Engineered Wood vs Hardwood; Building house in Houston (Howe: wood floors, townhouses)

[homebuyer1786]

Guys,

Thanks much for your earlier response on a different thread. Very helpful.

Can you also please make another recommendation to me? I am building a new house and will be getting the wood floor done from outside. However, I am really confused if I should do engineered wood or real wood.

There is not much difference between the price. Expense on a top quality (Acacia) engineered wood or a top quality full wood are close. Eng wood for $2500 less than real wood.

Please recommend what would would you guys recommend. I absolutely hate laminate and I am concerned if engineering would give the same look.

[homebuyer1786]

Guys,

Any response will be much appreciated.

[3shipguy]

If this is your forever home, I would go with real hardwood. The drawback is there is more maintenance with hardwood. It dents easily if you drop heavy objects on it. It scratches if you have pets. It contracts and expands depending on temperature and humidity. The positive is that it can be refinished and re-stained multiple times and it's timeless. It also has a higher resale value. Engineered wood looks cheap to me because majority of time it looks like box store flooring. The best engineered wood is 1/4" thick wood applied over plywood. Might as well go another 1/2" and get the real deal. That's my 2 pesos.

[homebuyer1786]

3shipguy : Thanks for the detailed response. Much appreciated. You are absolutely right. If we are spending $12k on wood, we might as well get the real deal. I am also concerned about engineering wood looking cheap and giving the impression of laminate.

"It contracts and expands depending on temperature and humidity." Lots of humidity in Houston; what one can do if real wood starts to contract or expand?

[3shipguy]

Originally Posted by homebuyer1786

3shipguy : Thanks for the detailed response. Much appreciated. You are absolutely right. If we are spending $12k on wood, we might as well get the real deal. I am also concerned about engineering wood looking cheap and giving the impression of laminate.

"It contracts and expands depending on temperature and humidity." Lots of humidity in Houston; what one can do if real wood starts to contract or expand?

Since you will probably run your AC and keep your house at a relative constant temperature, you shouldn't have a problem. I found problems usually arise when hardwood is placed over areas above garages such as in townhouses if insulation isn't done properly. The difference in temperature and humidity of a hot garage and the AC'd room above can cause the wood planks to cup. I found that during the winter when the heater is blowing and the air becomes very arid, the planks flatten out. If you are just placing hardwood on a slab foundation and installation is done properly, you shouldn't have a problem.

[lhafer]

I disagree...I think engineered wood, at least the quality kind, looks just as good as real wood. And you can refinish it a few times as well. We have engineered hardwoods, and it looks just as good today as when we built the house 5 years ago, and we do absolutley nothing special to it as far as cleaning, etc.

This is a bad picture of our engineered hardwood flooring in our study, and I wish we had it throughout our house, vs the tile we have.

Feels and looks like real wood floors. No noise like most laminates.

[3shipguy]

The problem with engineered wood is that deep scratches or dents that penetrate through to the plywood cannot be sanded out like real wood. Engineered wood can probably be refinished twice, maybe three times tops. Their advantage is the ease of installation and that they can take moisture better than real hardwood. Look wise is a matter of opinion. Never heard anyone refer engineered wood as timeless.

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by 3shipguy

The problem with engineered wood is that deep scratches or dents that penetrate through to the plywood cannot be sanded out like real wood. Engineered wood can probably be refinished twice, maybe three times tops. Their advantage is the ease of installation and that they can take moisture better than real hardwood. Look wise is a matter of opinion. Never heard anyone refer engineered wood as timeless.

This. Also, the ones that are given the "distressed or antiqued or grooved" look, look fake to me. Almost like plastic flooring. Big dogs are a nightmare on these things as well.

Real hardwoods can last your lifetime, stains changed if you want, most scratches sanded out. Other option is put down heart of pine/yellow flooring and embrace the scratches and "life" that occurs on them. It was one of my favorite floors actually.

[tampac66]

Originally Posted by homebuyer1786

Guys,

Thanks much for your earlier response on a different thread. Very helpful.

Can you also please make another recommendation to me? I am building a new house and will be getting the wood floor done from outside. However, I am really confused if I should do engineered wood or real wood.

There is not much difference between the price. Expense on a top quality (Acacia) engineered wood or a top quality full wood are close. Eng wood for $2500 less than real wood.

Please recommend what would would you guys recommend. I absolutely hate laminate and I am concerned if engineering would give the same look.

I'd recommend engineered wood... especially if you are planning to have it anywhere near the kitchen or bathrooms. You wont have to worry about expansion, contraction, or warping with engineered wood and you can still re-sand/finish it a few times. The one advantage to hardwood is that you can sand it down more times... but realistically how many times would you refinish you entire floor during your time in this house?

[PedroMartinez]

I really don't have that option myself due to the amount of water that will always be tracked through my house, so we plan to eventually get the porcelain "wood" planks. If it wasn't for the water issue, I'd choose real wood myself if you plan to stay there long term.