Unfinished Hardwood is raw wood installed in houses for the final touches of the hardwood to be conducted on the site, such as staining and sanding. Unfinished hardwood has existed for years, and today, many people prefer to buy unfinished hardwood flooring for their houses so that they can finish the hardwood according to their preferred taste.
You have certainly come across the word prefinished hardwood. Prefinished hardwood is a hardwood that has already undergone the finishing stage of hardwood flooring, such as sanding and staining, which is then installed in the house or business to undergo the final stage, such as coating. Unfinished hardwood is, however, just raw hardwood.
How to install unfinished hardwood flooring?
When it comes to installing unfinished hardwood flooring in your house, you have to put in mind the width and length of your floor. When installing the unfinished hardwood flooring, you will need the following materials; drill, hammer, nail punch, vacuum, stain, paint brush, rags, clear finish, sanding screen, and any other material you might need. When installing the unfinished hardwood, you can follow these steps.
Level the floor
You need to level the floor first by filling any loopholes that might be present in the house. Failing to the floor first before installing the unfinished hardwood flooring can lead to an uneven floor in the house, which can lead to difficulty in installing the floor.
Draw the floor rows and corners
Use chalk to draw the rows and corners of the floor. This will help you to easily install the unfinished floor since you will be able to know where precisely the floor is supposed to fit to avoid gaps and uneven fitting of the unfinished hardwood flooring.
Install the unfinished floor
You can use a drill to drill through the unfinished hardwood to fit in the nails. In case of corners in the house or building, you can use a saw to cut the hardwood to ensure that everything fits perfectly. You can use a nail gun to nail in the nails easily. Always ensure that you install the unfinished hardwood flooring according to the rows marked by the chalk to create a beautiful pattern once the installation is done.
Fill the unfinished hardwood gaps
You can use a latex floor filler to fill all the gaps in the floor after installing the unfinished hardwood. This will help provide a smooth layer that will be easy to sand and stain during finishing. Any protruding nails should be nailed in completely using a hammer.
How to finish unfinished hardwood flooring?
Sanding
Sand the floor with paper sand or a drum sander to provide a clean and smooth layer for staining and painting. Ensure that you sand the floor in an orderly manner so as not to destroy the initial pattern. Once done, vacuum the floor to remove the accumulated dirt and dust on the floor.
Staining
This is where you stain your floor with your preferred stain. The most outstanding stains are dark and brown stains. Use a paintbrush to spread the stain on the floor in an even manner. Use a rag to wipe it off in places where the stain might have gone beyond the required point.
Coating
This is where you apply coats of clear screening to maintain the stains on the floor. It also helps prevent any liquids from damaging the finished floor and enables the floor to have a shiny outlook.
Installing unfinished hardwood flooring can be a very tiresome job requiring many skills. Therefore, hiring a professional to install the unfinished hardwood is beneficial. That way, you will be assured of a perfect job.
Benefits of buying unfinished flooring
Installing unfinished hardwood flooring has many benefits that cannot be overlooked.
Cheap
Unfinished hardwood flooring is cheap to buy since they do not contain any final touches such as stains, coating, and sanding that are charged on the finished hardwood. Therefore, buying or producing unfinished hardwood flooring will help save you money.
Broader selection
With a broader selection of stains with unfinished hardwood flooring, you will have a broader selection of stains that you can add to your house floors, such as dark, brown, or bright colors. This is unlikely with the finished hardwood flooring since you will only be limited to the types of stains available to the displayed hardwood flooring being sold.
Easy to customize
Unfinished hardwood flooring is easy to customize to any design pattern you might like, such as mixing different types of stains on different sections of the floor to bring out a preferred design pattern. This might not be easy to do with the finished hardwood flooring since most of the time; the whole hardwood flooring is usually stained with the same stain.
Easy to work with
Unfinished hardwood flooring is easy to work with since it’s a raw material that you can transform into whatever design you want for your house. You can stain them according to your taste, and you can easily match the layers of the unfinished hardwood flooring.
Improved uniformity
Unfinished hardwood provides better uniformity of the floors since you have to level the floor first and fill any gaps that might be present on the wood and floor before applying any stains or coating. This is not the case with factory-finished hardwood since they might contain gaps and poorly sanded wood.
Enhances appearance
Unfinished hardwood flooring offers a more natural look to the house since all the staining and coating are done according to the owner’s wants, plus the unfinished hardwood flooring can be created to the desired edges and layers, which might not be the case with the finished flooring.
Disadvantages of unfinished hardwood flooring
Time
Unfinished hardwood flooring takes a long time to install since they are not completely finished. Therefore, you will be required to sand them down and then stain and coat them before completely installing them.
It can be costly
Using unfinished flooring can be costly since there is subfloor leveling to be done, the stains have to be bought, and most of the time, the installation process requires the knowledge of a professional who has some expertise in that particular area.
Tiresome
Installing unfinished hardwood flooring is tiresome since the planks of wood need to be fitted in manually by a drill and nails, which are all manual work. At the same time, measurement of the floor is very important when fitting in the unfinished hardwood flooring.
Where to buy unfinished hardwood flooring?
There are many places where this flooring can be purchased. You can purchase offline from hardware shops near you at affordable prices and online from sites like Alibaba, Amazon, and eBay, which sell these unfinished hardwoods wholesale. You are assured of fast shipping of these products, which can take one business week for the orders to arrive.
Things to consider before buying unfinished hardwood flooring
Cost of installation
If you seek professional help, it will cost you more than when you install the floor yourself.
Type of wood
There are two types of wood: engineered hardwood flooring and solid hardwood flooring. Engineered hardwood flooring is mainly fitted in rooms where moisture is more likely to accumulate quickly, while solid hardwood flooring is a single piece of hardwood that consists of planks and strips.
Plank length and width
The type of plank length and width that you choose will determine how many planks of unfinished hardwood you will need to fit in your room. If the plank length is too thin, you will need many planks for your room. The plank width determines how many rows you will have in the room.
Floating Vs. Fixed unfinished hardwood flooring
The floating unfinished hardwood flooring does not need any gluing or nailing on the floor. The fixed unfinished hardwood flooring requires nailing or gluing to the base using nail guns.
The type of finish you will need for your floor really matters
The unfinished hardwood flooring requires good finishing to enhance its appearance. Therefore the unfinished hardwood should be of good quality to provide good spreading of the stain on the wood during finishing.
How much is unfinished hardwood flooring?
The prices for unfinished hardwood flooring on Alibaba.com ranges between 25$-38$. On Amazon, the price range is between 19$-199$.
At local shops, the prices range between 12.99$-104$ per amount of unfinished hardwood flooring you order.
Difference between unfinished and prefinished hardwood flooring
Unfinished hardwood flooring requires finishing during installation, such as staining and coating, while prefinished floors are finished before installation.
Unfinished hardwood flooring requires more time for the stain and coating to dry up, plus they require nailing, while prefinished hardwood flooring requires less time since they do not need nailing and the stain is already fitted on the wood.
Unfinished hardwood flooring can be designed to any type of stain, and the stains can be matched according to the owner’s taste, while the prefinished hardwood flooring cannot be stained according to any design since the stains have already been fitted on the wood.
Unfinished hardwood flooring is wood that is fitted and designed on-site, while prefinished hardwood flooring is wood that has already been designed in the factory, ready for installation.
Conclusion
People mostly prefer unfinished hardwood floorings due to their money-saving ability. They also provide someone with an opportunity to stain the floors to their desired taste, and it also allows for flexibility when using them. You can purchase unfinished hardwood flooring at affordable prices in various places.
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