Engineered Hardwood Flooring Pros and Cons

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Choosing the right flooring material for your home isn’t an easy task. There are so many types of flooring, each with their own pros and cons. We’ll break down the pros and cons of engineered hardwood flooring for you to give you some better insight:

Pros

High Durability

Durability is a top quality of engineered wood flooring. Engineered planks are layered to prevent wear and moisture absorption, and to expand and contract to prevent the negative effects of humidity.

Engineered hardwood consists of a wear layer, a wood veneer, and a plywood layer. The wear layer guards against scratching, the wood veneer gives engineered wood its elegant appearance, and the plywood layer serves as the core and support layer for each plank.

Together, the layers make engineered wood planks quite durable, and it can withstand many of the threats posed to hardwood flooring. Engineered hardwood flooring should last for at least 10-15 years.

Imitates Real Hardwood

The great part about engineered wood flooring is that it looks almost the exact same as hardwood. How is this possible? The wood veneer in engineered planks is real wood. The veneer layer can be made of oak, maple, walnut, cherry, hickory – pretty much any species of wood.

Generally speaking, an engineered plank is topped with a clear polyurethane or aluminum oxide layer (wear layer). Therefore, the hardwood veneer shows through the top layer, giving the floor the appeal of real hardwood flooring.

Your guests will think that it’s real hardwood flooring. The only way to tell the difference is placing an engineered plank next to a solid hardwood plank.

Easy Installation

Unlike real hardwood, engineered hardwood is easy to install. It can be installed using the nail-down, glue-down or floating methods. The first two speak for themselves; a floating floor consists of connecting each plank by tongue and groove – similar to a puzzle.

Since floating installation is an option, engineered hardwood can be laid over a subfloor as long as the subfloor is flat and sturdy.

Installing engineered hardwood flooring is something you can do on your own. But, if you want your flooring installed perfectly, it’s probably best you rely on a professional installation company. The installation won’t take long and won’t be as messy as a DIY installation.

Ease of Maintenance

You won’t need more than a damp mop or wipe to clean engineered hardwood flooring. The surface is smooth and flat. Plus, you won’t have to worry about moisture the same way you would with real wood flooring. The reason for this is that a moderate amount of moisture doesn’t pose as much of a threat to engineered wood.

Moreover, engineered hardwood isn’t stained like traditional hardwood. Thus, It won’t have chemical cleaners like real hardwood does.

Moisture won’t seep into the core easily and vacuums won’t scratch the surface if the bristles are accidentally left in motion. Even steam cleaning is acceptable for engineered hardwood flooring.

More Affordable than Real Hardwood

Engineered hardwood looks a lot like real hardwood, but it’s less expensive. The price difference isn’t extreme, but engineered flooring typically runs a few dollars less per square foot. It’s also much less expensive to install.

When comparing quality, appearance, and price, it’s hard to ignore engineered hardwood flooring. There’s a reason that the type of flooring has been in such high demand in recent years. With it being such a durable flooring material, its popularity will only grow.

Cons

Refinishing is Limited

Out of all the cons of engineered hardwood, this one of the biggest. Because the wood veneer is so thin, normally between 0.5 – 1.0 mm, the opportunity to sand and refinish the surface is quite limited.

A regular hardwood floor can be sanded and refinished multiple times, because the plank is made completely of wood. Due to this, it’s easier to refinish.

Engineered hardwood doesn’t have the luxury of multiple refinishes. However, some manufacturers offer wood veneers up to 2.0 mm in width, in which case the flooring can be refinished once or twice.

Range of Material Quality

You have to be careful when selecting an engineered hardwood flooring. Since the flooring is layered, it’s essential the one you buy is made up of strong, durable materials. The wear layer, veneer, plywood, and adhesive used to hold them together need to be created and installed for the long-term.

Nothing good comes out of buying low-quality flooring. Just make sure to get all the details from a flooring expert. We guarantee that the engineered hardwood sold at Nadine Floor Company will keep form and last quite a while. We sell only the highest quality materials.

Staining and Wood Grain are More Basic

Engineered hardwood looks like real hardwood, but it isn’t. Therefore, it’ll lack certain qualities of real hardwood. Staining isn’t relevant because the floor is covered with a wear layer. The grain is noticeable, though not as extreme as with real hardwood.

Again, it’s tough to tell these differences unless each floor type is laid next to the other, so homeowners rarely take this into consideration.

Nadine Floor Company

These are the main pros and cons of engineered hardwood flooring. If you’re interested in it, we invite you to visit Nadine Floor Company to get the process started, and we’ll help with installation.

We have a wide variety of engineered hardwood in stock, along with laminate flooring, tile, carpet and stone. Our flooring experts will be happy to answer any questions that you might have!

To learn more about our company and flooring selection, please visit nadinefloors.com.