Solid or Engineered: Which Hardwood Type is Right for You?

If you’re shopping for new hardwood floors and you’ve done your hardwood homework, you probably have noticed that hardwood flooring comes in two different varieties: engineered and solid. Solid hardwood is pretty much exactly what it sounds like – a solid plank of hardwood cut into specific board sizes. Engineered hardwood is flooring that is composed of 3 – 12 multiple ply layers that have been cross-layered, glued down, and pressed together. A layer of species-specific hardwood is then layered on top, giving the appearance of a solid board.

On the surface, solid and engineered hardwoods are very difficult to tell apart, but they do have their own individual advantages and disadvantages. Engineered hardwoods are much more versatile. They can be nailed or glued on top of all types of sub-floors, including concrete. Solid hardwood can only be nailed or stapled down to a wood sub-floor. (Don’t try to staple solid hardwood to a concrete sub-floor. It will only end badly.) Engineered hardwood floors are also less prone to expansion and contraction damages due to climate change.

If cost is a factor, consider engineered. Engineered hardwood flooring is typically less expensive because less of the solid tree goes into the board. It is also lighter and easier to transport, which can also cut down on costs. However, one additional cost factor involved in engineered flooring is the pad that is necessary to purchase for under the floor. Pads help to deaden the echo sound and also act as a moisture barrier, helping to reduce mold and mildew issues when installing over concrete.

 Another important factor to assess when purchasing engineered flooring is the thickness of the top ware layer. Some engineered product cannot be sanded and refinished if the ware layer is less than 2mm. If the engineered floor you are looking at is 2mm or over, than the floor can be sanded and refinished a couple of times. Technology in engineered flooring has come a long way in the past few years, and high-end engineered product typically have a ware layer of an 1/8”. This is essentially the same thickness of a solid hardwood floor has above the tongue and groove. These high end engineered products have a life span that will outlast most of us – they can be sanded and finished the same amount of times as a solid floor.

If there are no budget concerns, and you are installing above grade on a ply sub floor, solid hardwood floors might be the better option. Solid hardwood does not need a pad and you will have no issues with the echoing sound typical with engineered material. Solid floor also typically has a longer life span with sanding and refinishing compared to “standard” engineered materials. Solid flooring also adds more resale value to your home.

As you can see, engineered and solid hardwoods both have their advantages and disadvantages. Cost, ease of installation, and longevity are just a few things to consider when deciding between the two. Still unsure as to which hardwood style is right for you? Give us a call at 1-888-448-9663 today, or shoot us an email at customer.service@fantastic-floor.com. We can’t wait to help you pick the perfect floor!

Is DIY Hardwood Flooring Installation a Good Idea?

Installing hardwood flooring yourself can be a very satisfying, money-saving venture. But if done wrong, it can also be a nightmare and end up costing you more than you ever would have paid a professional. Many people think of attempting a DIY flooring installation project without considering the pros and cons of the project. What are the risks of installing hardwood floors yourself? What are the benefits? If you are thinking about starting such a project you should definitely consider the following arguments for and against it:

Pros
Here are a few of the main reasons you might want to install your new hardwood flooring yourself:

Cost
Hiring a contractor to install your new hardwood floors can end up costing you a pretty penny, especially if you have a lot of space to cover. If you have the know-how and the time, installing floors yourself can save you a lot of money in contractor fees.

Time
When you choose to install hardwood flooring yourself you get to decide how much work will go into the project every day. Most contractors will work a respectable eight-hour day, but if you want your floors installed quickly that might not be enough time. If you do the installation yourself you can work all day and all night if you like, which can help get the project done faster.

Convenience
Let's face it - no matter how polite they are, having a group of contractors in your house all day can be pretty annoying. When you install hardwood floors yourself you don't have to worry about a crew coming in and disrupting your day-to-day.

Cons
As it turns out, the cons of DIY hardwood flooring installation are the same as the pros, but for different reasons. Here are a few of the main reasons you would want to call a professional to handle your installation:

Cost
While a successful DIY installation can save you a lot of money, a failed attempt can end up costing you a lot more. If you can't finish your installation, or you do it incorrectly, you will have not only have to pay a contractor for a new install job, but also to fix any mistakes you made. Also, if you make a mistake in the DIY installation you might be setting yourself up for a costly repair or replacement project in the not-too-distant future.

Time
Just like cost, a botched DIY installation job can take a lot more time than a professional install. If you don't have a lot of experience with installing floors you may find yourself working on the project much longer than you had anticipated.

Convenience
DIY projects can be just as inconvenient to the busy or inexperienced homeowner as hiring a contractor. In fact, finding time in your busy work and social life can be sometimes much harder than just paying a professional to do the work while you're at work or out running errands.

Do you have any experience with DIY flooring installation projects? Was it a good or bad experience? Leave us a comment and tell us your story!

The 5 Best Things About Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Engineered flooring is one of the most popular types of hardwood flooring products you can find. In fact, consumer interest in engineered has skyrocketed over the past few years, even as consumer interest in plain old solid hardwood seems to be waning. Check out these figures from Google Trends:

And this one:

As you can see, search trends for engineered flooring have been climbing steadily since 2005, while solid hardwood flooring and hardwood flooring searches have remained about constant and sharply declined, respectively. This does not, of course, reflect sales of either product, but when it comes to the initial information-gathering phase of buying new floors it would seem that more and more people are interested in engineered.

So what's so great about engineered hardwood flooring? Why all the buzz? While there are many reasons people choose engineered over solid flooring, we thought we'd list five of our favorite. Enjoy!

(Interested in seeing some of Fantastic Floor's beautiful engineered hardwood flooring products? Visit Fantastic-Floor.com today!)

1. It will hang out in any room.
Engineered flooring has a very high resistance to moisture-related problems like buckling. This means engineered floors can be installed in any room of the house, whether that's below-grade (in the basement), on-grade (on the first floor), or above-grade (second floor, third floor, etc.). They can also be installed over more types of surfaces than solid floors, including plain concrete slabs and wood subfloors.

2. It doesn't mind a little humidity.
The moisture-resistance of engineered flooring also makes it a perfect fit for places with extreme changes in temperature and humidity. As you may know, solid wood has a tendency to expand and contract with temperature and humidity changes. This expansion and contraction can lead to many problems, like warping and gapping. The construction of engineered boards fight this natural tendency to bend and warp.

3. It looks good in almost anything.
It's important to remember that engineered flooring is not laminate. Engineered flooring is real hardwood flooring. This means you can get engineered products in almost any style or species of hardwood you can imagine. Looking for oak? Not a problem. How about ipe? No sweat. Maybe you want Brazilian Cherry. You get the idea.

4. It cares about the environment. While engineered flooring does contain a solid top layer of hardwood, the rest is made of layers of various other materials, mainly plywood. This means that less of the actual hardwood tree can be used to make more of the product. And engineered flooring weighs less than solid, so it requires less energy to pack and transport.

5. It's just as sexy as solid.
While there are some people that swear by solid hardwood floors, we believe that high-quality, well-made engineered flooring is just as beautiful and distinctive. Here, see for yourself. One of these products is a solid acacia hardwood floor, the other is an engineered acacia hardwood floor. Can you tell which is which?

No, didn't think so.

What do you think of engineered hardwood flooring? We'd love to hear your thoughts, so leave us a comment and let us know! If you want to know more about Fantastic Floor's engineered hardwood products you can give us a call at 1-888-448-9663 or email us at customer.service@fantastic-floor.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

4 Ways to Reduce Winter Floor Gaping

Cold, dry winter weather can really take its toll on hardwood flooring, causing most species of wood to dry out and shrink. This shrinking inevitably leads to gaps between boards, and despite the fact that it is naturally occurring, it's still pretty unattractive.

While there's no way to prevent hardwood floors from gaping entirely, there are a few precautions you can take to limit the frequency and severity of the gaps. The following are four simple steps you can take before and after installation to reduce the amount of gaping you'll see during those dry winter months:

1. Use the right wood.
Not all hardwood flooring varieties handle fluctuations in temperature and humidity the same. Solid hardwood flooring is generally much more susceptible to these seasonal changes than engineered flooring. Additionally, narrow boards tend to shrink less than wider boards, as does quartersawn flooring. Dimensional stability - the measure of a wood's tendency to expand and shrink - varies from species to species, meaning some hardwoods are going to experience gaping much less than others.
The best way to avoid massive floor gaps in the winter is to pick the right flooring for your climate. If you're really trying to avoid the problem, choose engineered flooring from a dimensionally stable species that has narrow boards. (Visit Fantastic-Floor.com to view engineered flooring products that fit this description.)

2. Reduce ventilation.
A well-ventilated house may be cool and fresh in the summer, but during the winter it means more chances of flooring gaping. When cold air from the outside is brought into a house and heat it loses quite a bit of moisture, drying out your floor and increasing the likelihood of gaping. By reducing your house's winter ventilation, you reduce the chances of gaping.

3. Increase moisture.
But what if we can't reduce our home's ventilation? Good question. The answer to that, of course, would be to increase the moisture levels in air. This can be done by using humidifiers. There are two common types of humidifiers - stand-alone units and units that are attached to central air systems. Because hardwood flooring is sensitive to overly-humid environments as well as overly-dry, you need to be careful when using a humidifier. Contact a hardwood flooring professional before attempting to regulate your home's humidity levels.

4. Plan for gaping anyway.
Sometimes the best way to avoid disappointment is to accept the inevitable. Yes, your hardwood flooring will gap in the winter. Aside from the above-mentioned steps, there isn't a lot you can do to prevent it. You can, however, plan for the gaping. If you have a room that experiences gaping more than others you can add a rug or move some furniture around to cover the gaps. You can also just learn to live with it, resting in the knowledge that come spring your floor boards will expand again and the gaps will close up.

Have you experienced winter floor gaping before? How did you deal with the problem? Leave us a comment and let us know!