Engineered hardwood flooring

[stinkynathan]

We have an accepted offer on a house that is being built that will be completed in early/mid-June. It's a spec home on 1.7 acres in a "development" of four houses. Great builder, property, and location.

Anyway, one of the upgrades we're debating is laying engineered wood flooring on the 650 ft of living/dining/kitchen/hall. I have worked around engineered hardwood, but never seen it after a couple years of wear.

How durable is this stuff? Are we crazy for wanting a nice new floor with first baby on the way? Part of me says the smart move is to go with the specced out carpet/vinyl and possibly upgrade the padding. After the kids destroy the stuff we can replace it with what we really want.

Learn me, oh sage brains of ATOT!

(Yes, I know. Solid wood floors are for manly-men. I work for a high-end cabinet shop and understand real wood floors. I still don't want to pay for them.)

 

[Stopsignhank]

Well everybody is different so take what I say with a grain of salt. I put in engineered hardwood floors in our house 5 years ago, maybe a bit longer. Our floors still look very good, and we are rough on the floor. 4 dogs and 2 kids. Yeah there are some areas that aren't perfect, for instance under my sons gaming chair, but for the most part if looks great. I have put a top coat on it once or twice, but not on a regular basis.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Had engineered floors in my condo for about 6 years before I sold it. They went in 2 years before my daughter was born and survived just fine with her.
I personally would go for the upgrade. I hate carpets and children do spill a lot. Pain in the ass cleaning up carpet whereas a hardwood/engineered floor takes mere seconds to clean up.

 

[TheAdvocate]

I put down about 1600 sf of Home Legend (Home Depot brand) handscraped, click lock, wide board engineered hardwoods on our downstairs (LR, Den, DR, foyer etc) about 5-6 years ago. We have two young, very active boys, and pets.

They look and wear fantastically. I am not going to claim we have zero scratches, but I'd have to point them out to you, and they were from dropping a metal frame on the floor from a good height (still barely visible), and stuff like that. My kids play really rough on them, and they hold up well. My only compaint is OMG the smudges and dust bunnies - but that happens with any hard floor. You just have to clean them often. I'd never do carpet in our living areas again.

One recommendation - spend the money and get wider boards. Go at least 4 3/4 inches, but the 5 1/2 is even better. Love the look and feel. Wider boards can be a problem if you are on a poorly engineered (uneven) slab, but it is doable. Also, don't be afraid of having a so called "floating floor" (aka not nailed down). Mine is. Zero issues.

 

[mmntech]

We've got it in our TV room and upstairs hall. It's cheaper than hardwood but looks just as good. Wears about the same. It's also pretty easy to install yourself if you have access to a compressor and nail gun.

All wood flooring scratches though, no matter what they tell you. Tile is better in high traffic areas.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Yeah, and don't be that guy/couple that puts it in your Kitchen. That's beyond stupid.

We put porcelain down there. A little overkill, but looks great and we can and have dropped stuff on it often with no issues.

 

[NutBucket]

Wood in the kitchen seems to be a regional thing. Our house has ceramic tile in the kitchen that looks like wood. It's quite convincing without being ridiculous. Best of both world IMHO.

 

[Anubis]

I woudl do the upgrade, but keep it out of the kitchen, pretty much anything else for the kitchen besides a carpet.

 

[momeNt]

Pay attention to hardness, as that is what makes them susceptible to scratches. Pine flooring will scratch easily compared to white maple or something very hard like brazilian cherry. But to some scratches make the home feel "lived in" and not like you are in a model of a home.

Engineered HW floors have a veneer of some species of wood, the price and hardness are affected greatly by that top veneer.

 

[Drako]

Yeah, and don't be that guy/couple that puts it in your Kitchen. That's beyond stupid.

My house has it in the Kitchen/Dining Room. It was put in when we did a remodel 15 years ago, and it's holding up fine.

 

[highland145]

My house has it in the Kitchen/Dining Room. It was put in when we did a remodel 15 years ago, and it's holding up fine.

Have had mine in for 14+ years and they've done fine. Just had them refinished with the remodel to match the rest of the house. Love 'em....until the damned fridge leaked water on it, cupped the edges a little. Most would never notice but I do. Oh well, I still like them.

 

[Aharami]

bought my current townhouse with engineered hardwood throughout the first floor. First floor is one big open space so it is in the kitchen too. Not sure what kind of engineered wood it is, but it is cracking in the kitchen area. Rest is fine. I wouldn't put wood in the kitchen.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I did my entire house with Pergo 10-15 years ago, it's been great and still looks great.

HOWEVER, past 5 years my mom got her apartment done and her job with "industrial" type of laminate flooring.

Both are complete garbage. Now I'm wondering if quality of this stuff has deteriorated beyond anything good.....

It's warping and subfloor is a slab/very good. I don't get it.

I want to recommend it, but I don't.

 

[LegendKiller]

I wouldn't get it. I heard too many horror stories with new-builds in my area. We replaced it all with hardwood (even kitchen) and love it so far. We got some nice wide planked, aged, hand scraped and corner sawn stuff that hides children damage *very* well.

 

[Rakehellion]

hardwood smoking > hardwood flooring

 

[smackababy]

hardwood smoking > hardwood flooring

Oh look! Medium rare would be the person to love smoking the hard wood.

 

[vi edit]

I did my entire house with Pergo 10-15 years ago, it's been great and still looks great. HOWEVER, past 5 years my mom got her apartment done and her job with "industrial" type of laminate flooring.

Engineered hardwood isn't laminate. Engineered hardwood is typically a plywood kind of subboard that has different layers laminated together with a 1/8" or so wood veneer glued to the top of it. Laminate is a high density wood composite with a picture stuck on the top of it.

 

[Ryland]

I have Bruce engineered hardwoods in my old kitchen and sitting room and had to call on the warranty within 6 months of installation because the top level came apart. All of my other floors are bamboo and have held up really well for the last few years.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Like anything else, do some research on the particular brand/product before you buy. Cheap engineered flooring is problematic, just like anything else that's cheap.

I tossed in a solid recommendation - but I can also tell you that there are dozens of affordable brands/solid products. Look to spend more in the mid price range to get a good product. $3/sf is probably the value floor, unless you catch it on sale.

 

[vi edit]

I'll toss in the suggestion of strand bamboo. I put that in my current house and love the stuff. It's one of the most durable and interesting looking flooring materials I've ever used.

Only downside is that it comes in 6' boards, they aren't staggered sizes, and if you nail it down it's so freaking hard that a misfire of the nail results in a useless board since you can't get the nail back out.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

this is kind of off topic but this is one of my favorite home remodeling blogs.
http://www.younghouselove.com/

It's a couple who's remodeled each of their homes and they're currently on their third. I think it's crazy what they've been able to do on their own.

back on topic here's this thread:
http://forums.younghouselove.com/di...ineered-unfinished-hardwoods-finished-on-site

 

[GasX]

Wood in the kitchen seems to be a regional thing. Our house has ceramic tile in the kitchen that looks like wood. It's quite convincing without being ridiculous. Best of both world IMHO.

Wood looks awesome in the kitchen, but it is such a huge risk due to all the water sources there...

If you go engineered, get one that can be refinished. Most can't, some can be refinished once safely and twice in a pinch.

If you live somewhere without too much humidity, why not go hardwood?

 

[Hacp]

Make sure the flooring is good. My mom had some come standard at a highrise condo she bought. Hers scratched very easily.

 

[Eug]

Most builders who install engineered hardwood for average builds will install crappy to mediocre engineered hardwood.

Good quality engineered hardwood is excellent but often ends up being cheaper than what a builder will charge.

Note also that in many ways decent quality engineered hardwood is superior to decent quality solid hardwood of the same hardness, although you often end up paying more for engineered actually. Because of the plywood-like base, engineered hardwood will not warp/expand/contract like solid hardwood will. The problem here is if you buy cheap engineered hardwood, it's super thin and some can warp easily. The other problem is cheap engineered hardwood can't be refinished. And they use crappy veneers too. Good quality engineered hardwood has a thick top layer so it can be refinished and even several times if necessary.

To give you an idea of the thickness differences, cheap engineered hardwood might be 7 mm thick with low quality hardwood, whereas good quality engineered hardwood might be 14+ mm with much better quality hardwood and finishes. So a cheap engineered hardwood might have a 1 mm veneer, but a high quality one might have a 4 mm veneer.

tldr;

Ask to see the engineered hardwood and ask about the specs. If it's good quality and the price isn't too steep, then go for it. It will hold up as well as good quality solid hardwood, if not better.

 

[MustISO]

We've got Bruce hardwood in a large area of our first floor and after 15 years it looks new. We don't however wear shoes in the house and have no pets.