If you’ve ever lived in a house with old fashioned hardwood floors, you probably remember having to wax and polish them on a regular basis.  This kept them looking great, but was a lot of work!  Floors finished with polyurethane and other permanent coatings followed these old style floors, but they still required a lot of sanding and some time for the finish to dry. 

Plus, this type of finish off gases, making the area unhealthy until it has cured.  Now, there’s an even better option that’ll keep you from having to polish or deal with unpleasant odors.  Prefinished hardwood flooring is great for just about any homeowner who wants the beauty of wood without the hassle.
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Manufacturers of prefinished hardwood flooring realized pretty early on that it’s important for their products to be as convenient as possible.  They’ve been making big advances, including creating new finishes that are applied at the factories and cure there in only a few minutes.  Finished applied before you get your flooring have a number of advantages.  Let’s look at the pluses and minuses of prefinished hardwood flooring.

Factory applied finishes look better than finishes applied at home in many cases.  That’s because they’re put on in an environment that’s free of dust - none can get caught and dull your finish.  They’re applied in multiple thin coats instead of one or two thick ones, and they’re thoroughly cured under UV lights before the next later goes on.  There are generally six to ten coats of a urethane coating on prefinished hardwood flooring, which makes it both beautiful and resistant to wear.

In addition to the basic durability of the popular urethane finishes for this kind of flooring, other materials are often added.  This allows them to be even stronger and more durable.  Aluminum oxide and ceramic particles are common, since they let prefinished hardwood flooring resist abrasion more effectively.  There are even types of prefinished flooring that have acrylic resins injected directly into them before they’re sealed with urethane.

Putting in a prefinished hardwood floor allows you to avoid the wait and fuss of sanding, staining, varnishing, and repeating the process.  No one could put the number of coats on their hardwood floor in home that prefinished planks come with from the factory.  That’s a level of quality that ordinary homeowners just can’t match.  Plus, these floors are extremely low maintenance.  Just vacuum once a week with a soft brush and use a shining product to improve gloss.

Of course, there are a few downsides to prefinished hardwood flooring.  No product is without a few disadvantages.  Prefinished hardwood flooring is milled with beveled edges to make allowances for irregularities.  This makes it harder to mop or sweep than traditional hardwood.  There is also some limitation on the number of colors available, though new ones are being introduced all the time.  This can make matching prefinished hardwood to an existing floor a little more difficult.

However, apart from these two minor issues, prefinished hardwood flooring is one of the best products you can choose.  It’s real wood, all the way through, but it has few of regular solid floors’ disadvantages.  Check out the range of flooring available to you and see whether or not it’s right for your home.