Whats Your Take On Engineered Hardwoods

[GREASER]

Not the super thin stuff with a pic of wood..we are talking the 3/4 in. prefinished stuff...seems to be the same price as installing unfinished, the finishing. Is this stuff junk or not..to me it seems the logical way for real wood flooring, but not sure if I missing something here.

[musicman]

IMO most people think the benefit is price. However some of them are too expensive IMO. The price definitely would make me seriously consider the real thing.

Edited February 8, 2008 by musicman

[crunchtastic]

Yea, I think most people are attracted to the price and ease of installation. I personally don't care for the finish. I like a really high-gloss build up of poly over unfinished wood.

[BryanS]

...even though it is pre-finished, if you want to go with it, make sure it can be re-finished, later... like regular hardwoods... some engineered products can be re-finished, others cannot (which, in my view, I would go with something else).

[flipper]

I have a sample of a Thomasville 1/2" engineered hardwood. The actual "finished" wood is about 1/8" thick. I think it could probably be refinished 1 time.

The main hesitation I have with them is that they have to be installed before the trim carpenter and painter work in the house, and I'm afraid the "pre-finished" finish will get messed up during construction.

flipper

[Mark F. Barnes]

Why pay the price for the real thing and not have the real thing. There is no substitute for real hardwood. I have it all over my home. Living in a Spruce Log home on top of the fact I just really love real wood, it's definitely a must to have the real thing. I guess it's strictly left to choice. Me, give me the real thing.

[Guest danax]

I have a sample of a Thomasville 1/2" engineered hardwood. The actual "finished" wood is about 1/8" thick. I think it could probably be refinished 1 time.

The main hesitation I have with them is that they have to be installed before the trim carpenter and painter work in the house, and I'm afraid the "pre-finished" finish will get messed up during construction.

flipper

I've always wondered what people do once their one refinish is finished......not to sound like a snob, but a product like this is designed for the "will only be here 3-5 years" crowd.

[gwilson]

I've always wondered what people do once their one refinish is finished......not to sound like a snob, but a product like this is designed for the "will only be here 3-5 years" crowd.

Try closer to 10-20. You shouldn't need to refinish the floor within 5 years. It should be 10+ years before a refinish is necessary.

[Guest danax]

Try closer to 10-20. You shouldn't need to refinish the floor within 5 years. It should be 10+ years before a refinish is necessary.

Right, but buying flooring that is known to have a 10-20 year lifespan is something that someone who doesn't plan on being there then would buy.

[musicman]

Try closer to 10-20. You shouldn't need to refinish the floor within 5 years. It should be 10+ years before a refinish is necessary.

depends how people treat them. i saw some people with dogs and it surprised me how quickly they went downhill.

[Heights2Bastrop]

What is being overlooked here is that pre-finished flooring can use protective finishes that can

[westguy76]

We have a real thin (like laminate) engineered floor in our house. It was made by armstrong I believe. No way you could refinish this stuff it is like plywood with a 1/12" wood strip on top. In fact our Golden reteiver has scratched up several areas where she runs around the corner or jumps off the coutch etc.

The reason I put it in my house was only because a family member owns a flooring company and his company took 1,600 SQ of the stuff (brand new) out of this ladies house twice! So I had more than enough to do my whole house. I think her complaint was that it squeaked!! Really a floating wood floor squeaks in certain spots!! Duh! So anyways For just the labor it's in my house. It replaced the carpet in all the living areas in my house and while beautiful is now scratched up. Bottom line, I would never buy the cheap (laminate style/snap together/engineered wood) This stuff (oak) scratches like pine! I have seen the thick stuff installed and wondered how many times it could be refinished, the differance is in the installation I believe.

[Jeebus]

^ A good deal is a good deal - no need to justify that one!

[GREASER]

maybe I am not calling this product correctly..I am talking about prefinished 3/4 inch hardwood flooring..same wood thru the plank...cost under $4 sq ft. I am probably going with the real thing (Klassic Hardwoods reclaimed is 7 sq ft installed and refinished), but was just wondering as this is always a cheaper option.

[cgallagher]

Real Hardwoods feel much better. There is no substitute. Engineered flooring looks good but a custom stained wood floor is very satisfying to walk on.

[sarahiki]

I've just been reading up on these. Engineered hardwoods are not the same as laminate. They can have differing thickness in the top layer, which would determine whether or not they could be refinished at some point.

What got me interested, when I had been thinking solely about traditional hardwoods, is that they are supposed to be better in a humid climate. Less warping, less cupping. Has anyone had a problem with that in regular hardwood floors here?

Personally, I would prefer regular hardwoods, unless there is some real advantage to the engineered, in terms of how humidity affects them.

[westguy76]

I've just been reading up on these. Engineered hardwoods are not the same as laminate. They can have differing thickness in the top layer, which would determine whether or not they could be refinished at some point.

What got me interested, when I had been thinking solely about traditional hardwoods, is that they are supposed to be better in a humid climate. Less warping, less cupping. Has anyone had a problem with that in regular hardwood floors here?

Personally, I would prefer regular hardwoods, unless there is some real advantage to the engineered, in terms of how humidity affects them.

If you are installing wood floors on a concrete slab in our enviroment you are going to have a certain degree of moisture and humidity acting upon the glue and the wood. The manufactures have improved their product over the years to improve the bond in this case. Floor preparation is essential as is having a contractor who is experianced if not certified in the methods the flooring manufaturer reccomends for that product. Floating and leveling the slab is very important as well. The enviromental challenges of our climate in Houston are why many people go with an engineered floating floor on slabs. Done right with a quality product that can be refinished and is there for the long haul will not be cheaper than solid wood installation in some cases.

[Fringe]

We have engineered wood flooring and we are very pleased with it. It is different from laminate in that it is 100% wood. Most of it just happens to be plywood with a layer of finished wood on top. I was told we could sand ours up to 4 times without a problem. As durable as it has been that should last us at least 40 to 50 years. The main advantage of engineered wood is that it's ready to walk on immediately after installation and is a little cheaper than solid hardwood. It feels and looks like solid hardwood unlike laminate that is noisy to walk on.

[flipper]

I've used 3 kinds of wood. Regular 3/4" hardwood that gets nailed to skreeds, 5/8" unfinished glue down engineered oak, and 1/2" prefinished glue down engineered oak.

The order I listed them in is the order in which I prefer them. I probably won't do the pre-finished again.

flipper

[texas911]

Go real or go home!

[Marksmu]

Go real or go home!

We bought a ranch two years ago that has a metal building on it, with an office in the building, with the 3/4" pre-engineered hardwood floors laid over a concrete slab. I do not know the brand, but I do know they are very nice. They look exactly like a real hardwood floor - and they are virtually indestructible. Our ranch is in the Anahuac area, and was completely flooded by the storm surge and the engineered floors were not cupped and destroyed by the water.

The type we have can be refinished, but even after my 2 years of rough use with dogs and everything else, they still do not appear to have any scratches, and like I said - they went completely underwater for 2 days and all that was required was to brush the mud out, and mop up the remainder.

With that said - I still prefer the real hardwoods unless you have large dogs who quickly destroy them.

[sarahiki]

We bought a ranch two years ago that has a metal building on it, with an office in the building, with the 3/4" pre-engineered hardwood floors laid over a concrete slab. I do not know the brand, but I do know they are very nice. They look exactly like a real hardwood floor - and they are virtually indestructible. Our ranch is in the Anahuac area, and was completely flooded by the storm surge and the engineered floors were not cupped and destroyed by the water.

The type we have can be refinished, but even after my 2 years of rough use with dogs and everything else, they still do not appear to have any scratches, and like I said - they went completely underwater for 2 days and all that was required was to brush the mud out, and mop up the remainder.

With that said - I still prefer the real hardwoods unless you have large dogs who quickly destroy them.

That is quite helpful, thanks.

[sheeats]

We installed engineered hardwoods when we moved in to our townhouse two years ago. Anything was better than the 20-year-old, piss-and-tobacco-stained carpet that was there before. It didn't make sense for us to spend the money to install real hardwoods in our area and I absolutely hate the look and feel of laminate, so we took a gamble on the engineered hardwoods.

They are Thomasville -- Brazilian cherry or something like that, I believe -- and thick enough to be refinished once, but only once. I'm completely surprised by how durable they've been. We have two dogs (one is a German Shepherd) and a cat and we tend to be pretty rough on our floors/furniture anyway, but they still look brand new. It's really difficult to scratch the floor; I'm talking, you have to take a screwdriver to it to get a nick. We absolutely love them, and no one has been able to tell so far that they aren't real hardwoods.

The only caveat: Make sure you get someone to hire them who knows what they're doing. We had to have ours redone in several places because the guy who installed them didn't make sure the subflooring was level and they kept making these horrible, annoying popping sounds as a result.

[GREASER]

After looking at everything, we went with real wood throught (sp?) the house.