A wood flooring can enhance the appearance of a room and provide charm and warmth. The wood floorboards come in two types: Solid and engineered. Although engineered floors have been around for a long time, every day we are overwhelmed with these questions: Which is better, hardwood or engineered floors? How long an engineered board last? What are the benefits of buying an engineered flooring? Is an engineered board of inferior quality compared to a solid wood plank? What about the environmental concerns? And etc. In this post, all facts about the engineered boards and their applications are explained. To learn more, please read on.
What is an engineered floorboard?
Engineered wood also called composite, manufactured or man-made wood is made of real wood layers by fixing or binding. It often consists of 3-12 plywood layers that are glued or pressed together. Engineered wood floors are designed and manufactured in a special way to resist humidity and thermal changes. The outmost thicker layer is usually selected from a high-quality solid wood called the veneer skin or the wear layer and is fixed to the underneath core layer by gluing and pressing. The thinner inner plywood layers are build up with hardwood or softwood and sandwiched together to form a sturdy yet flexible structure. Each layer of plywood runs perpendicular to the fibers of the lower layer giving it better resistance to temperature and humidity fluctuations. The core layer generally includes tongue and groove at the edges which are used for joining the boards during the installation. To reduce tear and wear, often a protective coat (polyurethane or oil) is applied on top of wear layer several times. Most of the engineered floors are prefinished at the factory so they can immediately installed.
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This eliminates the burden and health risk of coating and drying and you can stay at home while it is being installed. An engineered board looks like a natural hardwood but it is lighter and more flexible. It is almost impossible for a keen eye to distinguish between a high quality engineered floorboards from the solid wood. Engineered floors are available in almost any wood species including Owens Plank Flooring, Vintage Solid Sawn, Vintage Northern Solid Sawn, and Somerset Engineered Collection.
Quality engineered boards are manufactured in the wide range of width from 3-7 inches wide. The thickness may vary from 3/8” to 3/4” depending on the cost. Even so, exotic species hardwood or popular hand-scraped engineered is easily accessible in the market. Are you interested in Timber Floors especially Live Timber Flooring services? Read more on our Blog page