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Engineered vs. Hardwood
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Posted by nicho (My Page) on Thu, Nov 27, 08 at 11:42
| Looking to instal hardwood throughout a newly built home (upstairs and main level). Is one better than the other? My main concern with engineered is what if I want to change stain colour in the future by sanding thin top layer? |
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RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| There are some great Oak/Maple engineered hardwoods with 3mil or better top layers that start under $4.00 s/f. You should get at least one COLOR CHANGE if not two. Shop around....they are out there. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| When considering the solid vs engineered you should realize that you cannot sand all the way down to the tongue on solid or engineered wood planks. Some engineered planks have about 1/8" top layer that will allow 1-2 sandings. There is a good picture of a solid and engineered plank cross-section on the page listed below. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Types of Hardwood Flooring
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| Al_horses, where can one find a great engineered hardwood floor without a rotary peel with mil or better top layers that start under $4/sq ft? In Northern NJ, I am getting prices MUCH higher than this. Even the Mirage Lock Maple Auburn that I have fallen in love with today that is only 2 MM thick on top and a total of 7/16th thick that is made of high density board and not plywood, the store was asking $6.99/sq. Ft like the other store was asking for JUST the floor materials without the pad and without installation. I wonder where I can buy this floor for less since I really think it is what I want. I love the color and the fact it stays that color. I love the 4-5/16th width plank (not too slim and not too wide for my townhouse's size) and now I am thinking I can live with the fact I can't resand it since the pieces can unlock to put in a new piece if the planks need to be replaced and they have a nanolinx wear layer on top that is wonderful for being very scratch resistant. I wish the price of the Maple Auburn Mirage engineered wood floors with the 4 MM plank would be much less (the stores wants $10.99/sq ft just for the floor but I know another store that is $2 more than this that includes the installation but not moving my furniture) since that is what I would want but it would have to be glued down and that would mean I would have to most likely seal the cement floor. I still love the BR-111 Brazilian Cherry but now I like the Maple Auburn and the Mirage Lock Natural Oak and surprisingly th Armstrong Grand Illusions Natural Cherry that looks so real. All the floors I am looking at seem to be in the same color range since I have them right now in big samples in front of me in front of my credenza and they are making me happy so I guess I am an auburn/red floor person. The natural oak, I would need an area rug in my other room for some color so I am not sure about that since I was trying to avoid rugs. A flooring place let me bring these samples home today and I like them all. :) I do not want to install a sub-floor to raise my floor up and since my townhouse is on a slab, I am just leaning towards buying an engineered floor or maybe the hybrid engineered floor or maybe the laminate. I will decide tomorrow on how the floors look in the light with the tile I chose. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| The prices at many retail stores is way high. I shopped the internet for my engineered wood floors. Have them send samples of everything you like. Then get extra samples of your top choices. I got 4mm for 3.99. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| Try Vernon Floors if you're in NJ. I think they quoted us $5.45 for Mirage but we ended up buying br111 solid brazilian cherry. Their prices are very fair. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| v_olstein68, which width did you choose of the Brazilian Cherry flooring? Why did you end up choosing BR-111 over Mirage? Were they both the same wood species? Any pictures? I love Brazilian Cherry floors. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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HARDWOOD FOR SURE. ITS ALMOST SAME PRICE.
SOLID OAK UNFINISH: $1.80/SQFT LABOR: 2.50/SQFT
ENGENEERED: $4/SQFT MYFLOOREXPERT.COM |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| Engineered is hardwood! It is just constructed instead of being a solid piece of wood. There are manufactured boards, with as much sandable surface as a 5/8 solid board. 3/16 of sanding can be done.
Look into OWENS, Capella, and Real Wood |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| I personally would not use engineered flooring; especially if I was installing it in my own home. I use to use the engineered flooring over radiant heat until I was introduced to staybull flooring. I have to say Staybull is my favorite flooring to work with always straight and never cups. Staybull flooring has a similar concept to engineered flooring except that the layers are vertical not horizontal. The vertical layers move the ware layer back down to the tongue just like solid hard wood flooring. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| I bet I can make it cup!! |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| I’m not sure you could. I have installed it in some place where I thought for sure it would and it has not cupped. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| Has anyone ever sanded down that maple engineered and then stained it? Whoa...bad news. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| "Has anyone ever sanded down that maple engineered and then stained it?"
Actually, yes. Several times. Turned out great and the clients loved it. |
V_Olstein68 - RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| V_Olstein68, OK I found my answer here to the question I typed on the other post. Thanks for letting me know that you chose BR-111 Brazilian Cherry solid wood. Do you have any pictures? Alex quoted me $6.99/square foot for the Mirage Auburn Lock and $4.99/Sq. Foot for the BR-111 Triangulo Floor. These were prices last year. I am going to figure out if I can glue my floor by your comment on the other post that a glue down floor is better. My neighbor just glued down a Bruce Engineered Wood floor since her installer said her floor was dry and she is a few doors away from me. |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| There's a ton of variety when it comes to engineered vs. real hardwood floors. Engineered is just as great in my opinion...obviously they are very different products. Here's a great site to check out just in case you're still toying around with the idea. I know there are a lot of posts here... you may have finished your project already!! Here's the info though, hope this helps. Its a flooring site and its all informational. It's very helpful for anyone installing new floors, cleaning, fixing, blogging about their experiences and ideas... some comments are super funny! anyway, hope this helps! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Flooring Information
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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| Spath2009 you're a spammer...go away... |
RE: Engineered vs. Hardwood
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Guys, You should really look into Mannington engineered hardwood floors. They have a seven step aluminum oxide finish that has the floors looking newer longer than others.... Most importantly, they manufacture most of the wood in High Point North Carolina. If you want a real nice x-cut look that is not peeled, there is a new collection called American Hardwoods. It is really nice looking stuff. 3/4" engineered to. If you want a quote on something that you saw, shoot me an email:
swartzzz@hotmail.com |
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