When you examine prefinished wood floors and unfinished wood floors, you might think the differences between them are obvious. While there certainly isn’t any huge secret about the major differences between these two kinds of hardwood floors, the answer is a little more complicated than you might think. If you’re trying to choose between the two, it’s a good idea to understand what both of them are and the benefits they provide. We’ll go over the difference between prefinished and unfinished wood floors so you can make the decision for yourself.
Major Differences
One of the biggest differences between prefinished and unfinished wood flooring is that using prefinished flooring is faster. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s automatically better than unfinished wood flooring.
Prefinished wood flooring has most of the major cleanup steps already done. It’s already been sanded, stained, and finished. This lets you cut it right away and slap it into place without any more effort. Unfinished wood flooring, in contrast, is completely raw wood that you install in your home and then finish on-site afterward.
Advantages of Prefinished Wood Floors
Using prefinished wood flooring reduces the amount of mess you’ll have to clean up once everything gets installed. You also won’t need to deal with unpleasant-smelling chemicals in an attempt to finish off the floors. If you aren’t installing the flooring yourself, prefinished floors are usually the cheaper option as well, given that you will save a lot of money on labor even though the planks themselves are slightly more expensive.
Advantages of Unfinished Wood Floors
The biggest benefit of unfinished wood flooring is that it looks better in the end. The many coatings and finishes on prefinished wood make it look slightly fake and make the lines between planks much more obvious. Unfinished wood flooring also gives you much more creative freedom when it comes to finishes so you can customize it however you want.
If you’re looking for both prefinished and unfinished hardwood flooring for sale online, check out our store here at Hardwoods4less. We have a ton of options for either alternative that’ll help you make your room into the one you’ve always envisioned.