Solid hardwood floors are made of planks milled from a single piece of timber. Solid hardwood floors were originally used for structural purposes, being installed perpendicular to the wooden support beams of a building known as joists or bearers. With the increased use of concrete as a subfloor in some parts of the world engineered wood flooring has gained some popularity however in areas where homes traditionally have full basements solid wood floors are still common. Solid wood floors have a thicker wear surface and can be sanded and finished more times than an engineered wood floor. It is not uncommon for homes in New England, Eastern Canada and Europe which are several hundred years old to have the original solid wood floor still in use today.
Engineered wood flooring is composed of two or more layers of wood in the form of a plank. The top layer (lamella) is the wood that is visible when the flooring is installed and is adhered to the core. The increased stability of engineered wood is achieved by running each layer at a 90° angle to the layer above. This stability makes it a universal product that can be installed over all types of subfloors above, below or on grade. Engineered wood is the most common type of wood flooring used globally.
There are several different categories of engineered wood flooring:
All timber wood floors are made from sawn wood and are the most common category of engineered wood flooring. They do not use rotary peeled veneer, composite wood (such as HDF), or plastic in their construction.
Veneer floors use a thin layer of wood with over a core that is commonly a composite wood product.
Acrylic impregnated wood flooring uses a layer of wood that is impregnated with liquid acrylic then hardened using a proprietary process.
Laminate and vinyl floors are often confused with engineered wood floors, but are not—laminate uses an image of wood on its surface, while vinyl flooring is plastic formed to look like wood.
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