The Benefits of Engineered Hardwood Flooring

by Rachel Lyon, Editorial Director for Direct from the Designers™

Choosing hardwood floors is an investment that pays off in your everyday life and when it comes to resale. Not only do you get beautiful, easy to clean flooring, but you also increase the value of your home to potential buyers. Plenty of homeowners are selecting engineered hardwood to imbue their floors with the beauty of solid hardwood at a more affordable price, but the appeal doesn’t end there. Engineered hardwood comes with a host of practical benefits for the average consumer, so take the time to learn if you would appreciate it in your own home.

Engineered Hardwood Composition

A standard hardwood floor consists of planks cut from a single piece of wood. These solid pieces are susceptible to damage from wear and tear and moisture, which can cause warping that can’t be easily buffed away during refinishing. The goal with engineered hardwood is to overcome these issues and deliver the same solid hardwood look that everybody loves.

The remedy is to layer thinner pieces of wood and adhere them into planks with heat and pressure. The staggered woodgrains stabilize one another, because each plank can’t expand and contract as a single entity, and the result is a floor that resists the natural effects of moisture and temperature fluctuations. The top layer of hardwood veneer has a plywood or medium-density fiberboard backing. This construction affords a strong, more moisture-resistant foundation and core to support the desired surface.

Engineered hardwood is easier to install than solid planks, fitting together with a tongue and groove system that helps lock planks together. It can also be placed over slab or subfloor, or even directly over old tiles that you want to cover. Whether you want to float, glue, or nail the floor together, the option is yours! Many handy homeowners find that they can install engineered hardwood themselves.

Manufactured for Durability

If you’ve ever seen a cupped floor—where the planks have become concave and their edges rise higher than the center—you know what moisture can cause. The cross-layered construction of engineered products helps prevent this problem. In fact, engineered hardwood was developed in response to the growing demand for wood floors that could be installed in basements or ground-level applications. Moisture causes cupping whether it’s coming through the foundation, hanging in humid air, or the result of a spill, and this solution helps protect against damage coming from all sides.

Engineered floors are perfect for the entire house. Homeowners feel comfortable installing them in high-traffic, high-risk areas where wood would normally be avoided, like the kitchen and mudroom.

Due to the thin layer of veneer, engineered hardwood can’t be refinished repeatedly like a solid plank floor. However, this is a tradeoff and its diminished need for refinishing has to be taken into account. The thicker the surface layer, the higher the quality of the floor, and the more times you’ll be able to sand it to remove surface damage. Even 2mm of veneer can be refinished a fair number of times, so it lives up to the expectations of most owners over its lifetime.

A Great Option for Sustainability

For the environmentally conscious and discriminating consumer, engineered hardwood is the answer, because it spreads our natural resources much further. Compare how many planks of solid wood you can harvest from a tree to how many layers of veneer it could potentially produce instead. Especially if you want an exotic, slow-growing hardwood species, installing it in an engineered form will be much more eco-friendly. The plywood or fiberboard used to make up the bottom layers is comprised of faster-growing species and recycled materials, so it comes down to the surface you want to determine just how sustainable your floor will be.

See all the beautiful engineered hardwood choices available from Lumber Liquidators to find the one that will look best in your home! Rest assured you’ll get a beautiful and durable floor that you’ll enjoy for many years. Find your local store to see the possibilities in person!