Solid Wood Floors – Solid wood floors are exactly as their name implies, meaning they are made of a solid piece of wood from the top of the plank to its bottom, stained and finished to bring the natural characters of the species used.

Engineered Wood Floor – Engineered wood flooring is real wood flooring as well, however instead of a solid piece of wood from top to bottom its made of several layers of high quality wood veneer and engineered wood composite products that are bonded together using high pressure, heat, and adhesive.

Solid Wood Floors – Solid wood floors are standardly come in ¾’ of an inch thick and can range between 3-¼” – 11” wide.

Engineered Wood Floor – Engineered Wood Floors are available from ½” to 9/16” thick and width begins at 5” and can go all the way to 9-1/2”.

Solid Wood Floors – When it comes to solid wood floors customers has the option to choose between a pre-finished floor, meaning a floor that was stained, finished and sealed at the factory prior to be packed in boxes and shipped out.  And the Job-Site-Finished Floor, In this option a customer would have to purchase an unfinished planks of the floor and a professional installer will install, stain and finish the floor on site.

Engineered Wood Floor – Engineered wood floors are generally pre-finished at the factory and customers receive a complete product that has already been stain, finished and sealed prior to leaving the factory. This option can save time, money and effort as the floor arrives ready to be installed.

Appearance – As mentioned before, Similar to solid wood floors the top layer of engineered wood floor is made with 100% real wood. Therefore like solid wood floors it can come in a wide variety of species, colors and textures. In fact, once engineered flooring planks are installed it will be very difficult for one to determine if the floor installed is solid wood or engineered just by looking at them.

Feel & Sound – In some cases, engineered floors can have a slight hollow sound when stepped on, however this issue can be addressed and fixed easily by either stapling down the flooring planks directly to the sub-floor or by installing the appropriate underlayment such as cork or recycled rubber in floating applications.

Solid Wood Floors can be refinished numerous times.  Eventually, solid hardwood will become too thin after years of sanding, compromising its structural integrity.

Engineered Wood Floors with a wear layer less than 3 millimeters thick can be lightly sanded with a buffer while thicker top layers can be sanded just like solid wood, giving the customer the option to sand deep scratches and dents. An engineered floor with a 4-millimeter top layer, for instance, can be re-finished at least once. Make sure to check the flooring specification by referring to the manufacturer instructions and guides prior to re-sanding it.

Solid Wood Floors are generally installed by nailing or stapling it down to the subfloor and/or glued in applications with concrete sub-floor.

Engineered Wood Floors however have more options when it comes to installation. In addition to nail-down, staple-down or glue, engineered floors can be floated. Meaning the installer can connect the flooring planks by gluing down the T&G (tongue and groove) and keep the flooring system floating by not attaching or gluing it to the sub-floor at any point allowing a much simpler installation method then solid floors.

Solid Wood Floors definitely add a tremendous value to any application weather residential or commercial. Depending on the condition of the floor, solid wood floors maintain their resale value at an excellent rate and for some can be a huge selling point when selling or buying a property.

Engineered Wood Floors similar to solid wood floors engineered wood floors are also labeled as “Real Wood” and since they look and feel like solid wood they add value to any property they applied to. Homeowners and real estate agents make sure to point hardwood floors when advertise a property to attract potential buyers.