Hardwood flooring thickness matters—it directly affects your floor's durability, stability, and lifespan. If you are looking for a quick answer: solid hardwood flooring is universally 3/4" thick, while engineered hardwood is typically offered in 3/8" or 1/2" thicknesses. Generally, thicker engineered floors feature more internal plies, providing better warp resistance and longevity. Is it worth paying slightly more per square foot for a thicker floor? In most cases, yes, especially in environments with fluctuating humidity.
Whether you are browsing Really Cheap Floors for the best deals or actively picking out styles in our flooring shop, understanding how thickness combined with core construction impacts quality will help you make the right choice. Let’s dive into this forest of wooden mystery!
Thickness of Solid Hardwood
How thick is hardwood flooring? Solid flooring is 3/4″ (three-quarter-inch) thick. There are no mainstream solid wooden products made in different thicknesses. That makes it pretty easy to figure out, right? The next part of this guide covers engineered wood floor thicknesses. There are two standards of engineered floors to dig into.
Thickness of Engineered Hardwood Flooring
Engineered flooring is typically offered in either a 3/8″ (three-eighth-inch) thickness or a 1/2″ (half-inch) thickness. Flooring that is imported may be measured in millimeters, so a 3/8″ floor would be about 10 mm, while a 1/2″ floor will be approximately 12.5 mm.
So why are there different options of flooring?
For the same reason burgers come in different-sized patties! In flooring, like burgers, bigger is better for the most part. The two most common thicknesses, as I said earlier, are 3/8" and 1/2". The thicker floor will typically have more layers in it, making it much more stable. But why are there different profiles? Why not one standard size like in solid hardwood?
Why Different Hardwood Thicknesses Exist
Always follow the money; the reason is purely based on price. In the marketing of almost every product in the world, there is always someone trying to be the cheapest. Being the cheapest is the holy grail, and during the rapid growth of the big box stores over the last few decades, we learned to what lengths companies will go to offer the lowest price. Don’t believe for a minute that a box store can sell the same flooring as your local store at a lower price.
They seldom do, especially when you factor in the great service and guidance offered by most small family stores. If this were not the case, the big boxes would sell the products using the same name as the small retailers so you, the consumer, could do exact price comparisons. Nope, that ain’t gonna happen!
So how can a business be cheaper than their competitors? By using less beef! Or lower quality beef. Have I mentioned that I have not had a cheeseburger in months?
Hardwood Plys – Thickness & Wood Layers
What happened was manufacturers started making cheaper flooring. First, it was 7/16” thick, then 3/8″ thickness. Most engineered floors had 5 or 6 plies back then. Now, cheaper engineered flooring is often made with just 3 plies. The number of plies is very important. More plies usually mean more thickness, as the hardwood's core makes it thicker.
Each ply is inserted into the construction on a core, perpendicular to the previous layer. This application of alternating grain directions is what gives the floor stability. Next, the lamella, or top wear layer, is glued to the surface of the finished core. You cannot see the core after it is installed, so many people will never know what thickness their wood floor is if it was furnished and installed by the home builder.
On top of these plies, or core, is the veneer wear layer. This is the part that you walk on, so it dictates how well your floor wears. While the amount of veneer will not alone dictate wearability, a really thin veneer is a sign of a cheap floor.
Hardwood Plys – Stability
So why are the plies important? Why is stability an issue?
The number one problem that affects hardwood flooring is the lack of stability in extreme or somewhat extreme conditions. Excessive humidity, flooding, broken water lines, dry winters, wood heat, and even direct sunlight can cause engineered hardwood flooring to warp and buckle. The fewer plies that the floor has, the more likely that flooring is to move. In the photo below, you can see what looks like regular plywood. Instead, it is the cross-section of a Somerset piece of engineered wood flooring. That is a lot of material packed into 1/2 inch, including the veneer layer.
Somerset Floors 8 Ply Engineered Hardwood
Did I mention that our Somerset hardwood flooring features 8 plies? That is more than almost any other mainstream hardwood manufacturer. 8 plies are far more stable than 5 or 6, and a half-inch thick floor will almost always have more plies than a 3/8" floor, thus it will be more stable.
But stability is not the only issue. Because you know, once someone decides they want to build a cheaper product, anything goes! There will be other ways to cut costs, and those opportunities cannot be missed.
The Hardwood Lamella (Top Wear Layer) Secret
One way is to use a less expensive lamella (The Top Wear Layer of Engineered Hardwood). This is an especially popular trick used by most imported hardwood floors from Asia. Chinese Birch and Malaysian Oak are especially popular. While they make a beautiful floor, their lack of density will result in small dents all over your flooring. You will not be happy with that, I assure you!
These lamellas, also known as the top veneers, will have a Janka hardness measurement of under 1000, while domestic Oak and Hickory will range from 1260 to 1820. In the wood flooring business, that is a huge difference. If you really want to compare the longevity of a floor, peck on a sample with a hammer. See if it dents easily. Keep in mind that there can be a difference in density between multiple boards of the same product due to different grain patterns, but you will get the idea.
The final characteristic that we will discuss is the composition of the core. And while it doesn’t seem very important, I assure you that it is, for two reasons: density and stability.
The Hardwood Core Composition Options
For the same reason some manufacturers are willing to use a cheap top layer, they will use that same soft lumber to make the core. Why? It’s cheaper! Unfortunately, it is also the final piece of an inferior product.
A soft core will give you a floor that dents much more easily than a high-end hardwood core. In the day-to-day struggles that take place on your floor, you want the best shot at keeping your flooring looking great for decades. Don’t buy a cheaply made engineered floor!
The second aspect of core quality is stability. Earlier we discussed why stability mattered and how the plies impacted a floor’s stability. Equally important is the type of material used to make the core.
All of our Somerset hardwood floors are built with cores that are at least as hard as Northern Red Oak. This will give you a finished product that performs well for many years.
And lest ye think that I am trying to sell you a more expensive wood flooring product, fear not! Our Blue Label floors from Somerset may have the physical characteristics of a Cabin grade floor: shorter boards, more color variation, and small knots. But at the heart of Blue Label, they are the same 8-ply, hardwood core performance champions as the first quality Somerset wood flooring products. But a lot less expensive. Knowing what you know now, you can get a floor that won’t dent and warp while still allowing you to save some big bucks.
Which Flooring Thickness is in My Home?
Well, it's kind of embarrassing, but I have 3/8" flooring in my home. When it came time to install the flooring, I wasn't ready. I knew that I wanted Hickory, as I am a fan of the species. I definitely wanted real wood but did not have air conditioning installed yet. Nor did I have plans to install an HVAC system right away, so I decided not to go with solid Hickory flooring. And, being the cheapo that I am, I just grabbed an inexpensive wood floor with a 3/8" thickness because it cost less than a dollar a square foot.
One good thing about the hardwood flooring is the ease of installation. Compared to a tile or carpet install, wood is not difficult for a DIY project.
I hope this helped you learn a little bit more about hardwood flooring thickness and how important it is for a long-lasting, durable floor.
