Monday 22 March 2021

Wood Flooring and Children


If you are the proud parents of babies or young children and are considering the installation of hardwood floors, no doubt you'll have questions of safety and appropriateness spinning around your mind. There is not much doubt that the hygienic advantages of a wooden floor are much greater than carpeted flooring, yet the softness of carpet can appear very attractive.

There's no getting away from the fact that because wood is a natural solution, solid wood flooring has a propensity to expand and contract with changes in ecological conditions and people expansions and contractions can result in gaps in the floor. If you believe differences between the floorboards might pose a danger for your child, it's well worth considering engineered wood flooring.

Solid wood flooring, as the name implies is constructed using planks made from 1 piece of timber, whereas engineered wood flooring consists of layers of various kinds of timber which are topped with a wood layer to generate the end result look like solid wood. As a result of its make up, engineered wood flooring is much less susceptible to expansion and contraction than solid timber and as such doesn't pose the exact same risk of gaps for small fingers and toes or toys to get trapped.

From its nature, timber flooring is a harder choice than carpet that means parents commonly worry about kids having a hard landing on a fall. 1 method of reducing the"hardness" of a hardwood flooring would be to install the floor using a'floating' method. A floating hardwood flooring is a flooring that's neither pinpointed nor glued to the sub-floor. In a floating installation, the only place glue may be used is involving the groove and tongue. In a domestic situation, a floating floor can be laid over a sub-floor or over an existing floor after placing an appropriate underlay. It's the introduction of this underlay that might help soften the impact of any drops (as well as acting as a sound barrier).

A few final things on the list for any parents of small children or babies contemplating the purchase and setup of a wooden floor is the finish and some other ecological risks. In terms hardwood floors finish, lacquers and hard wax oils offer a coating which will permit the floor to take the wear and tear thrown at it by even the roughest of children. Of course together with the closeness of little hands and small mouths to the ground, as parents you are going to want to ensure that your new flooring and its finish have reduced (and preferably no) volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) thus reducing the risk of hazardous emissions.