Many individuals are under the impression that solid hard wood flooring is superior to engineered hardwood floor and may also refuse to consider built flooring for their very own home. Having invested 25 years as being a flooring contractor as well as the past 4 yrs as a dealer of both manufactured and solid wood flooring, I possess found that right now there are a lot of misconceptions about both varieties of floors. I would like to share typically the following information and my experience thus that you can make an well-informed decision about typically the best floor with regard to your project.
Just before I begin my comparison of engineered and solid floor surfaces, let us very first solve the misunderstanding that engineered flooring is the similar as laminate floors (ie-Pergo. ) Even more than a several people walk into my showroom with this particular idea, which is certainly not true. Laminate floors is not actual wood, engineered floor is. The area layer of layered flooring is a picture of wood materials on paper impregnated with melamine, not necessarily real wood. The best layer (also named wear layer) regarding engineered wood flooring consists of (real! ) high-quality wood. Engineered hardwood floors are comprised of multiple layers associated with wood, that happen to be cross-banded for stability and glued onto a new plywood base.
Strong Flooring: Plus
Solid wood floor is exactly that--a solid piece of wood from top rated to bottom. Typically the thickness can change, but generally ranges coming from 3/4" to 5/16". Solid hardwood is certainly hardwearing plus resilient, and its particular primary advantage is that it can be re-sanded several times. However, it is not necessarily superior to engineered floor coverings in this regard. Solid wood flooring, like engineered floor, has a "wear layer" or part of wood of which can be sanded, and it will be only a fraction of the fullness of the ground. Even though sturdy floors are thicker compared to the wear level of engineered floors, you can only crushed stone down so far before you would certainly hit a nail with solid floors. You may get one, possibly two, additional sandings along with a solid floor compared to an engineered floor. This kind of is the only possible advantage to be able to solid flooring, i believe, and it will not apply in every case and generally does not surpass the advantages of engineered floor coverings.
Engineered Flooring: Pro's
Engineered floors have several advantages. Whilst solid floors will be not a good choice throughout situations where there are high humidity levels or glowing heat systems, typically the construction of built floors makes them stable enough to withstand certain alterations in temperature plus moisture that might make a solid floor warp. Engineered hard wood floors are designed to resist wood's natural tendency to improve dimensionally over time. The grain of each layer runs inside of opposite directions, which often makes engineered flooring very stable. This means that the wood can expand and deal less than solid wood flooring during fluctuations in dampness and temperature. Regarding this reason designed floors are the better choice for applications for example above radiant heat installs, in kitchens, restrooms, and basements, or perhaps where a ground is needed in order to span two differing sub-floors like plywood and concrete.
Another advantage of engineered floors is a lot more flexibility of unit installation types. Whereas sturdy floors can only be nailed straight down, most engineered flooring can be nailed or stapled to a wood sub floor, or glued lower to a wood sub floor or even concrete slab. Simply Karndean Flooring Little Brickhill can be floated, the only option when wood flooring cannot always be attached to the sub-floor.
Lastly, in comparison to solid wood floors, engineered flooring is definitely a more ecologically sustainable choice, as it may yield up to be able to four times typically the amount of floor coverings using the similar amount of top quality wood.
Having stated all of this specific, wooden floors usually are certainly a fine choice for most applications. They just are not necessarily typically the superior choice in most case, as several people believe. Karndean Flooring Emberton in doubt, the flooring contractor could evaluate your internet site disorders and counsel you since to the perfect flooring type with regard to your home.