Engineered wood floor vs. solid plank wood fllor

11 years ago

Adding new wood floors to new kitchen, FR. Keeping original narrow plank oak 3" wood floors in living room, dining room adjancent. Should we go with engineered wood or solid planks? Prefinished or unfinished?

Featured Answer

PRO

Olde Wood Ltd.

11 years ago

Great questions! Going with solid or engineered wood generally depends on a few factors - the type of installation (I'm assuming on-grade? If so, both engineered or solid would work), where you are located (engineered flooring is best in climates with moisture and temperature changes), and the subfloor type (engineered is best for concrete subfloors). To go into more detail, check out this article. It outlines when it is best to use engineered flooring as well as what characteristics to look for to make sure you get an engineered floor that's durable and built to last.

Both prefinished and unfinished floors turn out beautifully. If you go the prefinished route, the flooring may be a bit more expensive upfront, but you will save on having a third party finish the floors. Prefinished floors also mean less hassle/mess during installation. Unfinished floors are more economical upfront and allow for more control during the finishing process. However, someone will need to finish them and the project will require more time to allow the finish to dry. Finally, Texture is something to consider- if you would like a floor with a rough-sawn texture, unfinished flooring would be the best choice. If you have any questions on this information, feel free to give us a call at 866-208-9663 to talk to one of our Design Specialists. Hope this helps and good luck!

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Comments (7)

schifferli
Original Author
11 years ago
Wow--what a quick and informative answer! Thanks so much. I think i can see where this leads me. Add to this the fact that we are remodelling a beautiful old 1940s house in South Florida on the water. Lots of humidity. On concrete subfloors. And, half of the new family room is going into what was once a covered porch/sunroom, and it is higher (!) than the other half of the family room/kitchen space. So getting the floors even height requires gypcrete base on half of floor. Everyone says use the engineered floor, but I dont really like the samples I've seen. Maybe I just need to look at different and thicker samples.
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PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
11 years ago
"Everyone" is correct about working with engineered hardwood. Florida and Texas are the two main reasons why engineered hardwood floors exist. There are hundreds of options out there. If you don't like what you see, then keep looking. I can guarantee you have not seen it all.

If you have the budget, a "site finished" engineered hardwood is a GREAT option. You pick the species and the width of plank and the colour. The installers come in and install it as per normal engineered hardwood. Then the come back and add stain and finish (just like your solid hardwood).

It is possible to have all the wood done at once so that everything has the same finish/colour. No one will know part of the floor is solid and the other is engineered. Oak and Broad has some magnificent "site finished" engineered hardwoods that can be finished and sanded just like a solid hardwood.
schifferli thanked Cancork Floor Inc.
schifferli
Original Author
11 years ago
Yes, the site finished sounds like a good option too. Our floor supplier mentioned that, and is going to give us an estimate for that option too.
schifferli
Original Author
11 years ago
We are going to get our old wood floors sanded and finished when we install the new ones, so we could do it all at the same time. How hard do you think it will be to get them somewhat similar in finish?
PRO
ULTIMATE HARDWOOD LTD
11 years ago
Should be relatively easy if you hire a very well qualified floorman.
schifferli thanked ULTIMATE HARDWOOD LTD
PRO
Olde Wood Ltd.
11 years ago
Engineered flooring should look very, very similar to solid hardwood because it is a wear layer of solid hardwood adhered to a plywood core. Definitely look at the thickness of the wear layer - the thicker it is, the longer it will last and the more closely it will resemble a solid hardwood floor. We recommend a wear layer of at least 4 mm.
schifferli thanked Olde Wood Ltd.