Dive into Waterproof Wood Flooring

The Advantages of Waterproof Wood Flooring

The most significant advantage of waterproof wood flooring is that you can finally use hardwood in places never possible. That means spaces like bathrooms, laundry rooms, basements, and sometimes kitchens.

Anywhere where you must live in fear that water can soak away your investment in hardwood.

With waterproofing, all bets are on the table. If your kids splash water on your bathroom floor, it’s no major concern. If your basement has higher than average humidity, so what? You can enjoy waterproof wood flooring wherever you want in your home.

Natural Wood Flooring vs. Vinyl

Due to its engineered construction, waterproof wood flooring is generally more scratch-resistant than some solid hardwoods. That is especially true for softer hardwood floors like pine, birch, or cherry.

Waterproof hardwood floors let you use the real deal versus more synthetic solutions like vinyl that only mimic wood. Those solutions have lots of pluses, like waterproof performance and scratch resistance. But they aren’t real hardwood.

Engineered Wood Flooring Versus Solid Hardwood

As mentioned, waterproof or water-resistant hardwood floors typically have one thing in common. They’re engineered floors. If you aren’t overly familiar with engineered hardwood flooring, it has these two features versus solid hardwood:

1. A composite core that uses plywood or high-density fiberboard. That core uses a crisscrossed pattern to add stability, meaning it’s less susceptible to swelling and contracting. The bottom line is that your floors have a water-resistant, if not fully waterproof, core.

2. A wear layer featuring genuine hardwood, be it white oak, maple, hickory, or other species. That hardwood veneer makes it real hardwood rather than a photographic impression like vinyl. The top layer uses finishes like aluminum oxide, making the flooring highly scratch-resistant and durable.

All that differs from solid hardwood, which uses one piece of wood for each plank. You can learn more about engineered vs. solid hardwood flooring here.

100% Waterproof Wood Flooring

You might not be overly familiar with waterproof hardwood flooring. That’s because it’s a reasonably rare find. Not too many manufacturers offer it, instead relying on wood-look alternatives.

But for genuine hardwood lovers, Bruce®, for example, has assumed a prominent spot. Its Hydropel™ waterproof wood flooring lets you use wood, even in bathrooms.

Hydropel’s innovative composition adds waterproofing to all six sides of a floor’s planks. So the top, bottom, sides, and ends all include a treatment that makes them waterproof.

Equally important, the flooring exudes real-wood character. You can choose from Hickory and Oak flooring in 11 colors. For an added rustic touch, you can select different finishes, even hand-scraped or wire-brushed textures. The flooring even includes 5-inch-wide planks to capture today’s trend.

Hydropel is scratch-resistant. So, your floors will look pristine longer with proper maintenance. You’ll even get the benefit of a 50-year residential warranty.

Water-Resistant Hardwood Flooring

Water-resistant wood flooring is more of a staple than waterproof hardwood. Due to their core’s construction, most engineered floors offer some resistance.

Some engineered hardwoods, however, kick things up a notch. Here’s another area where Bruce has taken the lead with its award-winning Dogwood® densified wood flooring.

Unlike standard engineered floors, Bruce uses a process that hardens each plank beyond its normal strength. For instance, oak has a Janka rating 1380, making it a durable flooring species. Once densified, that rating climbs to over 3000, nearly tripling the wood’s hardness.

Benefits of Hardened Wood Flooring

That translates to several benefits versus traditional flooring:

* Four times more scratch resistance
* Six times more dent resistance
* 24-hour protection against water

As the name implies, Dogwood is super pet-friendly flooring. It helps eliminate or reduce the impact of pet accidents on your hardwoods. It also helps prevent ugly scratch marks from dog claws. On another note, it also helps protect against rambunctious kid activity!

Wood Look Waterproof Flooring

You’ve seen what the world offers for waterproof and water-resistant wood flooring. If you’re still not sold, look to wood-look flooring options for moisture protection. Most people generally consider rigid-core vinyl flooring as the gold standard.

Like engineered hardwood, rigid core floors have a composite core. That core can be wood or stone, with either offering waterproofing.

WPC vs. SPC Rigid Core Vinyl

Wood plastic composite (WPC) flooring uses wooden materials like plasticizers or wood flour. Because the core is wooden, the flooring is somewhat softer and more comfortable than SPC.

Stone plastic composite (SPC) flooring uses a stone composite, typically limestone. As you might expect, the stone core makes SPC rigid flooring especially strong and durable. SPC is so strong that commercial businesses often use it for high traffic. So you know it can handle what your home’s dwellers throw at it.

Stay Dry with Bruce® Flooring

So there, you have three types of flooring designed to relieve water concerns. So, you can enjoy genuine wood flooring or wood-look flooring anywhere in your home.

Bruce has you covered with all three options. Each is easy to maintain. Each handle everyday wear and tear. And each comes with a wide selection of colors and styles to fit your decor.

Best of all, you can see them in your room before buying and installing them. Use our floor visualizer app and select the waterproof flooring you like. Then, see how it looks in your room within seconds. When you’re ready to buy, use our store locator to find a Bruce dealer near you.