its different kinds of rooms. This is to ensure that the visual aesthetics of the rooms are appealing on their own. One of the parts of a room that can have its preferred style is its flooring. There are many types of materials that can be used for the flooring and these materials may even have their own styles or designs. Just like the use of wood floors. It does not mean that if one decides to use a specific kind of wood floor in one of the rooms of the house, there is a need to use that kind of wood floor for all the rooms in the house. It is possible to use different kinds of wood floors for each of the rooms as long as they transition beautifully and cleanly between each other.

Kinds Of Wood Floors

Before looking into the transitioning between different kinds of wood floors for various rooms in a house, it is advised that people should have some familiarity with the different options available on the various kinds of wood floors available in the industry. You may refer to some of the common kinds of wood floors below:

Plywood Flooring

o   This kind of wood flooring is among the more flexible ones since it can be used as the subflooring or the finished flooring of a room. Plywood flooring is manufactured by bonding together multiple layers of wood veneer with the use of a strong adhesive, such as urea formaldehyde. These wood veneers may be made from softwood, hardwood, or other types of wood material. Plywood flooring comes in different grades, which would determine the best area of the house it should be installed in. Compared to some other types of flooring options, there are certain kinds of plywood flooring that can be used in areas that are constantly exposed to water and moisture. Plywood flooring normally comes in an 8’x4’size. This makes it easier to install plywood flooring in rooms that have large surface areas.

Parquet Flooring

o   When one talks about parquet flooring, the first thing that comes into mind is its geometric pattern design. This type of wood flooring uses wooden tiles that can be as big as 19” x 19” or as small as 9” x 9”. For parquet flooring to be installed there is a need to arrange the tiles that would follow the owner’s desired pattern. A parquet flooring tile can be made from hardwood or softwood material.

Hardwood Flooring

o   This is the most famous kind of wood flooring option available in the industry. People relate hardwood flooring to durability and strength. By using material that comes from a deciduous tree, hardwood flooring material is denser than other types of wood flooring options. Engineered hardwood flooring panels are known to be the most sought-after type of hardwood flooring since they are cost-effective and flexible in areas that are exposed to extreme climate changes.

Factors To Consider When Transitioning Two Different Wood Floors

Layout of the rooms

o   Naturally, homeowners have their own ideas about which types and styles of wood flooring they envision each room should have in their houses. The way rooms are set up in the floor plan of the house matters when finding the best possible transitions between the various wood floors that would be used. An example would be when connecting the wood floors between the kitchen and the living room. There are cases wherein the type of wood floor used for the living room is not compatible with the kitchen because of the risk of having the floor getting wet regularly inside the kitchen as compared to the wood floor in the living room. In addition, it is crucial that the designs of the wood floors would look good when they are connected with each other.

Contrast and colors

o   When it comes to wood floors, there are various types of finishes that would feature different colors and shades. Transitioning between two wood floors needs to consider these characteristics to ensure that the design is kept visually pleasing the whole time.

Working with open floor plans

o   There are house designs that use open floor plans to include areas into one spacious room such as putting the kitchen in the same room as the dining room. In these cases, there is a need to ensure that the transition between the two wood floors would have pleasing unified aesthetics, while also considering the quality of the materials used for each wood floor. It has to be remembered that transitioning is not only about the aesthetics but it is also important to consider the cost-effectiveness of the materials used.

Installation

o   This is one of the most important factors to consider when transitioning different wood floors into your house. Some may find it easy to go through a do-it-yourself project when installing the materials for transitioning the wood floors; however, what people may forget is that the tasks need to be handled with utmost care. People should always remember that when there is a need to attach materials to the subfloor or finished flooring, there is still the risk of damaging the wood flooring panels. By using nails or screws to attach the transitioning materials, there is still the slight chance that it may hit and chip off some areas of the flooring panels when not done properly. Having professional flooring installers handle the installation may be the safest and most cost-effective choice.

How To Transition Between Two Different Wood Floors

Using transition moldings in doorways

o   The easiest way to connect and transition between two different types of wood flooring is by using moldings. Among the most well-known of these moldings is the T-molding. For this type of molding to be effective, there is a need for two wood floors to have the same thickness or height. It is ideal to use the T-molding in doorways to ensure that the transition of the wood floors between the rooms looks seamless as much as possible.

Wood-to-wood seam binders

o   When a room has an open floor plan, the absence of doors may make it seem that transitioning between wood floors would be an issue. However, the availability of a wood-to-wood seam binder is ideal for this type of situation. This binder, the same as T-molding, goes well when two wood floors have equal heights. It can easily be installed since it just needs to be placed over the seam of the two wood floors. It has pre-drilled holes since it needs to be secured to the subfloor of the room. It keeps the wood floor materials free from damage since it does not attach to any of the wood flooring it covers. Also, one of the important things to consider with a wood-to-wood seam binder is that there is an option to purchase one that is unfinished. This is crucial when transitioning two wood floors because homeowners can opt to paint or add finishing to their wood-to-wood seam binders so that they can be designed to blend with colors and shades of their wood floors.

Transitioning with the use of buffers

o   If there is a plan to design a specific room by using different types of wood floors, it may be wise to use some types of buffers over the seams between the two floors. These buffers may be in the form of furniture, appliances, or carpet runners. This can be an easy way to hide the areas where the styles or designs of the wood floors look differently. The buffer will take away the attention where the wood floors look differently.

Do not put too much focus on matching the colors and grains

o   When you aim to go for a visually pleasing transition between your two wood floors, it does not always mean that having their grains and colors match is the outright choice. It is very important that you consider looking into contrasting designs and patterns instead. A good example of this way of transitioning is by partnering parquet flooring with straight wood flooring panels. The geometric patterns formed by parquet flooring can work well when partnered with straight wood panels with contrasting colors. This also helps give focus to the design patterns formed by the parquet flooring.

Ask Help From The Flooring Experts

The flooring of any house is always considered to be among the investments that a homeowner can benefit from, especially if it can raise the value of the house. Even though it only concerns transitioning between two different wood floors, by installing the materials improperly, you may risk your floor from getting damaged. It is highly advised to get in touch with flooring experts to help identify which materials would be compatible when transitioning your wood floors. Furthermore, if you decide to have flooring experts handle the installation; you are assured that the job will be done safely and efficiently.  If you have concerns about transitioning between different wood floors, you may contact Three Trees Flooring at (416) 665-2624.