Engineered Wooden Flooring: Comparing To Related Trendy Solid Flooring Choices
Are you considering engineered wooden flooring? By all means, you probably should. Of the three types of hard flooring that are popular for use throughout the home, engineered wooden flooring is the most likely to be all things to all people. Before you go diving headfirst into the first engineered wooden floors that you see, though, be sure to compare to the main competitors. Those would be solid wood floors, and laminate wooden flooring.
Comparing Looks
Direct comparisons between solid wood floors and engineered wooden flooring don’t always make sense. After all, the part of engineered wood flooring that you step on is solid wood. Engineered often looks a lot more realistic than laminate, mainly because it is. From the same outlet, and sometimes the same manufacturer, you can often purchase a laminate wood floor which is very obviously fake, and one that actually looks better than either a real or an engineered wood floor, although it still won’t actually be real, but merely a picture. Between solid and engineered wooden flooring, though, it’s tough to say that one looks better than the other, until they begin to show wear.
Did You Hear That?
Strange as it may seem, sound does play a factor in choosing your wooden flooring. After all, the thing one does most with their floor is walk on it, and that will create a sound with every step. This is where all three options can vastly differ, both from each other, and from different brands. Laminate wooden floors are associated with hollow sounds. Some manufacturers claim that their newer models don’t have this problem. A solid wooden floor will typically not produce any sound other than the noise your foot makes when it hits the surface. That is, of course, until it gets a bit older. Then it may start to creak, a problem that laminate does not share. Engineered wooden floors can run the gambit from one to the other; some may sound hollow, some may not. They’re also less likely to creak as they age, but it is feasible. As far as desirability and sound goes, engineered wooden flooring would come in second best, just after solid wooden floors.
Durability
When it comes to durability, the solid wooden floor is king. Even if it becomes damaged, simply buff and refinish. It’s really that simple. Engineered wooden flooring shares this trait, but only to a degree. Because the top layer is rather thin, it can only be sanded a few times. This means that regular, deep gouges or scuffing may end up causing you to have to replace boards. This is still better than laminate, though, which cannot be sanded at all.
Comparing Prices
Pricing of engineered wooden flooring is hard to gauge with any kind of certainty since, as with solid wooden floors, there often seems to be no rhyme or reason to price fluctuations. Being a very natural product, the price will move around a lot depending on availability of certain types of lumber. Because it takes more of this natural product, you’ll notice that solid wooden floors often fluctuate more than engineered, although laminate typically is affected only by demand. All things considered, engineered wooden flooring typically costs a bit more than laminate, but a lot less than most solid wood floors.
Want to learn more about wooden flooring? Check out Wooden Flooring Info.
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