What is Engineered Flooring and How Does it Compare to Solid Hardwood Flooring

I thought I would write this article because it was a question I have just been forced to ask: what is engineered flooring?

Well, engineered flooring is similar in appearance and in the way it must be looked after to solid hardwood flooring. It has some advantages over the real thing, and some disadvantages.

Under-foot, engineered flooring is like hardwood flooring, because it has a hardwood layer on top. Beneath that it is engineered layers of plywood glued together in opposite directions.

Engineered flooring has a bad reputation because it all looked the same, but more recently it has improved with several vendors now making the top layer of actual and properly finished hardwood.

It has also improved in that the manufacturers of engineered flooring have increased the depth of the top layer, to make it last longer (some of the higher grades will last almost as long as solid hardwood floors.

The length of time a floor will last is determined by the depth of wood above the tongue and groove strips, because this determines how many times it can be sanded and refinished. Most solid hardwood floors have about a quarter of an inch above the tongue and groove, with the high end products having an eighth or even three sixteenths of an inch. Some of the newer and higher quality engineered flooring products are coming close to the quarter inch mark.

Advantages of Engineered Flooring:

Basically engineered flooring has two main advantages: it is cheaper than solid hardwood flooring, and that it is more resistant to humidity. It also allows people who have concrete floors to install a hardwood floor of sorts.

It is an excellent alternative to laminate flooring, because it is only slightly more expensive, whilst it gives many of the benefits of solid hardwood flooring.

Of course nothing can beat the real deal for me, but for the reasons people may choose laminate, engineered flooring is just as good a choice.

Finally, because it has a hardwood layer, the life of engineered flooring can be prolonged if it is cared for in the proper ways.