Choosing Your Wooden Flooring – Solid or Engineered

Choosing Your Wooden Flooring – Solid or Engineered. 

Wooden flooring is a truly versatile option when it comes to choosing the right flooring for your homes not only does it add a certain warmth to your home, but is easy to maintain and goes with almost all types of interior decor.

For the uninitiated, let’s go right back to basics – there are two types of hardwood flooring – solid oak flooring and engineered oak flooring.

Let’s delve deeper into the differences, so that it’s easier for you to understand and decide which type of hardwood flooring is the best option for your home and lifestyle.

 So the first step is the actual difference between solid and engineered flooring: Solid hardwood: Solid wood flooring is exactly what its name suggests – it’s made out of solid wood. Each board is crafted out of a single piece of hardwood; it is usually ¾” thick, which allows it to be sanded down as per your requirements, making it a good fit for people who want to customize their floors.  If you’re looking for that authentic and rustic look to your floor, then a solid wood option may be the right route for you.

Engineered hardwood: On the other hand, engineered hardwood is made up of various layers of plywood and composite material, topped with a layer of solid wood. This layering makes it a much more versatile and resilient type of flooring that can be installed almost anywhere in your house. Engineered hardwood has proven to be a popular option for people who want greater flexibility with colours and finishing on their flooring – A great option for contemporary and stylish homes.

Another key element of your decision-making process is where in your house you are actually planning to install the wood flooring. It’s imperative to correctly choose between the two types of wooden flooring based on the moisture levels in the area of your home. For bathrooms and kitchens, since the moisture and heat levels are relatively high, engineered floors are the safest bet. These types of boards are constructed in such a way, so as to have a minimal impact during the expansions and contractions, caused by moisture and heat.

Just as with carpets, the level of footfall your new floor will face affects the type of flooring you should go for.If you are choosing wooden flooring for a busy office, then it is best to go for solid oak flooring. If you have a lot of people moving around every day, you should avoid getting engineered oak flooring. The simple reason is that the wear and tear can cause the floor to lose its shine. In cases where the footfall is heavy, you should always go for solid wooden flooring, so that even after multiple layers of wear and tear, the flooring looks good.

Choose wisely and carefully; both types of flooring have their pros and cons, and you need to think about which best suits your lifestyle: solid wood is durable, while its counterpart is more stylish and on-trend. The deciding factors listed above should help you make the right decision… so happy shopping!