Which is better for my home: engineered or solid wood flooring?

Our informative series continues with a focus this week on the differences between engineered flooring and solid wood flooring. Both Engineered and Solid wood flooring are excellent with tons of versatility, beauty, and will add great value when used in either residential or commercial applications. However, there are some applications where one may be better than the other!

Engineered Flooring Benefits

Engineered flooring offers a very high level of stability. The way it is created is taking a veneer of real wood and applying it to a plywood backing. In the case of Albany Woodworks, we take our reclaimed flooring lines and turn them into a sustainable, low VOC engineered product. We back it on sustainable Baltic birch plywood. This stability also allows for wide width flooring that is very trendy these days.

However, not all engineered flooring is created equal so it is important to do the research on the brand you are considering purchasing. Ideally for a long life with an engineered floor, a 4 mm or more wear surface ensures the ability to refinish the floors. This amount of wear surface is almost the same a solid wood floor that is tongue and groove as well. Engineered flooring can be installed easily either by gluing it down or nailing it down. The tongue and groove design with end matching makes installations very simple!

Optimal Uses for Engineered Flooring

Engineered flooring is incredibly versatile and pretty much can be used for most applications. However, there are a few that it may be considered a better choice than solid wood flooring.

1. Wood accent wall –the tongue and groove with end matching makes it optimal for this application. It installs easily and looks great!

2. Ceiling paneling-It is very popular these days to have a wood ceiling as an accent point in a home, particularly with a neutral color scheme. Engineered wood makes an excellent material for ceiling paneling for the same reasons it works so well for wall applications.

3. Extreme climates– beach home, mountain home or anywhere you might experience extreme heat, cold or humidity, engineered flooring’s stability is a great choice to minimize any swelling or shrinking that wood naturally experiences. The 4 mm wear surface also means that you can refinish it. This is very similar to solid wood floor.

Part 1 | Part 2