These boards have a base often plywood plus a thin veneer of something like oak maple or hickory on top.
Hardest engineered hardwood flooring.
Compared to solid planks engineered hardwood offers a similar look that s easier on your budget.
Style selections style selections hardwood 5 in gunstock oak smooth traditional engineered hardwood flooring 19 69 sq ft item 1051367.
Engineered wood has a thin veneer of real hardwood on top of dimensionally stable plywood.
While there are no official studies i am aware of with engineered products the actual hardness testing reporting is done with solid wood flooring.
The wood floor s top wear surface.
With proper care regular cleaning and maintenance engineered hardwood floors can last 15 to 20 years.
Some reports state they are lasting longer while others only have a 5 to 10 year life span.
Hardwood flooring types engineered hardwood.
Engineered hardwood flooring is almost always sold pre finished and there is a narrower range of available colors and species than with solid hardwood.
Even if that veneer happens to be the hardest wood possible such as brazilian walnut or ebony that veneer is still not thick enough to make the flooring truly durable.
Engineered hardwoods have different materials under the actual wear layer.
Solid hardwood flooring will always be stronger than hardwood veneer engineered flooring.
If you ve already started reviewing your options in the hardwood flooring market then you ll be well aware that engineered hardwood flooring is an increasingly popular product.
When considering engineered wood flooring the hardness scale should not be taken in earnest.
Here s a guide to which species are the hardest.
Some pre finished engineered hardwood flooring has slightly beveled edges which creates slight grooves between boards while solid hardwood flooring generally has very tight seams between boards.
The scale was invented in 1906 by gabriel janka an austrian wood researcher and standardized in 1927 by the american society for testing and materials depending on the room where the flooring will be installed a certain level of hardness may make it a more desirable choice.
Will engineered wood flooring increase my home s value.
Better still it s competitively priced compared to solid hardwood flooring.
Type of core for engineered wood floors grain direction.
Smartcore naturals 5 in bluegrass trail maple smooth traditional engineered hardwood flooring 20 01 sq ft.
If durability is a priority you re going to want hardwood.
As the corresponding chart suggests some of the hardest wood floors on the market are exotics brazilian walnut cumaru brazilian teak ipe and lapacho to name a few.
For pricing and availability.
Upwards of 2 20 per square foot for engineered hardwood compared to upwards of 3 40 per square foot for solid.
The biggest factors will be care quality of the planks and how well they are installed.