Many see homes as a semblance of mother nature’s materials, providing shelter and comfort for ourselves and our families. Applying natural wood in a home brings that narrative to life, whether it’s wood cabinetry, exterior siding, or especially wood flooring. With that being said, one particular wood type that has proven over time to be a fabulous flooring choice is oak wood. This fantastic wood is the most common type of hardwood in the United States, and for a good reason.
Types of Oak
There are two primary types of oak wood, Red Oak, and White Oak. Red Oak is the most popular flooring choice due to its pinkish undertones, providing the home with a traditional warmth that other woods have a hard time comparing to. White Oak has more of a grayish-brown tone with linear grain lines, providing a home with a sharper-colder appearance. Oak trees are by far the vastest species growing in the Eastern hardwood forests. Red oaks are in abundance compared to white oak trees, both obtained from the mountains of New England to the Midwest USA. Websites like https://woodcut.com.au offer more insight into the types of Oak available for purchase and installation for your project.
Staining Ability
Oak checks all of the boxes; It’s beautiful, durable, resilient, cost-effective, and can easily be stained in many different colors. The distinct oak grain patterns are something special right out of the box, but add some stain to the wood and watch them pop like a well-lit painting. Oak is well known for taking stains easily, adding to its versatility that towers over some other hardwood flooring. This makes the aesthetic options for oak floors virtually infinite, making it a huge selling point if you ever put your house up for sale.
Stability and Durability
Stability is another enormous benefit of oak. Unlike some of its hardwood counterparts, oak is less susceptible to humidity and moisture. This makes all of the hard work you put into picking specific grains and stains last longer, so you can enjoy that beauty for decades. Coupled with stability is durability. Oak is very resilient to dings, dents, and scratches, due to the detailed grain patterns. This makes oak the perfect choice for high traffic areas in the home, or if you have animals with claws.
Conclusion
You will find oak in almost any class of home as a result of its natural beauty. Even celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Nicholas Cage use hardwood flooring in their homes due to the aesthetic appeal. According to the National Flooring Association, 90% of estate agents have stated that residence with oak flooring sells faster and allows for one to ask a higher selling price compared to rugged or laminate floors.
All of this makes oak hardwood floors especially appealing, and with these other aspects noted, a no-brainer for your home. The wide variety of grains, stains, and options of oak makes its beauty nearly boundless and adaptable to almost any home or business, bringing a sense of comfort and warmth to a room that other types of flooring have a hard time competing with.
