One of the key decisions to make when choosing your wooden floor is whether to opt for prefinished wood flooring or to buy unfinished planks instead.
Prefinished wood is when the finish is applied at the manufacturing stage rather than the traditional finishing of a wooden floor which is after it has been laid.
Finishes come in a variety of colours and types including lacquers and oils or matt or silk finishes too. This is the case whether you are buying prefinished or unfinished flooring.
There are benefits to both unfinished and prefinished wood flooring which we will detail in this article. This way you’ll have a fuller picture to help you make your decision.
Advantages of Prefinished Hardwood Flooring
Durability
One huge advantage of prefinished wooden flooring is the durability of the finish. There are processes available in an industrial factory setting that simply aren’t available, practical or sometimes even safe to use in a home setting.
This means that prefinished wood floors commonly have a longer warranty period.
Easy Installation
Laying a prefinished floor is just as easy as an unfinished wooden floor to install but with the added bonus that once it’s laid it’s finished, with no further sanding required, no smelly, sticky or messy finishes in your home and no waiting for the finish to dry.
Easy Maintenance
The increased durability of prefinished wood for your floor means that maintenance is easy and straightforward. Typically it is more scratch, water and stain resistant than unfinished wood and with regular sweeping and mopping with a recommended mop and wooden floor cleaner will keep it looking its best for decades.
Refinishing
Despite the obvious advantage of prefinished wooden floors not requiring refinishing, there is always the chance that you might want to change the colour or type of finish at some point. Buying prefinished planks does not exclude this option. With sanding, the finish can be removed and then you can apply your newly chosen finish.
Immediate Use
Some finishes are fairly laborious to apply. They might need several coats and sometimes need 24 hours to fully dry before the next coat can be applied. With prefinished wooden flooring, your floors are ready for you and your family immediately.
Harder Initial Surface
The tough outer layer on factory-finished wooden flooring can better withstand rigorous activity, making it an excellent choice for homes with pets and high foot traffic.
Consistent and Uniform Floor
Prefinished flooring gives you a guaranteed even and consistent finish. This is not always the case with unfinished planks especially if you choose to finish the floor yourself rather than hire an experienced professional.
Relatively Cheaper
Although the initial outlay of prefinished wooden floors can be higher the extra durability and extended life of the factory finish means that it will be a much longer time before you will need to pay to sand and refinish your wooden floor.
Disadvantages of Prefinished Hardwood Flooring
Unsealed Edges
When finishing your wooden floor after it has been laid the edges, that is the tiny gaps between the planks are also sealed. For prefinished planks to avoid dust, debris and moisture seeping into any cracks between planks you will need to apply a
sealant.
Bevelled Edges
Some prefinished wooden floors come with bevelled edges. If this is something you would like to avoid, perhaps to be sure your flooring matches other wood floorings already in your property, then it may be worth double-checking whether your prefinished flooring is bevelled or not.
Requires a Perfectly Flat Foundation
We recommend that any wooden flooring should have a difference of no more than 3mm.
With unfinished flooring, even these minimal differences can be evened out with sanding, but this is not possible with prefinished wood flooring.
Heavy Sanding Needed to Change the Look
Once prefinished flooring has been laid, should you choose to alter the look by using a different coloured stain or type of finish for example then the floor would need to be heavily sanded before you could do so.
Limited Installation Options
For some intricate parquet wooden flooring options such as the unique
Versaille style the only option for this type of flooring installation is with the wooden planks in an unfinished state.
Limited Choices of Prefinished Hardwood Flooring
Although there can be some limitations with regard to wood species or particularly intricate patterns prefinished wooden flooring is becoming far less limited in choice. In fact, if you are looking for a wooden floor with the added benefits of
engineered wood then the only choices are prefinished wood.
Which is Better: Prefinished Wood or Unfinished Wooden Flooring?
Ultimately, this depends on your needs as a consumer and what you are looking for in a wooden floor.
If you would just like to get your flooring bought, laid and ready to use as quickly as possible then prefinished flooring is going to be the obvious choice.
Similarly, if you want to avoid the potential fumes and drying times of your flooring being finished on-site then prefinished wood flooring is a better option for you.
However, if you have your heart set on intricate patterns and inlays or a particular or unusual species, or if you are looking to match existing wooden floors in your home then prefinished wood is probably not going to be the right choice for you.
Why not
browse our wide selection of both finished and unfinished solid hardwood flooring and engineered wooden flooring to see which most appeals to you? You can search by colour, finish, price, brand, thickness, or edging as well as other options.
Alternatively, if you have any questions you’d like to ask our team of experts then get in touch via our
contact form and we will get back to you as quickly as possible.
