Which is Better? Engineered or Solid Timber Flooring?

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.