Few things make as big a statement about someone as them having hardwood floors. Even though hardwood floors were very common in the old days, because back then people did not know about cheap options to flooring and all flooring was done in hardwood that was readily available in the area.
The problem with that old hardwood flooring was that the people who were having it done did not know that much about nature and making sure that there would always be hardwood for flooring available because people, did not take too much at any one time. So the hardwood supply would always suffer near any new building that was taking place.
They would strip farm the hardwood forests to make sure that all the new buildings had lovely shiny flooring and that this flooring would keep all in the home warm during the long and cold winter months. It is as if these early folk thought they were still living in Europe and needed the hardwood flooring to keep out the chills, one need to bear in mind that while winter in south Africa can be very nippy from time to time, to think that homes in south Africa need the same level of heat retention as homes in Europe is more than a little dumb.
This is the main reason, that as soon as people can up with new ideas about how flooring could be achieved the old hardwood flooring method was left to the homes of the very wealthy who could afford to pay the acre of hardwood trees that it would take to do all the flooring in a big home.
So today when one steps into an old house and sees the beautiful hardwood flooring you know right way that there was a hardwood forest nearby and that the forest is responsible for the lovely flooring, and conversely the hardwood flooring is responsible for the erosion that has probably taken place in the area since the flooring was done, so before you admire that lovely original hardwood flooring, think about all the trees that had to die for it to happen.