Engineered or solid? Which hardwood flooring is right for you?

Everyone loves wood flooring, but not everyone can have it, especially in a wet room like the bath. What if we said you can still have the natural beauty of real hardwood with a little more stability and a better ability to handle water?

That is the marvel of engineered wood flooring. It's taking over a significant share of the wood flooring industry. Our hardwood flooring company expects it to increase in popularity with the advent of new plank sizes, colors, patterns, and other innovations.

Same beauty, different construction

On the surface, both engineered and solid hardwood flooring looks similar. With either, you'll get beautiful wood floors with textures, undertones, and characteristics, like knots, that make these floors so distinctive. Species commonly chosen are oak, maple, hickory, birch, and walnut.

While solid is one slab of wood throughout, engineered has three to 12 layers underneath that combine natural wood with a bit of resin, placed in a crosswise position. While solid isn't recommended for installation in wet areas, engineered hardwood can be placed in higher-than-normal moisture areas and installed over any subfloor, including concrete.

Thickness matters

Whether engineered or solid, thickness determines the number of times a floor can be sanded and refinished. The typical thickness of solid is ¾-inch, while engineered comes in a range of ⅜-inch to ½-inch. Thicker is better and, depending on that measurement, engineered can be sanded and refinished up to four times.

Installation differences

Solid is always the traditional tongue and groove//nail down, but engineered offers more installation possibilities, including the floating floor; with the latter, the pieces click, mat, and then hover over the subfloor without nails or glue.

With Flooring Solutions of WNY, you get 75 years of experience, combined with some of the best flooring minds in Western NY. That's because we're three companies joined together to create one firm! So whether you're choosing hardwood or some other flooring, you'll be guaranteed high quality and a craftsman-like installation. We invite you to come into our Buffalo, NY showroom and get a free quote. We service Depew, West Seneca, Williamsville, Clarence, Elma, East Aurora, Tonawanda, and Lancaster.