Hardwood engineered doesn't seem like hardwood - clue me in? (sand, wood)
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I went to a floor store with tons of various types of hardwood and engineered hardwood laid down over their floor. I could not tell the difference. I went with an engineered product - we are on slab - that can be refinished twice. There were some in the store that said they could be refinished 4 or 5 times with a very thick 7mm wear layer. Can't remember the brand, sorry.
I wonder if there is any difference in quality variations in the top layer finish ( engineered hardwood). I compared several samples and some looks nicer than other: you could see the wood grain texture that looks "real" versus some that look "faux", kind like pergo.
Well there are different qualities of wood to begin with - type, grade and a big one the way it's been sawn or cut. A lot of manufacturers these days use rotary cut for their "veneers" on engineered versus solid that would need to be sawn. I have read that rotary peeled looks more fake. There is sawn veneer for engineered though too, so maybe that's the difference.
Beachmouse may have not so nice taste in cabinets but is right on with her assessment on the flooring. With the standard 3/4" it almost never comes prefinished.There are hundreds of 3/4" x 2 1/4" solid hardwoods that come prefinished. In fact, there are many mills that only produce prefinished solids, and no unfinished ones.
The engineered comes in many beautiful finishes and cost much less then the old T&G 3/4" thick style. Actually, most quality engineered hardwoods are more expensive than prefinished solids. That's because they are, in fact, engineered. That adds to production costs.
The engineered can not be sanded and refinished and the 3/4" material can be refinished over and over and over again. A common misconception. Most quality engineered hardwoods can be sanded twice, and screened & coated about 3 times. A 3/4" solid hardwood can usually be sanded 4 or 5 times. Remember, you can only sand down to about 1/8" above the tongue or groove and not the entire 3/4" thickness.
Just whatever you do, do not put that fake plastic laminate crap such as Pergo. Finally, something we can agree on!
Bold italics are mine.
DS 41 has brought out some common misinformation, and I am not being a hater. I just wanted to put some facts out there to correct some general misconceptions about engineeered vs. sold hardwood flooring.
Beachmouse and bustaduke are overlooking the elephant in the room. The primary reason that we do not install 3/4" solid hardwoods over a slab is that those floors cannot be glued or floated, they must be nailed. And you cannot nail down those floors into concrete. Nothing to do with moisture, other than the fact that all wood floors are subject to moisture issues, and subfloors should be misture tested with a moisture meter, and then prepped accordingly. Most engineered hardwoods can be be glued or floated, or both.
Now, you can glue down or shoot down a plywood subfloor on the slab, then nail down the solids, but I've never figured out why you would want to.
Both engineered and solid hardwoods have their place, and both perform well under normal wear and tear household traffic. Keep in mind that I have been strictly speaking about a quality wood flooring product, and not a cheapo floor.
High quality engineered wood flooring is still expensive. In our last home (60 years old), we had original hardwoods in the old part of the house - the floors were beautiful and during the last 8 years we lived there, we had them refinished twice....I'm sure those floors have been refinished quite a few times over the past 60 years. Given the choice, I would go with hardwood not engineered wood - there isn't that much difference in price and high quality hardwood flooring will last for generations.
We had handscraped engineered floors at our last house. They were great looking and could be refinished (I think twice but don't recall exactly). We were on a slab. We had them for about 5 years with no problems. I would definitely get good quality engineered floors again.
I question the claim that engineered hardwood can be sanded twice. I understand that this is the manufacturer claim, but I don’t know how feasible it is, or if anybody actually does it.
I have put in two engineered hardwood floors, one on slab the other not.
Engineered was the only realistic option on the slab. For the one not on slab- the house wasn't high-end, and the choice was between better vinyl and lower-end engineered.
All other things being equal, plank hardwood is better but more expensive. Engineered does offer more wood and finish options I think.
I am very gentle on floors (no shoes, no kids, no pets) so I never expect to need to refinish.
I question the claim that engineered hardwood can be sanded twice. I understand that this is the manufacturer claim, but I don’t know how feasible it is, or if anybody actually does it.
Of course they can. But it completely depends upon the actual thickness of the top wood layer.
The relevant different between engineered flooring and solid wood flooring, when talking about refinishing, is the area that is capable of being sanded - which is the wear-layer. The wear layer for solid flooring tends to average about 5/16″ thickness. It's the thickness of the wood that is above the join notch. For engineered wood flooring, this can vary to as little as 1/32″ to 5/16″.
Even with solid wood floors, you have a limited number of refinishings.
For solid ¾ inch hardwood, about ¼ inch of the material above the tongue can be removed before the wood is weakened. Since normal sanding will remove from 1/64 to 1/32 of the wood surface, the surface can be sanded from 4 (major) to 10 (minor) times - depending on the severity of the sanding, before the floor needs to be replaced entirely. If the floor is resurfaced every 10 to 20 years, the floor could last for a century or more.
All that said, refinishing floors is a messy business. I would never have it done, while living in the house. Ever.
We have engineered and solid in our home. The engineered has a 3mm wear layer and can be refinished once or twice. Who the heck needs to refinish their floors willy nilly anyway? I'd only think about refinishing when we move out which will probably be in 20 years. You just learn to live with dings and scratches since refinishing is such a messy procedure. Our installer so as much told us that refinishing is not something you do a lot of times and if that's the case then I don't really need to pay more for a solid hardwood plank when plywood with a veneer (you know, the part that you actually see) fits the bill...
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