Engineered Wood Floor vs. Solid Wood Floor

An ongoing controversy is engineered flooring versus solid wood flooring. With both there are benefits and disadvantages, likes and dislikes. Once you start researching and looking at these floors you will find many beautiful engineered and solid floors and from the surface you will not know which is which. Here are a few tips for you that may help you decide which one of these fine floors is best for you. Bamboo flooring is also an engineered product so the information discusser here will also pertain to it.

Where Can Solid Wood and Engineered Products Be Installed?

Solid wood flooring can be installed on grade and above grade, but not below grade. Solid wood performs best in a moisture-controlled environment.

Engineered wood and engineered bamboo flooring is more dimensionally stable so they can be installed in areas where moisture prevents the installation of solid wood. Engineered wood flooring can be used on grade, above grade and below grade.

How Solid Wood and Engineered Products are installed

Solid wood strip or plank is nailed or stapled down only, and usually requires a wood subfloor. Solid wood parquet can be glued to several different subfloor materials.

Engineered floor products are designed for different needs and method of installation. Nail-down or staple-down usually require a wood subfloor. Glue down and floating floors can be installed over many different subfloors. The tongue and groove of most floating floors are glued together, but the floor is not anchored to the subfloor. In regard to allowable subfloors and installation methods, each manufacturer has its own requirements. Installation requirements will vary for different products from the same manufacturer. The dealer and consumer need to be aware of these requirements prior to purchase.

How Solid and Engineered Products React to Heat and Moisture

Solid wood planks will always shrink when the air is too dry and expand in the presence of moisture. Expansion and contraction is primarily in width with minimal change in length.

With properly engineered wood and bamboo planks contraction and expansion are controlled through cross-ply construction (placing each layer of ply in the opposite direction). Once the plies are laminated they counteract each other which helps to prevent both expansion and shrinkage.