Engineered Vs Solid Oak Flooring

This benefit makes them suitable for use anywhere in your home including basements and sub floors.

Engineered vs solid oak flooring.

Unlike solid hardwood planks engineered wood floors aren t as susceptible to moisture and heat. Caring for engineered hardwood flooring is similar to solid hardwoods as the top layer the wear layer that will come into contact with the cleaning materials is essentially the same for both with any hardwoods engineered or solid you will want to avoid abrasive or harsh chemicals like ammonia and avoid using excessive soaking as hardwood is. Engineered wood flooring. It is milled with tongues and grooves on opposite edges so that the boards interlock when installed.

Solid hardwood flooring is available in a wide array of wood species including oak maple and black walnut as well as regional specific choices like pecan mesquite and others. It can also refer to engineered flooring a manufactured type of flooring with a hardwood veneer. In order to restrain this natural movement of timber wood flooring producers use engineered wood. Solid wood flooring vs.

For engineered wood flooring a veneer should be a minimum of 2mill to be screened and refinished like solid wood floors and extend the life of the flooring. Even though engineered wood looks pretty much the same as solid wood to notice the difference you will have to look under the surface. It is always nailed down to the subfloor a process that requires some skill. Engineered hardwood can go in the same rooms as solid hardwood but its engineered construction also makes it a great choice for basements and over radiant heating and concrete floors still avoid bathrooms and laundry rooms because engineered flooring is slightly thinner than most solid hardwood it can also be good for projects where your hardwood needs to match the height of an adjoining.

Solid wood flooring comes in long planks usually made of a hardwood species. This thin veneer means it can only be refinished a fraction of the times of solid wood flooring if at all. Depending on the level of humidity it is always either expanding or contracting. Engineered oak flooring certainly has come a far way from a decade or so ago when it was made from cheap wood pulp and covered in spar varnish.

The contraction and expansion activity of a solid wood plank will depend on the floor s grain pattern and average moisture average equilibrium moisture contents of a said region. It is relatively easy for a non professional to install and can be put down over a thin foam floating floor as required. The term hardwood doesn t always refer to solid wood though.