Solid Timber Versus Engineered?
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of solid timber versus engineered floors?
This question comes up quite often
when people are looking at timber floors. Visiting various showrooms some
advocate the advantages of engineered floors whereas others advocate the
advantages of solid timber. It's not surprising to have some degree of
curiosity about the subject insofar as you can never be sure whether the reason
that people are advocating one or the other is because that isn't what they
primarily sell. Naturally salespeople will try to sell you what they have there
to supply whether engineered or solid. So is there any advantage of one over
the other?
The fact is that both types of
flooring have pros and cons. Both types of flooring have good points and points
that may not be desirable. When looking at a timber floor you need to consider
several key aspects.
Number one, longevity.
Number two, repair ability.
Number three, stability.
Number four, value for money.
All of these are extremely
important factors. The timber floor has to cope with a great deal of foot
traffic and this can put a lot of stress and natural wear and tear on the face
of the timber. The advantage of timber flooring generally is that it has the
ability to withstand a lot of foot traffic and is, for the most part, easily repairable.
Some floors are more repairable than others.
The absolute difference between
floors, taking timber floors as an overall topic and including both engineered
and solid, has to do with the thickness of the timber that can be sanded. The
floorboard will naturally have 6 mm of timber that can be sanded and
refinished. Engineered floors, with very few exceptions, will have approximately
1 mm through to 3.5 mm. It can be easily demonstrated that an engineered floor
does not have the same capacity for resanding and refinishing that the solid
timber floor does. This is a simple and absolute fact. There are a small number
of timber floors in the engineered variety that have face timbers in a
thickness of 6 mm. These alone are a direct comparison to solid timber.
Looking at the question of stability in timber
flooring is a very good question especially in the Australian climate. Here we
have to look at the ratio between width and thickness. In solid timber flooring
it is essential that the ratios are maintained for the floor to have full
stability. Engineered floors employee a process of cross lamination This cross
laminated approach is used in order to achieve their stability and they can
naturally be machined to a wider width. Being wider can give the impression of
a much larger piece of timber. This is a very good approach to timber flooring
and as long as you're prepared to accept the fact that the engineered floors
will be manufactured in shorter lengths than can be achieved with solid timber.
Wide board stability which clicks in at any width exceeding 150mm is an
advantage to the engineered floor.
When it comes to sanding and
refinishing a timber floor, whether engineered or solid, it is necessary to
take a look at how the floor is installed. Where a timber floor is adhered to
the sub floor, be it concrete or plywood, the floor, presuming it has an
appropriate thickness of timber that can be sanded, can easily be refinished.
In some instances engineered floors are floated on a polyurethane foam underlay
so that no adhesive is used to hold them in place. In this case there is little
point in trying to re-sand the surface. It is very difficult to do a full re sand
on something that is not glued into place. Disappointing but there it is.
As standard, solid timber floors
come with a 6 mm thickness of timber that can be sanded and refinished. This
applies to timber floors from 12 mm thickness through to 19 mm thickness.
Therefore naturally built into the floor is better longevity than is naturally
built into most engineered floors. A Solid timber floor is generally supplied
unfinished and floors needed to be installed and then sanded and finished
thereafter. This is where engineered floors can sometimes present a short-term
advantage. The short-term advantage is that the floors can be supplied already
finished. The coating on the timber will not last as long as most commercial
finishers in Australia can it will certainly give you a period of time before
needing to do a full re sand and re coat. This may be an advantage in some
situations though perhaps not as long as he's generally advertised. It is a
concern in Australia that sometimes the suggested figures for wear with
pre-finish floors are far in excess of what can be achieved in reality.
Hopefully this has given you some
food for thought when considering a timber floor.
