Need a change in the flooring or researching for your next flooring project? With several durable and beautiful hardwood flooring choices, choosing the perfect flooring for your upcoming requirement can be exciting yet terrifying. There’s no doubt that you’ll have infinite questions concerning flooring. While some are best for homes, other types work best for commercial purposes only.
If you have thought about wood floorings, you’ll typically find solid hardwood and engineered hardwood flooring. To choose between them, you ought to know the major dissimilarities. Once you understand them, you’ll find it easier to nail down the right flooring.
In this post, we’ll let you know about hardwood floor in general, and some of the distinctions between solid and engineered flooring. Scroll down!
What are Hardwood Flooring?
Any form of the fixed floor with a wood-like look, whether it is built of real or synthetic timber, is referred to as having wood flooring. Wood is a flexible flooring element that is available in a variety of designs, hues, and varieties. Wood flooring comes in two primary varieties: solid wood and engineered wood. Solid timber planks are used to create solid wood flooring.
Engineered wood floor is constructed with a veneer of wood over a reinforced, synthesized substrate composed of a material other than wood. Here is some further detail regarding these two flooring options-
Solid Hardwood Flooring
Solid wood is used to make wood flooring, which is one of the most common types. Often, walnut, maple, cherry, or oak are used to make solid wood. Because of its substantially longer lifespan, it can be repeatedly sanded and refinished.
Engineered hardwood flooring
Engineered wood flooring has a surface appearance that is nearly comparable to that of solid wood, but it is built of a premium plywood base with a thin layer of durable wood flooring on top. Although engineered hardwood is less expensive, it cannot be sanded and refinished to increase its lifespan.
Solid Hardwood and Engineered Hardwood- The Differences
The decision of choosing anyone could be quite a personal one because both surfaces are unique and offer practically comparable benefits. Let’s see some other variations between the two in detail-
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Difference Between Solid Hardwood vs Engineered hardwood flooring
1. Installation
Although there are several differences between both types of hardwood flooring, let’s look at the main distinction first-
Solid hardwood flooring
The word “solid flooring” refers to a single piece of milled wood. Installing this wood flooring entails nailing the wood panels to the sub floor, which is a task that calls for considerable expertise.
Engineered hardwood flooring
A plywood core and a thin coating of hardwood are all that is required to create the look of wood flooring. Engineered wood flooring installation is simple enough for anyone interested in DIY activity. One can get it in interlocking or bonded planks making it super easy to install.
2. Appearance
The type, color, and texture of flooring you choose makes a lot of impact on the property. Here we have mentioned the dissimilarities between the two flooring in terms of appearance-
Solid hardwood flooring
Compared to engineered wood flooring, solid wood flooring planks are often thinner. Solid hardwood typically offers far wider color and variations than the other one. There is also a very tight gap between the boards. Boards made of solid hardwood are offered both in pre-finished and untreated varieties.
Engineered hardwood flooring
The floorboards are wide in the engineered ones than its counterpart. While solid dwood flooring often does have very tight seams between planks, some pre-finished engineered hardwood has a beveled or slanted edging, which causes minor gaps between boards. In comparison to solid hardwood, engineered hardwood is usually sold pre-made and comes in a smaller selection of varieties and hues.
3. Sound and comfort
Floors have more to them than just walking. It’s also about how comfortable it is when you sit, dance, or stand. The sound should be pleasant when doing your activities.
Solid wood flooring
The acoustic qualities of solid hardwood are superior to those of engineered hardwood. Its firmness uniformly disperses the sound across the space while absorbing reverberation thanks to its high density. Solid hardwood, as the name implies, is hard underfoot.
Although it is softer than other floor coverings like tiles or stone, an engineered hardwood floor is softer than those other surfaces too.
Engineered hardwood flooring
The engineered hardwood floor does not absorb as much as the solid hardwood counterpart. But it has a tough surface, which means it can absorb a considerable amount of noise and weight. This is especially true for premium-quality acoustic underlay placed beneath the floor. In terms of comfort, we have already mentioned above that this one is softer than other solid hardwood.
4. Price Rate
Flooring is a lifelong investment. Therefore, choosing the right one is vital. There are cost distinctions between the two. Read ahead.
Solid hardwood And Engineered hardwood Flooring
The price range depends on what kind of solid or engineered hardwood you choose. But no matter which you pick, engineered hardwood flooring has a slightly lower price range than solid hardwood.
5. Sizes
You may find some variety in sizes for various hardwood floorings. Take look at what solid and engineered hardwood floorings has for you-
Solid hardwood flooring
Typical hardwood flooring boards are supplied in a range of lengths from 12 to 84 inches. Although there are other widths and thicknesses available, solid hardwood comes rarely wider than 4 inches.
Engineered hardwood flooring
These kinds of boards are thinner. They are obtainable on much wider boards. You can expect them to be up to seven inches wide, and the length generally runs twelve to sixty inches.
6. Lifespan
You don’t want to invest in something big that doesn’t last long. It would be a waste of time, money, and resources. Let’s see the differentiation in the lifespan between the two-
Solid Hardwoods
As solid hardwood can be repeatedly sanded and polished, it normally lasts for a minimum of 30 years and as long as 100.
Engineered Hardwoods
The typical lifespan of engineered hardwood flooring is 20 to 30 years. But the quality of it is quite impressive in these years.
7. Water and Heat Resistance
Both kinds of hardwood can withstand heat well. We do not advise installing either material in genuinely moist areas. Engineered hardwood is more water-resistant than solid wood.
Solid hardwood floorings
As humidity can seep through the concrete, and lead solid hardwood to expand and distort, it is not advisable to place solid hardwood up against concrete blocks. Hence, this one doesn’t go well with constant moisture.
Engineered hardwood floorings
For engineered hardwood flooring, it performs better in moist climates because of its plywood structure. It makes it much more solid and less prone to deformation. Engineered wood is a superior option if the setup is required against concrete flooring.
8. Cleaning and Care
Everything needs some amount of care after purchase. Flooring is a serious investment for commercial or residential purposes. If we don’t take care of it, it will give us results we don’t want in the very early days of installation. So what care needs to be taken? Let’s read-
Solid hardwood flooring
One can clean solid hardwoods quite easily. All you have to do is sweep and vacuum it daily. Damp-mopping could be done with a suitable wood cleaner.
Engineered hardwood flooring
This flooring requires the same maintenance and cleaning as solid hardwoods. You will need to vacuum or sweep, and with a suitable wood cleaner, do some damp-moping.
Avoid using steam or water to maintain or clean both kinds of wood floors.
9. Resale value
One has to think about the resale value when they put their money on something big like this. Have a look at what the resale value holds for both flooring-
Solid hardwood flooring
Solid hardwood and engineered hardwood look quite similar on the outside, however, real estate agents and prospective home buyers could value solid hardwood more because of its long lifespan.
Engineered hardwood flooring
Potential buyers are seldom turned off by engineered hardwoods flooring, even though they may be aware of the limited lifespan of such a floor.
11. Effect on the Environment
With the increased need for global environmental awareness and sustainability, we have to look into such matters as well while choosing a hardwood floor. Let’s read about it-
Solid hardwood flooring
Compared to engineered hardwoods, solid hardwoods needs greater tree harvesting. If purchased from a trustworthy vendor, hardwoods flooring still remains an ecologically good choice. You should also know that to create engineered hardwoods, solid hardwoods can be recovered, repurposed, or utilized again. Also, it is fully biodegradable when it comes time to dump it after its useful life.
Engineered hardwood flooring
Engineered hardwoods flooring is more sustainable and environmentally friendly than most other floor types. In addition to using all “leftovers” from other wood production methods, it consumes fewer trees per plank to produce the boards. This makes it a worthy choice for environmentally conscious persons.
The glues and resins used to create engineered hardwood may release gases or comprise toxic organic chemicals. Also, because of the adhesives used to construct the wood, engineered hardwood isn’t as recyclable, close to its lifespan.
Our Last Say
You may come across some of the best engineered hardwood flooring and solid hardwood, but ultimately you have to make a sound choice.
Engineered wood flooring was originally thought of as a cheap copy of actual hardwood, but many have disproved this notion through advancements in product quality. Solid hardwood continues to be a top option among experts due to its value addition and longevity.
However engineered hardwood has an advantage over others due to its cheaper cost, appearance, and simpler installation. Also, engineered wood utilizes less hardwood, which draws a lot of attention from many as more consumers are concerned with the environment.