Hardwood vs. Engineered Floors?

8 years ago

Ok - I am building a brand new home and have 2 options on the table. We are building herringbone floors on the ground floor. This will be glued to cement. I am building in Denmark.

Option 1:

22mm solid oak boards (Danish made)

Option 2:

10mm engineered oak boards with a 3.5mm veneer layer (German made with the claim of a 30yr guarantee. It's also from Haro, the same company that will make the rest of the floors in the house.)

With installation, the first option should cost around $3/sq ft. more to install. We are installing roughly 950 square feet.

Option 1 and 2 are same length and width boards.

My dilemma: I feel like Option 1 is a better price/quality, but because we're gluing to cement it won't work and we need to go with Option 2.

I feel like there are people out there who say you CAN glue to cement subfloors, but I haven't found any who say that you won't be dealing with cracks in the floors in a few years time.

Thanks all for weighing in!

Ned

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Comments (3)

PRO
GN Builders L.L.C
8 years ago
Over concrete, you have to use engineered flooring, unless you install a subfloor something like DriCore you can use solid wood, but that will raise your floor about 1".
Ned Smith thanked GN Builders L.L.C
SJ McCarthy
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Technically you CAN glue solid hardwood over concrete. And if ANYONE can get this done it would be the Danish craftsman (who are just as good as the Germans!!!!).

Solid herring bone hardwood is MAGNIFICENT! They can go 80 - 120 years. They can be refinished (and the Europeans are VERY good at refinishing herring bone patterns because there are SOOOO MANY OF THEM!).

They are HIGH VALUE floors. The up-charge is no big deal. You will get an up-charge with EITHER product.

The "cracks" you are referring to are from SHRINKAGE....due to humidity changes. These can happen with engineered floors AS WELL. Oops. Yes they can.

Denmark is normally damp (outside humidity) but the winters are often dry indoors because of the heating systems. If you insist on staying away from 'cracking' (aka...shrinkage) then you MUST get some heavy duty indoor humidity control. Even in Damp and Dark Denmark, you will need to keep the indoor humidity up around 45%. In winter it can drop to 25% without much effort. That's when EVERY WOOD SURFACE in your home will SHRINK....which can show up as "cracks".

Engineered hardwood will have the same problems as solid - if you do not control the humidity. And most Danes do not. They simply "live" with wood and what wood does. In fact, they are FAMOUS for Danish Modern furniture. Scandinavian Modern features plenty of wood. It's kinda what they are known for.

So long as your installer is capable of gluing down solid over concrete, I feel the solid is the way to go. Wood is wood. It will shrink in winter and expand in summer. If that scares you, then you will have to: A) choose another material; B) Choose indoor humidity control for winter; or C) Live with it.
Ned Smith thanked SJ McCarthy
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User
8 years ago
Lots of money can make anything happen. But I still wouldn’t do solid over concrete.