Engineered Vs Solid Wood Flooring - Details & Misconceptions
Many individuals are under the impact that solid wood flooring is superior to be able to engineered hardwood flooring and may actually do not consider engineered flooring for their particular home. Having spent 25 years like a flooring contractor and the past 4 decades as a store of both built and solid hard wood flooring, I have found that there are plenty of myths about both sorts of floors. I would like to share typically the following information in addition to my experience thus that you could make an well-informed decision about typically the best floor intended for your project.
Prior to I begin the comparison of built and solid flooring, let us first of all solve the belief that engineered floor coverings is the identical as laminate flooring (ie-Pergo. ) Additional than a few people enter my personal showroom with this idea, which is not really true. Laminate floors is not real wood, engineered floor coverings is. The surface layer of laminate flooring is a photograph of wood grain on paper impregnated with melamine, certainly not real wood. The most notable layer (also named wear layer) of engineered wood flooring consists of (real! ) high-quality real wood. Engineered hardwood flooring surfaces are comprised of multiple layers regarding wood, that happen to be cross-banded for stability and glued onto a new plywood base.
Strong Flooring: Pro's
Solid wood floor is exactly that--a solid part of wood from best to bottom. The thickness can differ, typically ranges from 3/4" to 5/16". Solid hardwood is certainly hardwearing and resilient, as well as key advantage is it can be re-sanded many times. However, it is not necessarily exceptional to engineered floors in this respect. Solid wood floor, like engineered floors, has a "wear layer" or part of wood of which can be sanded, and it is usually only a cheaper width of the floors. Even though sturdy floors are heavier compared to the wear level of engineered floor surfaces, you can only sand down so far before you would likely hit a nail with solid floor. You may get hold of one, possibly two, additional sandings together with a solid floor compared to an engineered floor. This specific is the just possible advantage to be able to solid flooring, i believe, and it does not apply inside every case and usually does not outweigh some great benefits of engineered floor.
Engineered Flooring: Plus
Engineered floors have got several advantages. While solid floors are usually not a good solution inside situations where presently there are high wetness levels or bright heat systems, the particular construction of designed floors makes these people stable enough to withstand certain alterations in temperature in addition to moisture that might produce a solid flooring warp. Engineered wood floors are designed in order to resist wood's natural tendency to modify dimensionally over time. The grain of each and every layer runs found in opposite directions, which in turn makes engineered floor surfaces very stable. Because of http://www.bigbearflooringutah.com will certainly expand and deal less than good wood flooring during fluctuations in humidity and temperature. For this reason manufactured floors are some sort of better choice with regard to applications for example over radiant heat pv panel, in kitchens, restrooms, and basements, or perhaps where a floor is needed in order to span two differing sub-floors like particle board and concrete.
One more advantage of designed floors is even more flexibility of unit installation types. Whereas solid floors can just be nailed straight down, most engineered flooring can be nailed or stapled to a wood sub flooring, or glued straight down to a wood sub floor or even concrete slab. Only engineered floors may be floated, the just option when wood flooring cannot end up being attached to typically the sub-floor.
Lastly, when compared with solid wood flooring, engineered flooring is a more ecologically sustainable choice, as it can yield up to four times typically the amount of floor using the similar amount of premium quality wood.
Having explained all of this specific, solid wood floors usually are certainly a fine choice for many applications. They just are usually not necessarily typically the superior choice in most case, as several people believe. If in doubt, a new flooring contractor can evaluate your internet site disorders and counsel you because to the top flooring type with regard to your home.
