Many homeowners are only familiar with low quality engineered hardwood flooring. To maintain high quality they will ask for solid hardwood flooring for their home. If their home is being built over a concrete slab or in a climate with humidity and temperature swings a Solid Plank wood floor may not be a possibility. Most wood flooring installers will not install Solid Plank wood floors over concrete without a costly sub floor installation and high humidity can also cause planks to swell.
A long lasting Engineered hardwood flooring option
Over the last several years American wood flooring manufactures have responded to this need with very high quality Engineered Plank wood flooring. These planks are typically 5/8″ or 3/4″ thick and will include wear layers from 4mm to 6mm. This thicker wear layer allows the homeowner to have the Engineered hardwood floors refinished several times. Since the floors are Engineered they can also be used in places where Solid wood flooring would not be a good choice.
An easier installation process with Engineered hardwood flooring
Engineered wood floors are typically easier to install than Solid wood floors and can even be delivered unfinished. This allows the homeowner to have the floors finished on site just like a Solid Plank wood floor. When the floors are finished on site they will also not need bevels between the planks. Some homeowners really love the look of bevels while others prefer the smooth transition from plank to plank.
Talk with your wood flooring installer about your project. Ask them if you need a Solid or Engineered hardwood floor planks. They should be able to answer all these questions and give additional insight from their close inspection of your home and sub floor. Remember.. just because you may need Engineered wood flooring doesn’t mean you cant still have it finished on site or refinished again in the future. The best of both worlds is available in a high quality Engineered hardwood floor product.