Solid Flooring or Engineered Flooring, Which should I install?

Solid Timber Flooring:

A solid traditional timber floor is still considered the Rolls-Royce of flooring. The floors last forever, giving a classic rich feel to your home.

A solid wood floor board (especially teak) is the most durable flooring option on the market. A solid teak floor is a great investment and will be on your floor for years to come, It adds value to your space which you can eventually use to your advantage. This year we have been re-sanding and renewing floors that are over 60 years old which we have installed.

Solid flooring generally offers more flexibility when installing (as the installer can machine timber profiles for joints, makeup stair treads, profiles and skirting to match), and the choice of sealant can be decided after the installation. It is also arguably easier to repair a solid timber floor and, as there is generally more timber above the tongue, should last longer. Solid flooring may be installed on both battons or be glued down

With solid timber floors, a much stronger adhesive and a very good moisture barrier is required, to hold the floor in place and to prevent excessive movement. Teak flooring, being the most stable timber floor on the market is able to be installed on top of under floor heating.

This type of flooring is more durable however the timber needs to be harvested and cured correctly to ensure you reap the benefits of a gorgeous timber floor. If shortcuts have been taken during the harvesting and curing phases you will be working with a less stable f

Previously a negative for soild hardwood flooring was that sanding of the floor was always done after installing, however, Nowadays most large companies offer a prefinish solid which means your flooring arrives sanded and sealed, merely needing to be glued down.

Engineered Hardwood Floors:

Engineered hardwood flooring is typically a product made up of a core of hardwood, plywood or HDF and a top layer of hardwood veneer that is glued on the top surface of the core and is available in almost any hardwood species. The product thus has the natural characteristics of the selected wood species as opposed to a photographic layer on plastic (laminate flooring).

Generally, the engineered floorboard will have either a three-ply base (made of poplar and pine) or a multiply base which is typically made of birch. The latter product is probably more stable, however, a good quality three-ply floor installed correctly is every bit as a good as a multilayer floor.

Engineered flooring (when glued down) can also be installed over underfloor heating that has been cut into the screed, or the water pipe version. Certainly in any situation where moisture is an issue such as a bathroom or kitchen, the multilayer floor would be the first preference. Also, since the hardwood layer is only a few millimetres in thickness, a lot of hardwood is saved by going for this option.