Luxury vinyl planks when it comes to hardwood flooring many homeowners only think of solid and engineered wood.
Engineered flooring vs hardwood.
Engineered vs solid hardwood flooring can start many a lively debate among friends home builders or remodelers and homeowners.
Solid wood flooring comes in long planks usually made of a hardwood species.
There are pros and cons to both but for the most part nobody can tell the difference in the look once the floor is installed.
Engineered and laminate flooring.
The motivation for creating manufactured flooring arose from the rising cost and dwindling availability of hardwood supplies particularly exotic species.
The complete guide to laminate vs engineered wood flooring two popular hardwood floor alternatives on the market right now are laminate and engineered hardwoods.
Engineered hardwood provides an advantage over solid hardwood.
There s a lot to love about both of these options.
Let price availability environment and lifestyle issues help guide your choice.
It is milled with tongues and grooves on opposite edges so that the boards interlock when installed.
It is always nailed down to the subfloor a process that requires some skill.
Engineered flooring is a sandwich of layers called plies of hardwood and plywood bonded together via a heating and pressing process.
Solid hardwood flooring is available in a wide array of wood species including oak maple and black walnut as well as regional specific choices like pecan mesquite and others.
The top layer the one you see is a veneer of hardwood 1 16 to 1 8 thick.
Engineered hardwood can go in the same rooms as solid hardwood but its engineered construction also makes it a great choice for basements and over radiant heating and concrete floors still avoid bathrooms and laundry rooms because engineered flooring is slightly thinner than most solid hardwood it can also be good for projects where your hardwood needs to match the height of an adjoining.
Solid wood flooring vs.
Engineered wood flooring.
Shaw engineered hardwood flooring shaw s engineered hardwood core is made up of multiple layers of wood stacked in a cross grain configuration which minimizes expanding and shrinking.
However there are other manufactured woods such as luxury vinyl planks that are fashioned to simulate the look and feel of hardwood.
And unlike laminate or vinyl plank alternatives no two pieces are ever.
Because they share similarities in looks and composition consumers often use these terms interchangeably.