Engineered vs hardwood?

4 years ago

Our hardwood floor was damaged when a pipe burst, and I am considering a wide-planked engineered floor from Fuzion (Frontier collection). I am told that my 2.25 inch wide red oak is no longer contemporary and that homes here (in Northwest Arkansas) are being built or remodeled with engineered wood that is wide-planked (and some lighter in color). Thoughts on quality of one versus the other? Any impact on resale?

Solid hardwood floor - 2.25 inch wide (picture on left)

Fuzion engineered wood floor - wide plank (picture on right)

Another option?

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Comments (5)

Chris
4 years ago
Do you have a dog? Ours destroyed engineered hardwood and sanding and re-staining was not as possible as the seller told us.
Sabrina Chin
Original Author
4 years ago
Interesting. I heard that engineered is more forgiving because impact is diffused. That said, i think what you are getting at is the hardness of the floor. Is that right?

We don't have a dog but a young child who can be rambunctious.
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Chris
4 years ago
Yes. Definitely find the hardest one you can. We didn’t know much but what the sales people told us… but it wasn’t possible to refinish it. We now have tile and carpeted stairs since it’s more difficult to scratch that🤷‍♀️
PRO
Unique Wood Floors
4 years ago
I wouldn't base on engineered or solid to make my floor decision since they both can perform really well. You will find most of the updated looking wood floors on the market are made in engineered format. Good brands sell their engineered versions at a higher price than their solid counterpart. So, I recommend finding a good quality engineered with refinishable wear layer 3 to 4mm.
stiley
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
We have engineered dark hickory. I had read that engineered was better if the house is on a slab. I was told that we could get one sanding/refinish out of it, but when we started our remodel last year, we learned that we couldn't. Ours is wide planks and came prefinished. I like them, but I definitely have had gouges if something hard hits the floor or from the dog claws; it goes down through the finish to the light-colored plywood part. I can cover it up with wood pens, but in hindsight, I wish we had done solid wood that was finished on site. I think that would be more forgiving longterm. Or maybe a thicker engineered finish would be as forgiving, I'm not sure. But it's a huge hassle and expense to have to redo floors!

As far as width, your skinny floors look really classic. Could they be refinished so as not to be so red? I know what's popular right now is wide plank white oak, but that may look dated in a few years... What's the style of the rest of your house? Must you replace the whole floor or just parts of it?

Here's a pic from one of my favorite designers; the floor looks a lot like your hardwoods. Traditional style is back in a big way.