The Best Hardwood Flooring for Heavy Foot Traffic

Hardwood flooring for industrial and commercial spaces

A huge misconception about hardwood floors is that it is delicate and can’t stand up to heavy foot traffic. However, if you’re looking for beautiful, classic flooring for your store or boutique, you should not shy away from the hardwood. As long as it is installed right, hardwood floors can hold its own under the weight of thousands of shoppers. Yes, even if those shoppers are wearing heels.

Colorado hardwood flooring experts
Byers-Evans House Museum in Denver. The project included hardwood floor material and installation by T&G.

It’s all about the finish

Hardwood floors add instant aesthetic beauty to your industrial floors. Whatever you’re selling, from flowers to furniture to clothes and everything in between, hardwood floors are inviting and classic. They add warmth and make any store look and feel more luxurious and exclusive. What you sell may be totally affordable for everyone, but arranging your merchandise on hardwood floors will make any item feel more expensive and exclusive. However, if your floors are dull, scratched, faded, and dirty, the effect is lost. When you talk to a hardwood flooring craftsman, the type of finish that you use on your floors is almost more important than the type of wood that you choose.

Floor finishes can be oil- or water-based, but at T&G, we also offer UV-Cured floor finishes. Not only is this finish instantly cured (as the name would imply) and ready for immediate use, but the ceramic fortified finish is 40% harder than our best finishes.

Solid vs. engineered wood

T&G Flooring white oak
Eddie Bauer white oak hardwood floors installed by T&G Flooring.

With heavy foot traffic, from boots to stilettos, you’re going to have to refinish your floors every now and again.

Engineered wood may be a little cheaper, but when it comes to refinishing, engineered floors are slightly more limited than solid wood floors. The wear layer of engineered flooring is much thinner than solid wood, so when it comes to high-traffic floors, we will go with the flooring that allows for many refinishes. Of course, as we mentioned above, with a durable floor finish, you’ll minimize the times that you need to refinish your floors.

Hardwood flooring design and installation in Denver

T&G Flooring is one of Colorado’s largest hardwood flooring retailers. Our skilled craftspeople can help you find the perfect species as well as the best finish solution to keep your floors looking beautiful.

Talk to us about your hardwood flooring project, or visit our showroom and design center in Denver or Evergreen, Colorado, for hardwood flooring inspiration.

Picture of Chris Keale

Chris Keale

Owner & Operator of Tongue & Groove Flooring
Wood Flooring 101 Course Creator

Chris Keale is the owner of Tongue & Groove and the creator of the Wood Floors 101 course, an educational resource that helps homeowners and design professionals make confident flooring decisions.

With a career that began in global technology and consulting, Chris traded boardrooms for floorboards, bringing his leadership skills and love of craftsmanship into the hardwood flooring industry. Since 2007, he has grown Tongue & Groove into one of Colorado’s most trusted flooring companies—built on a foundation of integrity, education and precision. 

Known for his sharp insight, dry humor and genuine commitment to his clients, Chris has helped homeowners, builders and designers through the complexities of choosing and installing hardwood floors. Whether teaching in the showroom, on a jobsite or through his Wood Floors 101, his mission remains the same: to simplify a complicated industry and deliver floors that stand the test of time.

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