Real hardwood floor or engineered wood in texas (Houston: new house, salvaged)

[xecluded]

Now that my brother signed up for his new home in Aliana, he wanted to know if he should choose real hardwood floor or engineered wood. Which would work best with the kind of temperature that we have in TX. I dont have hardwood in my house so I am clueless. Any suggestion for the dude is greatly appreciated.

[huma281]

Engineered. From what I've researched, the humidity isn't good for real wood. Not to say you should totally avoid it.

I myself went with laminate because I wanted something durable and did not want to refinish the floor every few years.

If you love the feel, real wood all the way.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

I have both (in two different houses). The engineered wood looks good, is a sturdy product, adjusts to the dry and humid conditions in Houston, and a hard finish that looks great.... until it is scratched by normal foot traffic, furniture, dogs, etc. The finish on engineered wood is usually an aluminum oxide based finish which is very tough, and shiny, but impossible to fix. You can sand down engineered wood, but only once, and very carefully; one rut and the floor is ruined.

The current selections of real hardwood floors also have aluminum oxide finishes, and are more prone to climate changes. You will notice this in the winter when the wood contracts, you can see the differences from summer to winter. Or you can get unfinished hardwoods; the real wood with polyurethane, or wax finishes looks best. There is something about the warm glow from a natural wood floor that you don't get with the shiny-glass finishes of new pre-finished wood. The natural finishes bring out the warmth and grain of the wood much better. It is almost twice a thick as engineered wood, and is stronger. You can also refinish it multiple times, and you can even change the color of the finish later if you get bored with your current finish. Finally, you can repair floor much easier, and replace whole planks if you have to, and if done right, you would never know.

I am fortunate that the old house I purchased has original heart pine floors. The planks run the length of most rooms, or about 16 feet, there are almost no sections. You cannot find wood like that anymore. Plus, heart pine floors go for about 15$ sq ft, and up, I would never replace it with "new" floors for $5 or less, yet many people do just that to old homes. A shame. The house was built in 1911, and they've lasted this long and still look great. Even the bathroom and kitchen have the old floors, so don't believe all the hype that says you cannot put wood floors in wet areas. Again, over 100 years, and still looks great, you just have to use common sense and wipe up spills. Good luck.

[Schumacher713]

I prefer real hardwoods. The climate does not make much difference. Real hardwoods are better for resale too. New houses are sealed pretty tight too. Your humidity should not vary a lot. Mine is old and my hardwoods are solid. I have had zero issues.

[xecluded]

Those are great suggetions. Real "unfinished" hardwood it is. Greatly appreciated the insights. Thanks!

[Schumacher713]

Originally Posted by xecluded

Those are great suggetions. Real "unfinished" hardwood it is. Greatly appreciated the insights. Thanks!

I am assuming you are talking about red oak hardwoods that is sanded and stained? This is what usually goes in most high end homes. The downside to this is they are easy to scratch. The prefinished solid hardwoods are uv treated. They are much more scratch resistant. There are also many more choices in types of hardwoods you can put down. Hardwoods also greatly vary in how hard they are. Be careful as hardwoods do chance color as they age. It varies from wood to wood.

And, whoever paid 15sqft on heart pine got hosed. That is insanely expensive.

You don't need to refinish hardwoods every few woods. Maybe once a decade.

[Svensk08]

Heart pine flooring is expensive because there's so little of it. Even old heart pine floors and other planks are salvaged from teardowns these days.