Man... Can't tell you how helpful watching your videos are. Thank you so much. I was completely steering away from engineered until your data and now i've found our perfect 10" White oak floor with a 6mm veneer
Thank you so much for your videos. Honestly I cant even tell you how helpful they have been while dealing with an insurance claim from an error made by a contractor. They have tried to push me towards engineered hardwood floors that don't have a single use veneer vs what I had, which was a quarter inch engineered floor. This has help me avoid a massive downgrade in value they were proposing and put me in a good position to negotiate the right materials they need to use. Thank you so much.
I had an engineered wood floor installed before this video (wanted an underfloor heating system so a solid wood floor was out), but I am feeling greatly reassured about my choice after watching this since I deliberately went for the thickest laminate layer I could find. Thankfully on this side of the Atlantic we don't really get massive swings in humidity, so that's not a concern in the same way, but I have to admit I hadn't realised that the wear layer on a solid wood floor wouldn't be any thicker than I've got with engineered! Excellent video, really easy to understand 🙂
Fantastic video, really appreciated you being straight to the point yet so through with your explanation. I was leaning engineered but your video helped me 100% sure of that route. I'd appreciate your suggestion with something- We have uneven slate tiles (90s texas home!) that we want to replace with engineered wood. Would you recommend installing the wood planks over the tiles assuming we can somehow even them out? Cost is def a big factor for us with removing the sale tiles
Great choice and glad we could help! You definitely need to remove the tiles. The floor will fail if you don't. You can rent a hammer drill and tile removal bit from most rental places. That will pop them up. You probably need to have dumpster brought out to put it in. Warning its a very dusty and unpleasant process, but doesn't require much skill. If you do it yourself, its not very expensive. If you hire a company to do the removal I would expect $5+ a square foot.
I'm finding that many engineered products are wire-brushed these days. The finished product still has loads of open pores that seem like they would easily trap dirt and dust. Is there a way to fill these pores on pre-finished engineered flooring?
Excellent job elaborating on each of these characteristics of wood flooring and rating the two main types. I'm learning about wood flooring, and your video really filled some gaps in my knowledge. Thanks!
I'm curious. What do you think about "balanced" engineered wood floors? It makes good sense to have the same thickness/species on the top and bottom, but this seems like it would be harder to do for a 5 mm wear layer, and I haven't seen many floor samples like that. Great video!
@Lumberjack Hardwood Supply. In your professional opinion should you be able to cut thru laminated engineered floor with standard kitchen scissors. I did. Living in a rental apartment. I have areas in the apartment that are warped, meaning when I walk in some areas I can both see and feel some give. In others I can see the warping. The bed frame in my son's room had cause warping, and ended up having a whole in two places. Should any of this possible on quality engineered flooring as you indicated with your ratings.
Great video, I always had oak floors in NY, now I’m in Florida and want to replace the laminate, what’s the difference between oak and Bruce Hydropel waterproof wood, thank u I appreciate it
What about delamination with engineered? I've been strongly warned to avoid engineered for that reason. Given wide humidity swings in my un-humidity controlled house.
Have 3/4 solid hardwood. Been in place for 60+ years in the state of NE, eastern side. No gaps, no swelling, not exactly the most consistent humidity and temperature. Engineered will come and go like all tech created crap while the real thing will continue.
Engineered is "the real thing", not sure what you're on about. You can even buy them with wear layers of 6+ mm that pretty much behave exactly like solid hardwood. In my climate, the stability of engineered flooring makes life a lot easier.
@@stephenlacher587 You can refinish your engineered hardwood approx 1/4” floors approx 3 times depending on the thickness of the hardwood top layer. How many times will you need to refinish?
looking at selkirk engineered flooring . It doesn't have that typical layering of plywood but it's got sort of like a 3 -4" wide piece in the middle of the sample with and 1" piece in the different directions on either end. I've never seen this before. It's like a solid wood core almost. Looks like a thicker wood on the top too. Have you heard of this brand of engineered wood?
One thing that annoyed me about engineered wood floors years ago was the use of chamfered edges. Depending on how the light hit the floor, the valleys between the boards really could look awful. I assume they also collected a lot of dirt.
If you go with and engineered floor thats sanded and finished on site, you cannot get away from those bevels. I agree though, absolutely hate the those.
@@lumberjackhardwood I had no clue engineered could be sanded and finished on site. Thanks for the info. We have similar seasons to michigan so I was leaning towards engineered now since our 1950 solid wood floor in another room cups every year. It's been very humid lately here.
Love your photos and UA-cam videos! I'm sick of the "used car" sales approach at many flooring stores. "1/2 inch, 1.2mm wear layer flooring is the best engineered hardwood flooring and can be refinished 2 times. I will discount to $7.99 sq ft. It's a bargain." "4mm wear layer is garbage because it dents more than thin veneer." Thank you for providing honest advice!!! What is your opinion on fully plywood vs. soft core engineered flooring. Also, tung & groove vs. click systems. Urethan vs. oil finish? Lastly, nail, full glue, glue assist and floating installations. For example, Kahrs flooring is one of many brands with the soft cores (less movement I guess) and they have products with oil finish and click installs (I would still have a pro install). Interested in your take on these topics.
We are planning on updating our home and I’m researching wood flooring. 1) Thanks for the informative video. I’m looking forward to more of them. Your points align with what I’ve learned researching this topic. Unfortunately, one has to sift through a bunch of poor advice from salesmen peddling inferior products. But your video cuts straight to the truth, so I appreciate that. 2) What engineered hardwood floor brands do you recommend? There are a ton of brands, many of which aren’t very forthright with the details of their products (ie wear layer thickness, where it is produced, board lengths, etc) 3) What type of surface finish do you recommend? Polyurethane, poly w/ aluminum oxide, lacquered, oiled (like Hallmark’s NuOil), other? Poly sounds to be the most durable, but I’ve read that oiled floors are simpler to fix minor damage/marks. 4) What installation method do you recommend for engineered wood floors with planks 6” or wider on a wood subfloor? Float, glue, glue & nail/staple, etc. 5) Do you recommend treating/sealing the ends of prefinished wood floor boards when they are cut to fit during installation? 6) Do you recommend an underlayment under all wood floors? Or does that depend on the type of wood floor and/or the installation method?
Glad we could help! 2- We use almost all Sheoga if we are doing engineered. 3- If you going for a classic look go with traditional polyurethane but source a professional line of product (Not big box store) If your going modern, I would go with a water base finish. We prefer 2 component commercial grade finishes and we use a company called Berger Seidle (Green star is a good one they make) I would only go with penetrating finishes if your want to do maintenance on it frequently. They are cool, but honestly they don't last as long unless you keep up with them- which most people don't. 4- Full trowel glue with 2 inch cleat or staple. 5- No, that is not going to make a difference really. The board will be conform to its environment regardless of ends being treated. 6- Yeah its an insurance policy really. If your glueing, you need to use a liquid barrier (Any of these companies Wakol, Bona, Berger Seidle) If its flooring 4" wide or narrower, I would just use a 15 lb tar paper or a dedicated barrier product like Aquabar B. If you over a finished basement, or on a second story, I don't think it makes hardly any difference but its very little extra work and virtually zero cost in comparison to the wood.
Thanks for the information! I just bought this house and it has a concrete floor. I wanted hardwood, but the flooring guy said that hardwood can't be put on a concrete slab floor. He suggested engineered wood. What are your thoughts on this? I do not want vinyl. Thank you!
I would recommend using an engineered floor with 6 millimeters of wear hardwood wear layer on top. Its just as good if not better than solid hardwood. If he applies a proper moisture barrier and does a full trowel glue with proper glue, it should hold up no problem.
don`t forget that solids can be installed on battens where as engineering flooring can not , also solids can be replaced board by board , engineering can not ( you might have to remove half the floor just to get to that board ) plywood is not timber it will separate with moisture ( delaminating if you like ) you might want to pay attention to the flatness of your substrate before installing engineered flooring on top . and also there is the length issue , solids come in a wide range of sizes where as engineered floors do not ( please consider the final look before deciding )
@@_JimmyBeGood anything in reality can be used for battens from 19 mm and up however floating or engineered floors are a click on system and are not nailed down as such they are to thin
@lumberjackhardwoodsupply I have been looking at Lauzon Expert series engineered hardwood. While the wear layer seems good (5.2 mm), the core is made of pine solid strips, not plywood. It seemed to me the added "stability" benefit of engineered hardwood comes from multiple plies glued together in perpendicular directions. Do you have any experience with lauzon engineered hardwood or any thought on this core type?
My wife liked an engineered hardwood at Lowe’s that was on sale made by Pergo. I looked it up and it has a 0.6mm veneer on it. 0.6mm! How can that even be called engineered hardwood? It’s basically a piece of particle board with a paper thin sheet of wood on top. Like, literally paper is 0.05 to 0.10mm thick. I’m glad I looked up these videos. Seems like a complete ripoff to me
I disagree with you assessment that engineered wood installs easier that solid. Because the boy wood is soft wood, you have to take much more care when putting boards in and when your working with a wide plank your boards average length tends to be much longer (4’-6’) and they definitely bow. So you have to make sure the board is level and find a way to pound it in carefully as to not damage you tongue. Plus the added element of glue. For that reason I find solid to be easier to install.
Engineered floors are nice until your cat pees on it, but you don't smell it for a couple of days and find the edges starting to cup. Wood glue between the edges and a 70lb dumbell seems to flatten them out. Thankfully I purchased 9 additional boxes of flooring before they discontinued the SKU.
You might as well just use crappy laminate if you are considering engineered. It's just a thin veneer on top of plywood. The whole point of hardwood is to have something durable that wears with character and could ultimately be refinished.
I mean, at that point they might as well just put out an underlay of plywood, and slap some veneer sheets cut in strips on top...or hell, just cut the plywood in strips and go with that.
Which do you think is better?
Thanks for watching.
Man... Can't tell you how helpful watching your videos are. Thank you so much. I was completely steering away from engineered until your data and now i've found our perfect 10" White oak floor with a 6mm veneer
Mind sharing the manufacturer? Interested in how they came out or do when you install them!
@@alexbowman2340 got the samples in and hated it. It was hurts hardwood European oak. Didn’t look good in person at all
@@cameronharris2862 It hurts just looking at it! haha. Thanks for the heads up, I was considering the same brand
Thank you so much for your videos. Honestly I cant even tell you how helpful they have been while dealing with an insurance claim from an error made by a contractor. They have tried to push me towards engineered hardwood floors that don't have a single use veneer vs what I had, which was a quarter inch engineered floor. This has help me avoid a massive downgrade in value they were proposing and put me in a good position to negotiate the right materials they need to use. Thank you so much.
I had an engineered wood floor installed before this video (wanted an underfloor heating system so a solid wood floor was out), but I am feeling greatly reassured about my choice after watching this since I deliberately went for the thickest laminate layer I could find. Thankfully on this side of the Atlantic we don't really get massive swings in humidity, so that's not a concern in the same way, but I have to admit I hadn't realised that the wear layer on a solid wood floor wouldn't be any thicker than I've got with engineered! Excellent video, really easy to understand 🙂
Well worth 10 minutes to learn this much . Good to the point presentation .
Mad props on your content, bro! great info and presentation!
Thanks! We are trying hard!
Fantastic video, really appreciated you being straight to the point yet so through with your explanation. I was leaning engineered but your video helped me 100% sure of that route. I'd appreciate your suggestion with something- We have uneven slate tiles (90s texas home!) that we want to replace with engineered wood. Would you recommend installing the wood planks over the tiles assuming we can somehow even them out? Cost is def a big factor for us with removing the sale tiles
Great choice and glad we could help! You definitely need to remove the tiles. The floor will fail if you don't. You can rent a hammer drill and tile removal bit from most rental places. That will pop them up. You probably need to have dumpster brought out to put it in. Warning its a very dusty and unpleasant process, but doesn't require much skill. If you do it yourself, its not very expensive. If you hire a company to do the removal I would expect $5+ a square foot.
Kajal
Did you replace your floors yet ?
Any recommendations for a specific brand ?
Thanks so much for this video.
It really helps us.
I'm finding that many engineered products are wire-brushed these days. The finished product still has loads of open pores that seem like they would easily trap dirt and dust. Is there a way to fill these pores on pre-finished engineered flooring?
Excellent job elaborating on each of these characteristics of wood flooring and rating the two main types. I'm learning about wood flooring, and your video really filled some gaps in my knowledge. Thanks!
Thankyou! glad this helped.
What is the difference between textures: handscraped, wirebrushed, distressed? Which types cannot be refinished?
Thank you!!! Sometimes there are actually people who know what they are talking about.
Glad we could help!
I'm curious. What do you think about "balanced" engineered wood floors? It makes good sense to have the same thickness/species on the top and bottom, but this seems like it would be harder to do for a 5 mm wear layer, and I haven't seen many floor samples like that. Great video!
Which one is more suitable for radiant heated floors?
But how do you know or how do you select a high quality mill??????????????????
are there floors with 12mm+ wear layers?
@Lumberjack Hardwood Supply. In your professional opinion should you be able to cut thru laminated engineered floor with standard kitchen scissors. I did. Living in a rental apartment. I have areas in the apartment that are warped, meaning when I walk in some areas I can both see and feel some give. In others I can see the warping. The bed frame in my son's room had cause warping, and ended up having a whole in two places. Should any of this possible on quality engineered flooring as you indicated with your ratings.
Great video, I always had oak floors in NY, now I’m in Florida and want to replace the laminate, what’s the difference between oak and Bruce Hydropel waterproof wood, thank u I appreciate it
Do you have a video on the installation of an engineered wood floor?
What about delamination with engineered? I've been strongly warned to avoid engineered for that reason. Given wide humidity swings in my un-humidity controlled house.
Have 3/4 solid hardwood. Been in place for 60+ years in the state of NE, eastern side. No gaps, no swelling, not exactly the most consistent humidity and temperature. Engineered will come and go like all tech created crap while the real thing will continue.
I'm in northeast NE and we're looking at redoing our flooring. Thanks for the info!
How many inches wide is it? We are looking at a bit wider like 6, 7 inches. I think hes saying choose manufactured if its too wide
Engineered is "the real thing", not sure what you're on about. You can even buy them with wear layers of 6+ mm that pretty much behave exactly like solid hardwood.
In my climate, the stability of engineered flooring makes life a lot easier.
@@JungleLarry 6mm vs 3/4 inch...🤔hmm
@@stephenlacher587 You can refinish your engineered hardwood approx 1/4” floors approx 3 times depending on the thickness of the hardwood top layer. How many times will you need to refinish?
looking at selkirk engineered flooring . It doesn't have that typical layering of plywood but it's got sort of like a 3 -4" wide piece in the middle of the sample with and 1" piece in the different directions on either end. I've never seen this before. It's like a solid wood core almost. Looks like a thicker wood on the top too. Have you heard of this brand of engineered wood?
Ur videos are really helpful but why is there a board with athletic greens in the back?
One thing that annoyed me about engineered wood floors years ago was the use of chamfered edges. Depending on how the light hit the floor, the valleys between the boards really could look awful. I assume they also collected a lot of dirt.
If you go with and engineered floor thats sanded and finished on site, you cannot get away from those bevels. I agree though, absolutely hate the those.
@@lumberjackhardwood I had no clue engineered could be sanded and finished on site. Thanks for the info. We have similar seasons to michigan so I was leaning towards engineered now since our 1950 solid wood floor in another room cups every year. It's been very humid lately here.
What about waterproof engineered hardwood floors? Are they truly waterproof or are they just somewhat water resistant?
Most say that they resist sitting water for 24 hours or something like that.
No mention of the bevels for engineered.
Good observation Mike. Bevels are only used on pre-finished engineered flooring. If its a site finished engineered floor, it will have square edges.
Interesting. Who the heck makes 6mm wear layer engineered?
Love your photos and UA-cam videos! I'm sick of the "used car" sales approach at many flooring stores. "1/2 inch, 1.2mm wear layer flooring is the best engineered hardwood flooring and can be refinished 2 times. I will discount to $7.99 sq ft. It's a bargain." "4mm wear layer is garbage because it dents more than thin veneer." Thank you for providing honest advice!!! What is your opinion on fully plywood vs. soft core engineered flooring. Also, tung & groove vs. click systems. Urethan vs. oil finish? Lastly, nail, full glue, glue assist and floating installations. For example, Kahrs flooring is one of many brands with the soft cores (less movement I guess) and they have products with oil finish and click installs (I would still have a pro install). Interested in your take on these topics.
We are planning on updating our home and I’m researching wood flooring.
1) Thanks for the informative video. I’m looking forward to more of them. Your points align with what I’ve learned researching this topic. Unfortunately, one has to sift through a bunch of poor advice from salesmen peddling inferior products. But your video cuts straight to the truth, so I appreciate that.
2) What engineered hardwood floor brands do you recommend? There are a ton of brands, many of which aren’t very forthright with the details of their products (ie wear layer thickness, where it is produced, board lengths, etc)
3) What type of surface finish do you recommend? Polyurethane, poly w/ aluminum oxide, lacquered, oiled (like Hallmark’s NuOil), other? Poly sounds to be the most durable, but I’ve read that oiled floors are simpler to fix minor damage/marks.
4) What installation method do you recommend for engineered wood floors with planks 6” or wider on a wood subfloor? Float, glue, glue & nail/staple, etc.
5) Do you recommend treating/sealing the ends of prefinished wood floor boards when they are cut to fit during installation?
6) Do you recommend an underlayment under all wood floors? Or does that depend on the type of wood floor and/or the installation method?
Glad we could help!
2- We use almost all Sheoga if we are doing engineered.
3- If you going for a classic look go with traditional polyurethane but source a professional line of product (Not big box store) If your going modern, I would go with a water base finish. We prefer 2 component commercial grade finishes and we use a company called Berger Seidle (Green star is a good one they make) I would only go with penetrating finishes if your want to do maintenance on it frequently. They are cool, but honestly they don't last as long unless you keep up with them- which most people don't.
4- Full trowel glue with 2 inch cleat or staple.
5- No, that is not going to make a difference really. The board will be conform to its environment regardless of ends being treated.
6- Yeah its an insurance policy really. If your glueing, you need to use a liquid barrier (Any of these companies Wakol, Bona, Berger Seidle) If its flooring 4" wide or narrower, I would just use a 15 lb tar paper or a dedicated barrier product like Aquabar B. If you over a finished basement, or on a second story, I don't think it makes hardly any difference but its very little extra work and virtually zero cost in comparison to the wood.
@@lumberjackhardwood Very good information, thank you very much!
best discussion I've seen on the topic
Thanks John!
Thanks for the information! I just bought this house and it has a concrete floor. I wanted hardwood, but the flooring guy said that hardwood can't be put on a concrete slab floor. He suggested engineered wood. What are your thoughts on this? I do not want vinyl. Thank you!
I would recommend using an engineered floor with 6 millimeters of wear hardwood wear layer on top. Its just as good if not better than solid hardwood. If he applies a proper moisture barrier and does a full trowel glue with proper glue, it should hold up no problem.
@@lumberjackhardwood Thank you!
agree brands like Lauzon and Mirage have a nice wear layer and own mills in Canada@@lumberjackhardwood
don`t forget that solids can be installed on battens where as engineering flooring can not , also solids can be replaced board by board , engineering can not ( you might have to remove half the floor just to get to that board ) plywood is not timber it will separate with moisture ( delaminating if you like ) you might want to pay attention to the flatness of your substrate before installing engineered flooring on top . and also there is the length issue , solids come in a wide range of sizes where as engineered floors do not ( please consider the final look before deciding )
What type of batten are you talking about and why can’t engineered flooring be installed on them?
@@_JimmyBeGood anything in reality can be used for battens from 19 mm and up however floating or engineered floors are a click on system and are not nailed down as such they are to thin
Great information. Didn’t know that engineered would cost more.
Glad we could help!
Thank you for a clear comparison!
I really liked your videos
At first, I thought I was watching Matt Damon talk about flooring.
informative video. Thanks for posting.
Thank you so much!
Very helpful thank you
Excellent
@lumberjackhardwoodsupply
I have been looking at Lauzon Expert series engineered hardwood. While the wear layer seems good (5.2 mm), the core is made of pine solid strips, not plywood. It seemed to me the added "stability" benefit of engineered hardwood comes from multiple plies glued together in perpendicular directions. Do you have any experience with lauzon engineered hardwood or any thought on this core type?
My wife liked an engineered hardwood at Lowe’s that was on sale made by Pergo. I looked it up and it has a 0.6mm veneer on it. 0.6mm! How can that even be called engineered hardwood? It’s basically a piece of particle board with a paper thin sheet of wood on top. Like, literally paper is 0.05 to 0.10mm thick. I’m glad I looked up these videos. Seems like a complete ripoff to me
Grat vido. Had to turn the volume up all the way, though, to hear you. Maybe a mic next time?
I have always found solid floors more expensive.
2 1/4 white oak select.
I disagree with you assessment that engineered wood installs easier that solid. Because the boy wood is soft wood, you have to take much more care when putting boards in and when your working with a wide plank your boards average length tends to be much longer (4’-6’) and they definitely bow. So you have to make sure the board is level and find a way to pound it in carefully as to not damage you tongue. Plus the added element of glue. For that reason I find solid to be easier to install.
If your home has a slab you are stuck with engineered hardwood unless you want to spend a small fortune redo the subflooring.
Thanks!
anyone else thought he is Matt Damon?
You’re the best
Yeehaw bro, you're the best.
Yes, but... when your house is Appraised, it gets a healthy bumo in appraisal value with HARDWOOD floors, not with engineered
One category missing; Look/Appeal; hardwood looks real. I easily tell the difference
Engineered floors are nice until your cat pees on it, but you don't smell it for a couple of days and find the edges starting to cup. Wood glue between the edges and a 70lb dumbell seems to flatten them out. Thankfully I purchased 9 additional boxes of flooring before they discontinued the SKU.
Lol smart man!
that is why I do not have pets as much as I like cats and dogs
9 boxes? You must have a lot of cats…….
@@jwildmand lol. No. They discontinued the product. Wanted to have some extra for the next owner.
👍
Sim Throughway
You might as well just use crappy laminate if you are considering engineered. It's just a thin veneer on top of plywood. The whole point of hardwood is to have something durable that wears with character and could ultimately be refinished.
You’re confused. I refinished my engineered hardwood last year, after 10 years and it looks great.
@@kevinfarrell2897 It's not for me, but I am glad you are happy. 3/4 solid is my choice.
I mean, at that point they might as well just put out an underlay of plywood, and slap some veneer sheets cut in strips on top...or hell, just cut the plywood in strips and go with that.
I’ve never seen engineered more expensive than hardwood.
Because it is not. At the store today, Engineer wood was $7.99 whilst Hardwood solid was $28.99.
Sooo....what you're saying is make your floor by cutting strips from a big sheet of plywood, lol.
Engineered materials SUCK run away 😢
Thanks for the info great work
ok matt damon