There are a lot of misconceptions on engineered flooring. People say that it is not as good as solid hardwood, it is not real hardwood. This is all incorrect.

First thing to understand about engineered floor it is the only way to have real wood flooring in your basement. With the way the engineered floor is constructed. There are 4 to 10 layers of wood material crisscrossed then the wood top. The reason for this is the layers being crisscrossed are for stability. Basements normally have a little more moisture in them and the engineered wood can handle the fluctuation in moisture.

Second is the top layer of the engineered wood is real wood for every piece of solid wood you can make 4 times more engineered wood so you are actually saving trees by purchasing engineered wood.

Third the wood layer can be refinished if the layer is thick enough. The misconception is that engineered cannot be refinished. The wear layer on solid wood is about 5/16 of an inch. This can be refinished 6 or 7 times before the nails are exposed. In an engineered wood if the wear layer is 4 mm or 5/32 this floor can be refinished 4 or 5 times before the other layers are exposed. So realistically the engineered and solid are so close to each other don’t rule out the purchase of engineered. If you were to purchase a thicker wear layer then your refinish times go up and then you can supersede the solid finish times and have your floor last even longer.

So when you’re looking for a new hardwood floor and wanting to match all the wood in your home look at engineered it is the real thing and your stability is far greater than a solid.