Are There Advantages to Installing Engineered Wood Flooring?

Planning on giving your interiors a much-needed makeover? Before you start sifting through color charts and picking out soft furnishings, take the time to consider your flooring. If you’re tired of second-rate laminate or want to say goodbye to allergen-laden carpets, it’s time to embrace the benefits of engineered wood flooring.

Hardwood floors are an easy way to add character to an interior. However, they’re not particularly affordable and they’re notoriously difficult to maintain. Engineered wood is the ideal compromise. You enjoy the same stunning aesthetics of hardwood but can look forward to a more durable flooring material that’s simple to install and incredibly easy to clean and maintain.

Need more convincing? Below, we explore the main advantages that make engineered wood flooring a better choice than hardwood, every time.

Four Great Advantages

1. It’s Easy to Install

Hardwood floors may look great, but installation is a hassle. For starters, all those solid panels and planks need to be sawn down before being laid out and fixed in place. Even for a professional, this is incredibly time-consuming and there’s plenty of room for error.

With engineered wood flooring, you benefit from a far more flexible flooring material. Panels can be cut to size with ease, allowing to floor the most awkward layouts.

Thinking about a floating installation? With engineered wood flooring, this is certainly possible. This means you won’t have to rely on toxic adhesives or bulky carpentry nails.

2. Engineered Wood is Sustainable

Most of us try to be as eco-friendly as possible. This philosophy should extend to the materials we’re using in our homes. Although conventional hardwood is technically renewable, the raw materials tend to be sourced from historic forests and more mature trees.

Engineered wood flooring puts less of a strain on established environments. Because the plywood core is made from repurposed material the veneer layer is relatively thin, and there’s no need to harvest excessive amounts of virgin wood.

3. It’s a Hard-Wearing Alternative to Solid Wood

Provided you’re investing in a premium product, engineered wood flooring will be just as long, if not longer, than a solid hardwood floor. However, the overall lifespan of your floor will hinge on a few factors. If you settle on budget-friendly materials with a thin veneer layer, your floor may only remain in good condition for a decade or so. However, more robust engineered wood planks and panels with a thick oak veneer can last three times as long as that.

As with solid wood floors, engineered wood flooring will need to be refinished from time to time. To make your life easier, consider veneer thickness when choosing a product for your home. Generally speaking, thicker veneers are a better option.

They tend to be more resilient to everyday wear and tear, but also let you sand away surface material for refinishing purposes. Every time you carry out a sanding job on flooring materials, you aim to strip away approximately 0.5mm of material. As such, you’ll want a veneer thickness that will allow you to do this several times over the years.

4. It Can Be Installed Pretty Much Anywhere

If you’re a big fan of authentic wood flooring, you probably want the option to install it anywhere in the home. However, solid wood isn’t always a great fit with rooms that experience high levels of humidity and excessive moisture. This typically rules out hardwood floor installation in spaces like kitchens and bathrooms.

However, engineered wood is designed to perform well in such conditions. The plywood core means regular moisture exposure won’t pose a problem and lead to things like warping. What’s more, occasional spills and standing water won’t lead to irreparable damage.

Enhance Your Interiors with Engineered Wood Flooring

Engineered wood flooring certainly has many functional benefits, but none of that means you have to compromise when it comes to style. Nowadays, there’s an extensive range of engineered wood flooring products on the market. If you’re a fan of contemporary design, long planks are the perfect addition to a modern interior.

Do you prefer traditional parquetry? Herringbone flooring and chevron flooring will add instant character to any room.

Furthermore, you’re not limited when it comes to color choices. You can keep things simple with warm and natural hues or experiment with blacks and grays for a more monochromatic finish.