In case you are considering wooden flooring, you have three options that comprise of solid wood floor, laminate floor and engineered wooden floor, last being the most popular these days and there are good reasons to that. Let’s examine some of these here.
Aesthetics
Comparing the looks of finished engineered wood floor and solid wood floors is quite tricky. That’s because the top layer that one sees is almost identical in either case and what you see is largely due the type and quality of wood used and not the type of floor. You should know that the top layer of engineered wood floor is basically a thin slice of solid wood. However, laminates look quite different than engineered variety. Laminate wood floors can have so deceptive looks as to prompt an expert to go on his hands and knees to conclude that it’s not a solid wood or engineered wooden floor. As the two are one and the same thing it’s right to conclude that at a first glance engineered wooden floors have the appearance of solid wood.
Engineered Wooden Flooring Sounds More Solid Than Laminate
Did you ever realize that different kinds of wooden floors emit different kinds of sounds on being walked over? Yes, that’s true, as you step on a floor there is a sound created that varies with the floor material. It’s indeed interesting to know and understand the variation of sound on three types of floors or even the same kind of floor manufactured by different manufacturers. For example, laminate wooden floors have a hollowed sound as you walk over it. And, there are manufacturers who make it a point to mention in their ads that their product is devoid of this characteristic. On the other hand, a new average solid wooden floor hardly makes any noise that you can identify. However, over prolonged use, may be after a decade or so, these floors tend to make creaking sounds, but that’s not so were it a laminate floor. Engineered floors are difficult to predict. They could go either way. Usually they don’t have hollow sound, but then there are too many exceptions. They are not likely to sound too creaky, yet it happens. But for this creaking sound, which some people are not able to tolerate, engineered wooden floors come next to solid wooden floors. They prove to be ideal but for the said characteristic.
Damage Control
Leaving aside concrete, a solid wood floor is the most durable. Even if it gets damaged, you can have it repaired, though it does signal the damage being caused as you begin to notice scratches. Engineered wooden floor can be buffed and refinished to retain its looks, but that shouldn’t be too often. How frequently you may do that depends upon the brand and type, but be aware that its top layer is not thick enough to allow too frequent refurbishing. Thus, as in the case of laminate, serious damage may necessitate replacing the board to maintain its good looks. Laminate, on the other hand is nothing but a resin covered picture, can’t be refinished.
Price
Price of engineered wooden flooring is indeed difficult to assess accurately, as is in the case of hard wooden floors, and they are always fluctuating. That’s because its manufacturing depends upon the availability of definite kind of natural lumber.
Being derived from a natural product, the price of solid wooden floors usually has more fluctuations than the engineered one, whereas the price of laminate is governed by demand.
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