Solid or Engineered Hardwood Flooring?

Each type has its specific use and the answer depends on your lifestyle and your needs.

The solid choices can be installed on grade and above grade, but not below grade. A solid wood floor is usually less stable than an engineered wood floor in reference to moisture and expansion related to that moisture. Solids should be in a moisture-controlled environment. Solid wood strip or plank is nailed down only and requires a wood sub floor. Solid wood parquet can be glued to a variety of sub floor materials.

The engineered choices consist of a multi-plied, cross-stacked backing with a veneer top layer of a selected species. These engineered floors can be installed on grade, above and below grade. The engineered varieties are more dimensionally stable so they can be installed in areas where solid wood is not compatible due to moisture. Engineered strip, plank and parquet are glue down applications over various sub floor materials. Some engineered strip and plank can be nailed down which requires a wood sub floor. Engineered includes floating floors where the tongue and groove are glued together, but the floor is not anchored to the sub floor.

Unless you spend serious money on a solid wood floor, you will most likely get a wood floor that will have characteristics as we described above. In some cases, with certain species, you may have no choice because solid wood is all that particular species is available in. But, if you are looking at Oak, Maple, Cherry, Hickory, Pecan, Brazilian Cherry, or one of the other somewhat more popular species, you can most likely find it in an engineered floor, and it will probably be a better value. Engineered wood floors are available in styles that have different installation methods. They include floors that can be installed using staple down, glue down, or free float methods. Over the past five or more years, the free float method seems to be the method of choice and we'd have to agree with that. Since the free floating wood floors do not actually touch the sub-floor, there is a near zero chance that you will have any problems with this floor. Additionally, with other installation methods you get those uneven gaps due to the standard expansion and contraction that we talked about previously. With floating engineered wood floors, when they expand and contract, they do so as one whole unit, not as individual planks so you see no change.