Composition

Solid Wood Flooring

Solid Wood Flooring is made from solid lumber.  It is available in unfinished and prefinished. Solid wood flooring comes in thicknesses ½” or ¾” and widths of 1 ½” and up.

Most solid wood flooring can only be installed over a wood subfloor and cannot be installed below grade, such as in basements.

On a side note, a common misconception we run into is that with a ¾” solid wood floor product you have a full ¾” wear layer.  This, however, is not the case.  You cannot sand down to the tongue and groove.  Roughly only the first 3/16” to ¼” is your wear layer.

Engineered Wood Flooring

Engineered Wood Flooring is made by bonding sub layers of lumber, generally 7 to 11 layers, with a hardwood veneer on top.  Engineered wood flooring comes in ½”, 5/8” and ¾” thicknesses with widths of 2 ¼” up to 10”.  Our modern day engineered flooring comes with a variety of wear layer options, which means that you can now get an engineered product with the same wear layer as a traditional ¾” solid wood floor.

Engineered wood flooring can be installed above grade and below grade, such as in basements.  It can also be installed over a variety of sub –floors, including concrete.

Due to the construction of engineered wood flooring it generally moves half as much as a traditional ¾” solid wood floor.  This makes it a great option for our NW climate.  It also performs beautifully over radiant heating systems.