Timber flooring is an extremely popular choice among homeowners in Australia. When choosing timber flooring for their home, most of them get stuck on how to choose between hardwood and engineered flooring. We’re here to help. Let’s go through the significant differences between hardwood flooring and engineered flooring.
- Construction: A single plank of a solid hardwood floor is made of a single piece of wood. The thickness of the wood planks will be around ¾ inch, and the width about two ¼ to 4 inches. In comparison, engineered hardwood floors are made from many thin sheets of hardwood that are placed on top of one another. Each plank will have a thickness of ⅜ to 9/16 inches and a width of about two ¼ to 7 inches.
- Durability: Solid hardwood flooring lasts up to 30 to 100 years with the proper maintenance and care. An engineered hardwood flooring will last up to 20 to 40 years.
- Maintenance: In the whole lifetime of a hardwood flooring, you might have to sand and refinish the flooring about 2-3 times. They can be cleaned easily regularly with just sweeping, vacuuming, or moping with a wood cleaner. An engineered flooring requires sanding and refinishing once or twice. Engineered flooring can be cleaned easily with just a mop and water.
- Appearance: Solid hardwood flooring is available in a wide range of colours on both pre-finished and unfinished boards. Engineered hardwood floors are usually pre-finished and are available in selected colours.
- Installation: Solid hardwood cannot be installed on top of concrete slabs and requires a subfloor beneath them. You’ll need a professional to come and install the solid hardwood flooring for you, and you cannot do it yourself. Engineered hardwood, on the other hand, can be installed on top of concrete slabs and are easy to install.
- Resale value: Because of the durability of solid hardwood, you will have a higher value for your house if you decide to sell it in the future. Engineered flooring does not give you much return on investment because of its low durability.
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