Engineered Hardwood Floors: Pros & Cons & Comparing them to Solid Hardwoods 

Many manufacturers produce quality engineered products - both unfinished and pre-finished. Some of our favorites on the unfinished side are Teckton, Graf, and Middle Tenn since they're carried by our local distributor. The NWFA has a new a list of manufacturers that produce "certified refinishable" engineered products. You can visit that here: nwfa.org/certified-refinishable-manufacturers/#:~:text=NWFA%20Certified%20Refinishable%20products%20have,its%20look%2C%20or%20be%20renewed

If a substantial amount of water is spilled on the floor it will seep through the cracks and settle underneath. From our experience it will take some time to dry out unless the planks are removed (no airflow). Biggest issue with moisture is the swelling/cupping that will result in the planks. We seal our concrete substrates with a moisture barrier that will essentially trap the moisture between concrete and bottom side of the planks. Without a food source, doubt you would see mold and we haven't experienced that over past 15 years.

great point and I may need to shoot a video that covers all of the various flooring types and installation types. I can certainly see why consumers are confused.

Great questions. Engineered will be required on any installation below grade. Solid should never be installed below grade. If the humidity is consistent (Denver for example) then I would recommend to stay with solid. If the cut of wood is Rift/Quartersawn then I usually recommend solid since it will already be dimensionally stable. Spillage is going to cause issues with both solid and engineered. When the top layer of wood gets wet, it's going to swell and cup and the engineered could even pull apart from the core depending on the amount of spillage. If the width is less than 4", we usually recommend solid since the surface area is smaller and planks will move less and dimensional stability is less of a concern. Hopefully I answered the questions. If confident the humidity is stable and swings less than 10% year round, stick with solid. No need to splurge on engineered unless you're below grade. Hope this help and we really appreciate the questions!

If you cannot nail it like in a condo, 2nd floor and gibcrete fire layer on the efloor, you can FLOAT Engineered- but never sand it. Solid can be resanded. MIRAGE sells THE BEST Solid and Engineered,. We have it. Ironically, their ENGINEERED is most expensive than there solid.

@@MOAB-UT engineered can also be resanded and a well constructed engineered floor should be more expensive than solid (given all the benefits). We don't float engineered floors, they're either installed with full trowel spread of glue or glue assist.

@@kimminauwoodfloors Thanks and agree. Yes, Mirage engineered is about 3.40 more per sq. ft. then their solid. We live in a condo with gibcrete and leveling cement over plywood. I was told gloating is our only option? What say you please? By code, we cannot remove that fire layer on 2nd floor. Someone lives below us.

@@MOAB-UT in a condo setting I'd recommend using a sound proofing underlayment like Wakol TS 102 or TS 145. You could glue this over the gypcrete/leveling compound and it would provide you with a solid surface to glue to. Downside is that added height of floor and what it does to your door jambs and other transitions. Great for soundproofing and condo settings with people above or below you. At a minimum, I'd seal the subfloor with a primer/moisture barrier and then trowel glue the engineered planks to the substrate. I'm sure mirage is great but there are several manufacturers that product quality engineered planks...just make sure the wear layer is refinishable (3mm or greater). Thanks for watching and commenting!

Thank you so much for watching and commenting. Glad you like it.

subfloors are never perfectly flat and the milling on the factory finished floors isn't perfect either. If you slid two factory finished planks together, one plank may sit slightly higher than the one next to it and leave a sharp edge. Basically the bevel provides a smooth transition between each plank and allows for imperfect subfloor conditions. The bevel isn't required when sanding the floor since any high spots would be sanded flat.

@@kimminauwoodfloors 👍

This is solid point and there will be some initial off gassing of VOC's after the floor is installed. Some product lines are worse than others and as a consumer you should verify/research this before selecting a product. Thanks for watching and commenting!

@@kimminauwoodfloors thanks. great video. I actually have been researching but at the end of the day, it's seems harder than it should be to find out the "Green shield" rating... a warehouse will of course tell me whatever I want to hear.

heard this complaint before and will see if we can tone that down. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Your comment is misleading. To blatantly state all LVT is toxic and garbage is patently false. LVT didn't become the number one commercial floor covering without having tangible benefits. We love hardwood as much as anyone and it accounts for about 98% of what we do but our singles biggest pet peeve in the industry is cheap engineered planks that can not be refinished. Low cost solid is great above grade but that is not viable option below grade. Our preference will always be solid or high quality engineered but for those with a limited budget, it is our opinion that a non-toxic LVT is a better performing option over cheap mass produced crap that can never be refinished. Thanks for watching!

​@@kimminauwoodfloors Could a 3mm or I believe 1/8" veneer be resanded

@@PercyJackson93 Yes once for sure, possibly twice. Can depend on a number of factors. Subfloor prep is crucial and you will want to get it as flat as possible. If the planks have any texture like wire brushing/hand-scraping then the refinishing work will have to be more aggressive and eat through the wear layer faster. We recommend products between 3mm-6mm. We've successfully refinished unfinished 3mm engineered planks twice in the past but that would be the absolute max.

@@kimminauwoodfloors I tend to agree with him- not about Garbage, but about Toxic. Read me one single label that won't scare people. You cannot. Almost all are made from highly toxic polyvinyl chloride aka PVC. Then your dog sleeps on it. Not great.