Hardwood - engineered vs solid?

cbeingessner

Does anyone have any thoughts on engineered hardwood -- we're ripping out carpet and laminate, and want to put down hardwood, but aren't sure which one to go with. Another option is bamboo, but I've heard it is very hard and you'd have to pre-drill every nail hole. Any thoughts?

Thanks so much!

angus242

I think it really boils down to how YOU feel about wood flooring. I personally don't think there is any replacement for nailed down 3/4" hardwood. Engineered is just a different kind of flooring. If you don't mind how it looks/feels, it's definitely a good choice for a flooring material.
Bamboo is tricky. There is a lot of crappy bamboo out there. You need to be careful if you choose bamboo. The process of how it's manufactured can weaken it as can the carbonizing procedure. I'm not well enough versed with bamboo to tell you all you need to research but I can tell you there is plenty of GOOD information out there to be found. Read up on it BEFORE you decide to go that route. Good bamboo is not cheap.

Good luck.

ps Lumber Liquidators should NOT be your source for GOOD hardwood. Be prepared to spend some money for quality materials.

dochorn

Angus242

Isn't the main purpose for using engineered hardwood is if you want wood in your basement where you should never lay real wood because of the moisture issues? We'll probably tile ours, but wood might be nice, it's the option to use if we go that route isn't it? I will NEVER use a laminate for any reason, so if it's not right to use engineered then tile it is 100%!

angus242

By no means was I attempting to say that nailed down hardwood is the ONLY choice. You are 100% correct that there are alternative choices in certain circumstances that are better options than 3/4" hardwood. However, since the OP did not specify what the subfloor would be, I was talking about a typical nailed down situation. Yes, I have seen engineered flooring nailed down as an alternative to 3/4". Is it a quality choice? Yes! I personally would not use anything else as a substitute when nailed down 3/4" is a possibility.

dochorn

Angus242

Sorry, I was just asking a question of my own, nothing in relation to the first question. I don't know much about hardwood, so I was just wondering if that was the appropriate one for our situation.

ayeshaa

Hardwood Flooring:

Natural hardwood flooring appears to be a more popular choice than finished hardwood floors, which are shiny. In the eventuality that you decide at some point to finish the floor, a natural hardwood flooring should pose no problem. It is thick enough and the dents and gouges it would have accumulated over the years only add character and enhance the final finish of the flooring. Hard wood floors wear well over time and can last for hundreds of years.

They are quite thick and have enough scope for sanding and smoothing to remove large dents before finishing. Or maybe to achieve some desired effect. Distressed hard wood flooring has made a surprising comeback and ironically people are denting and scraping their brand new, perfectly polished hardwood floors to achieve the old, worn-out look. With todays fast paced, stressful lifestyles, it seems easier to stomp and pound on your floor and fling objects at it, thus relieving your stress and achieving a floor that looks distressed - just the way you like it. It certainly takes less time and is cheaper than having to re-do the whole floor. Read more.

Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo is a great alternative to wood. Bamboo has been used in many functional ways since the early days. It's versatile and very popular in this era as flooring. Bamboo flooring provides natural beauty of wood in your home without leaving you feeling guilty of damaging the environment. It's renewable, hence making bamboo flooring very popular. Having a very pleasing aesthetic and environment friendly is one of the many reasons to choose bamboo flooring. Do you know that it is also bug resistant and long-lasting? This makes it naturally great for floor covering. Bamboo flooring looks like real wood and is pre fabricated and read to install.

It comes in variety of designs and looks that it will leave each houses looking uniquely different. The best part would be the fact that it is a Green product, hence proving that you are not endangering the environment by using it. There are many advantages to bamboo flooring compared to ordinary flooring. Common hardwood floor comes from trees that takes 50 years and more to reach maturity, where as bamboo replenishes every four to six years. While it takes ages for hardwoods to grow, the roots will not grow back after being cut, compared to bamboo's which can be re-used over and over again. If you haven't noticed, bamboo flooring is actually much more rock-solid than the ordinary hardwood floors. You have a choice of three types of bamboo flooring. Read more.

Hope it helps! Good luck!

julio333

Thanks for the response. I was wondering the difference.

AtlanticWBConst.

Link with discussions related to the differences of Real Hardwood and Engineered Hardwood: http://flooring.builddirect.com/Engi...red%20hardwood

Significant point: Real hardwood can be sanded down and re-finished muiltiple times.

Engineered hardwood is limited in the number of re-finishes. Engineered is more stable than hardwood (this point is discussed in the link I posted)

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AtlanticWBConst.

Another informative link: http://homerenovations.about.com/od/...ngineerflr.htm

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Allison1888

I also prefer hardwood to engineered floors, but it really is a matter of preference -- and cost, sometimes. Here's an article that talks about the various wood floor options. In the end, pick what you feel the most comfortable with!
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/13401.shtml

poppameth

If you use a good engineered product like Kahrs I think you can get as many sands out of it as you can regular hardwood. You have to keep in mind that by the time you sand regular hardwood 3-4 times you are going to hit the tongue or get so close to it you considerably weaken that area of the floor. Besides, how many people really sand and refinish their floors more than once in their lifetime?

rewright

I am very unhappy with the durability of the engineered hardwood floor I have (walnut). It scratches and dents easily and I am now looking for products to help cover them.I grew up with solid hardwoods (oak) that were polyurethaned and they were very resilient, easy to clean. I have two smalll children who are very tidy. However, we had 2 kids over ot play yesterday and they were running trucks with rubber wheels on the floor and now it is all scratched up. Anything that runs on these floors besides stocking feet WILL SCRATCH THem so beware.

elscorcho

I found myself asking the very same question a month or so ago.

My son-in-law is a very experienced flooring installer, and his professional opinion is the same as angus242-If nailed 3/4 hardwood is a possibility, then it would be his preferred choice.