Engineered Floor or Solid Flooring?

Sorry for the somewhat offtopic post (still has to do with wood though :) ).

Anyway, considering putting down wood flooring in a few rooms at mi casa. Substrate is concrete and there is really no motivation to add a 1 1/2" subfloor as that will cause uneveness to other flooring already installed. I see there are really two alternatives for me (well more but these are the two I'm considering). Engineered flooring or Solid flooring.

The engineered flooring can either be installed with glue down or in a floating configuration, comes with a roughly 25-30 year warranty, and has a 2mm thick top veneer. The solid is 3/8" or 1/2" (depending on species) and is glued down (warranty is up to 50 depending on manuf.). Any recommendations? I worry a bit about a 2mm veneer (5/64") being too thin yet the engineered flooring is also cheaper. The solid wood would be fine but as expected, is more expensive.

Anyone with some experience in this decision? Advice? Thanks very much,

jlc

Reply to
James "Cubby" Culbertson
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I installed ~1200 sq ft of engineered wood flooring over the concrete slab in my last home. I used heavy plastic, then the pad and away it went. Use a level/straight edge at least 6 feet long on the floor before starting to find any valleys or high spots. (I did not)

I sealed the floor with poly urethane when I was done.

I liked the feel of the floor when I was done. I did not like the wear my dogs were doing next to the doggie door. I was terrified that there would be a leak in the kitchen. Even with the air cleaners the floor was constantly needing a wipe down. You could see the fine dirt everywhere when the light hit it. I live in Phoenix, not exactly dust free and then there are the dogs.

Becareful of any high humidity situations. The floor acts like a sponge at least mine did.

Tile or marble for me from now on.

Reply to
SQLit

I installed both floating engineered flooring and solid glued down flooring in my house. Both over Slab on Grade. I like the glued down by far. The floating has a hollow sound and just doesnt look as good. The solid will allow for refinishing several times.

Reply to
Burnt Eddy

Overall, I prefer solid wood flooring if it's practical. And I say this even though I'll be laying down another engineered floor (Mannington) this week.

The material cost for a quality engineered floor exceeds raw 3/4" hardwood floors in many cases. Engineered floors in glue/staple-down situations are a lot pickier about subfloor prep. And while the finish is allegedly twice as hard as a job-site applied urethane, I've found that the veneer tends to be softer than hardwood, making it more susceptible to dings.

However, there are applications where engineered flooring definitely has an advantage. Your concrete subfloor is one. Damp areas is another. There's a broader range of wood types available in engineered. In my case, I'm doing a second floor hallway and didn't want the top step rise, which is already too tall and a trip hazard, to be even taller so I'm using 5/16" engineered.

If you're concerned about finish durability however, there are some incredibly tough job-site finish options available. My neighbor has an 80-pound boxer whose nails had ripped her parquet floors' finish to shreds. She had them refinished with a water-based epoxy product and, three years later, not a scratch. The downside is that you really need an experienced pro to apply it.

BTW, don't judge flooring quality just by the warranty period. I mean, what are you going to do ten years from now when your 30-year warranty floor looks terrible? Rip and reinstall?

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has a good flooring brand comparison. Also, be aware that the name brand engineered flooring you buy in a big box store isn't necessarily the same quality you'll get from a store that only sells flooring.

Steve Manes Brooklyn, NY

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Reply to
Steve Manes

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