The purpose of this blog is to explain the different attributes and manufacturing processes, which will allow you to select and purchase (hopefully from us) a floor that meets and exceeds your expectations. If you know what you want, and just want to see what we got, then shop our engineered floors here.
Table of Contents
What is Engineered Hardwood?
First, what is an engineered floor? An engineered wood flooring is made of cross-grain plies of wood or wood product, including a top layer of veneer, as opposed to solid hardwood floors that are carved or milled from a solid piece of wood. Many customers think that this means that solid hardwood floors are much stronger and will last longer, but that is not necessarily the case. If you want to know what the different engineered floors we sell check out our grades information page if you’re a bit confused by the grading names on our shop pages.
Engineered Hardwood Flooring is Less Durable than Solid Hardwood Floors?
Engineered wood floors are a definite improvement over solid floors in terms of stability. The number one problem with solid wood floors is their lack of stability due to changes in temperatures and moisture levels.
Solid hardwood flooring will warp and cup. The harder the species, the worse it gets. The wider the board, the worse it gets. The less you control the moisture in your house, as in running the AC, or keeping air circulating under your house, the worse it gets.
Engineered Flooring has Layers
Engineered wood floors are constructed using multiple cross-grain plies of wood to create the stability that is simply not possible with a solid floor. The number of plies, materials used, and different manufacturing processes all contribute to the durability and stability of the completed product. That is what we will look at in this blog. Everything can be exposed in the core.
Engineered Hardwood Finishes
Let’s start with the finish. Almost every engineered wood floor on the market today has a polyurethane finish with an aluminum oxide additive. You will hear some salespeople say that a floor features seven or nine coats. Pick a number and somebody has probably used it in a engineered hardwood sales pitch. These numbers imply that a superior product will last longer because of repeated applications, but no floor has seven separate surface coats.
What the floors get is 5-10 application steps. Sealer, stain, polyurethane, aluminum oxide, and related treatments all contribute to the process. I have toured several engineered hardwood coating lines, and I can assure you no manufacturer is going to repeat the same step more than twice. It would be unnecessary. Are there differences among surface treatments? Some high-end products, like the entire Somerset line, will get a second layer of aluminum oxide, but I cannot speak for any other manufacturer. Other than that, the quality difference between manufacturers is just not that big of a deal.
The Engineered Veneer
Next is the veneer on top. If the rest of the design is comparable between products, the thickness of the veneer, and the species it is composed of, will have a big contribution towards the quality of the completed product. However, some companies will slap a thick veneer over an inferior core, just to make it look good. More on the core structure later.
Veneer thickness will determine if a floor can be sanded or not. Ask a flooring salesman how many times a floor can be sanded, and you will get some interesting answers. Sorta like the multiple-coat response! In reality, no one knows the answer to that question. When I get that question I like to tell people the floors we offer can be refinished a million times. That usually draws a blank look.
Sanding vs Refinishing: Solid & Engineered
Sanding vs refinishing. Two very different operations. When we sand a floor, we are actually grinding up the surface of the hardwood floor in an attempt to lessen the visibility of surface dents that have taken away from the look of the floor. How many times can a floor be sanded? That depends on how bad the indentations are that you are trying to remove. Get the picture? In reality, your floor will never get sanded.
What you might do, yet still doubtful, is refinish your floor. In the old days, pre-aluminum oxide floors would experience a change in gloss level over time, due to abrasive wear. This was easily fixed. Just scuff the surface of the floor with a buffer, and add one or 2 coats of finish. Ta-dah! New floor!
Aluminum Oxide Floors for Refinishing
Aluminum oxide was a game-changer. Aluminum oxide is one of the hardest substances to finish an engineered wood flooring product, and is added to many applications to retard abrasive wear. Today’s floors should never need to be refinished.
That is not to say that your floor will look perfect in 20 years. No floor will. You will get dents and gouges. The severity of dents and gouges will depend on 2 things: the density of your veneer, and the density of your core. The harder the surface or core, the less it dents.
Don’t be afraid to abuse a sample of any hardwood that you are considering purchasing. After all, how it handles wear and tear is a big part of why you would choose a floor. Now don’t beat it with a hammer, then call and tell us that it is dented. Don’t laugh…it happens. When testing a floor’s impact resistance, including different products. After all, your goal is to compare the products.
The Engineered Hardwood Core
That brings us to the core. The composition and construction of the core contribute mightily to a floor’s performance. Sadly, it is also the most under-appreciated aspect by both consumers and manufacturers, so it is often reduced to an inferior quality to save some money. After all, isn’t that how we all shop? Do we look at the price first? All engineered floors are not the same price, and the core is the best way for manufacturers to save money. That is why it is so important that we as consumers educate ourselves. I do not mean to infer that everyone should buy high-end flooring. What I mean is that you should know enough about the product you are buying to determine how well it meets your expectations.
Hardwood Core Layers
The quality and stability of an engineered hardwood core are determined by the number of plies and the materials used to make them. As a general rule, a ½” floor will be of higher quality than a ⅜” floor. All thinner floors are made that way to get costs down, not to improve quality. Ever.
Cores made with hardwood lumber instead of softwood will resist dents and gouges much better. How can you tell? Hold samples in your hands and compare the weights. Heavier is better in engineered hardwood flooring!
Also, look at the number of plies. Each layer will be turned 90 degrees to the previous layer. This is how an engineered floor gets its superior stability, as the alternating plies resist expansion and contraction caused by moisture and temperature much better than a solid. More plies are better.
HDF Engineered Floors: High Density Fiber Cores
Engineered HDF Core Cross-Section 3/8″ inch Example
In this graphic, you see a ⅜” floor that utilizes an HDF, or High-Density Fiber core. This floor is made by Shaw Floors from their Epic Plus line.
HDF has a few advantages. One, it is made from recycled materials, so it has a nice story. More importantly (to the durability) is that using a manufactured core allows Shaw to determine how hard that core is. That allows the floor to resist denting, regardless of the species used.
Shaw Epic Plus floors also tend to be more stable than most other 3/8” flooring products.
3 Ply ⅜” Engineered Floors
Engineered Cross-Section 3 Ply 3/8″ inch Example
The next most common format is the 3 ply ⅜” floor shown above. This is the type of floor you will find at the lower price points at almost any box store. Sometimes offered as a Builder-type product, that just means it is cheap. We sometimes will offer a ⅜” engineered floor from Bruce or Mullican. These floors are great for applications where the money is tight, or quality just isn’t an issue. Flippers and rental property managers love this stuff!
½” 5 Ply Engineered Floors
Engineered Cross-Section 5 Ply 1/2″ inch Example
Now we get to my latest favorite configuration, the ½” 5 ply. In this case the manufacturer is trying to pass off a cheap 5 ply as a quality ½” product. There is no such thing. If you want a cheap floor, buy a cheap ⅜ and spend your savings on paint. If you feel like you need to upgrade, please skip right past the 5 ply to the good stuff….our 8 ply, ½” floor! A 5 ply floor is made to mimic a high end floor but made with a cheap core. In my opinion, the jump to a better 8 ply is an easy decision.
Probably 80% of the engineered hardwood flooring we sell is from this category. Why? Because we have an amazing partnership with a manufacturer that makes arguably the best engineered hardwood floor in the world, and it is made here in the U.S.A. In the picture below you can see what I am referring to.
The deal we have with them is that we liquidate all of their Blue Label, Builder Grade, overstocks, and discontinued goods, allowing them to focus on all running line products. They also make some private-labeled first quality goods for us. The product line that they offer us represents almost every price point, species, and width that is on the market today, and we can offer these products at prices unavailable to any other dealer in the country. I realize that is big talk, but we can back it up!
Please keep in mind that this is not an attempt to sell you higher-end goods. Quite the opposite, actually.
½” 8 Ply Engineered Floors
Engineered Cross-Section 8 Ply Example
All of our 8 ply floors are made using a high-density engineered hardwood core. This construction offers the most stable and durable hardwood floor that is available on the market, and we are proud to be the only liquidator in the USA that can offer all 3 grades.
When you consider that we can offer you an 8 ply, ½” thick, 5” wide oak engineered hardwood floor in our Blue Label grade for half the price of a competitor’s Builder” ⅜” thick product, you will see what I mean. Sure, our Blue Label will have small imperfections, as well as shorter board lengths, but the quality of the finish and construction is the same as the first quality floors that sell for $8-10. After all, our Blue Label and Builder grade products are graded out after the floor is completely finished.
Our Builder grade floors will not contain more than 5% of boards with open knots, wormholes, or seasoning checks larger than ⅜”. Also expect to see less color variation in this grade. Because the grading parameters for this company’s first quality are so high, our Builder grade floors are, in many instances, cleaner than other companies’ first quality products, and are much cheaper.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I would much rather buy one of our Builder grade products at $2.79 or so than pay $4 for a poorly constructed first quality ⅜” engineered wood floor.
Face-Sawn Veneer
Another attribute that we are proud of in our Blue Label and Builder grade floors is the face-sawn veneer.
Most engineered floors are made with veneers that come from a rotary peeled process. In this process, a log is peeled around the circumference, allowing a high yield. Unfortunately, this process also yields a product with an inferior visual.
In the face-sawn process, the veneer is cut the same way a solid hardwood floor is cut, just thinner. It is sliced across the log, layer after layer. This is how our Blue Label and Builder products offer the same visual as a typical solid hardwood floor.
If I sound a bit prejudiced towards our engineered collections, it is because I am. There are 2 things that thrill me: buying the good stuff and saving money. Our Oak Plank, Wide Plank, Appalachian, Country, and Antique collections of engineered floors offer the best mix of quality construction and value that can be found on the market today.
Engineered Wood Flooring Installation
Engineered Flooring Recap
The biggest reason that we offer engineered wood floors is to facilitate the installation of a wood floor product over top of a concrete subfloor. If you would like to see the sample of your choice, ask a question, or argue with one of the points I have made, please feel free to give us a call. If you want to read about the 10 disadvantages of engineered flooring click here. We would love to help! Engineered hardwood gets a bad rep these days. It seems to be equated to the solid hardwood’s cousin that was twice removed. High moisture resistance and increased stability are two of its most practical advantages.
How Engineered Planks Are Made
Plywood and Cross-Grain Stability
What is engineered hardwood? In practical terms, engineered hardwood is real wood flooring designed to handle seasonal movement. Engineered hardwood consists of a thin layer of hardwood above a plywood core; many products use plywood in several cross-grain plies. Engineered hardwood flooring may use nine layers in premium formats, while simpler products use fewer plies as an affordable alternative.
Veneer, Core, and Wear Surface
Some real wood floors that are manufactured using three cross-grain plies are sold as basic three-ply flooring. In this design, a real wood veneer bonded to a supportive base creates the visible surface. Different wood veneers provide different grain and color, while wood fiber products can form a dense base. A highly stable core supports the wear layer and helps the flooring resist ordinary dents.
Core Formats at a Glance
| Core format | Typical profile | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| HDF | Dense, uniform fiber core | Consistent dent resistance |
| 3 ply | Value-focused ⅜-inch profile | Rentals and budget projects |
| 5 ply | Midrange ½-inch profile | General residential use |
| 8 ply | High-density hardwood core | Premium stability and value |
Choosing Engineered Hardwood for Each Room
Rooms, Subfloors, and Moisture
Plan each flooring installation around the room and subfloor. Wood flooring over concrete may require glue-down or floating installation, while a kitchen needs prompt spill cleanup and a stable indoor climate. The right hardwood flooring and a clear installation plan make flooring easier to live with and can provide more reliable performance.
Engineered and Solid Flooring Comparison
Compared with traditional solid hardwood, engineered products usually tolerate changes in humidity more effectively. That makes engineered flooring practical for more rooms and may deliver more durable flooring over concrete. Match the cleaning routine to the manufacturer’s instructions and compare total flooring cost, including underlayment, trim, and professional labor.
| Factor | Engineered hardwood | Solid hardwood |
|---|---|---|
| Below-grade use | Often suitable when approved | Usually not recommended |
| Concrete subfloor | Glue-down or floating options | Requires an approved wood system |
| Seasonal movement | Lower with a stable core | Higher across board width |
| Refinishing potential | Depends on veneer thickness | Typically supports deeper sanding |
Installation and Care
Install Methods
Before you install flooring, confirm moisture readings, acclimation guidance, expansion space, and adhesive requirements. A written installation plan should also cover transitions and the direction of the flooring boards. Following the product instructions protects the warranty and helps the flooring remain quiet, flat, and secure after installation.
Everyday Care
Cost and Buying Checklist
Budget and Quality Tradeoffs
Compare samples as real wood, not just as a color swatch: check veneer thickness, core density, milling, warranty, and carton variation. A product described as wood engineered for dimensional stability is still an engineered wood product that should meet the needs of the room. Calculate the full cost of flooring, delivery, waste, accessories, and labor; a slightly higher material cost can be worthwhile when it brings better milling and a denser core.
