Refinishable Engineered Wood Flooring

When it comes to flooring, wood floors have always been a wise man’s choice. Elegant, appealing and comfortable, hardwood floors have a timeless appeal. The arrival of materials like vinyl floors and laminate flooring that were relatively unaffected by water, easy to install and could imitate a wood floor at a lower cost did dent the popularity of hardwood. Today the wheel has turned a full circle. People are increasingly looking at renewable and green flooring materials. Backed by sustainable harvesting practices and farmed hardwood sources, wood has once again returned to find favor with discerning and responsible buyers.

Not only are hardwood floors completely renewable they are also armed with penetrating finishes and sealants. Refinishable Engineered Wood Flooring is another great wood flooring option. Engineered Wood Flooring is made of real wood unlike vinyl and laminate flooring. It is also sustainable, easy to install and relatively unaffected by moisture. Engineered refinishable floors are available in a wide range of finishes, edges and species.

What is a Refinishable Floor?

• A refinishable floor is one that if damaged or dented can be restored to its original state by sanding and finishing it again.
• Wood floors are a good example of refinishable floors. If a wood floor has seen a lot of abuse or if you remove you carpet and find a wood floor under it, the floor can be restored to its pristine glory by refinishing it. Vinyl and laminate floors may look like real wood but once the top layer is damaged – they cannot be refinished. Instead the whole floor will need to be replaced.
• The life of a refinishable floor can be extended much more compared to a non refinishable flooring option. Pine floors for example have been adorning some homes for close to two centuries and pine is a soft wood species. The results are even better with a wood flooring species like maple that has a high janka index.
• An engineered wood floor can be easily refinished. The number of times it can be refinished depends on the thickness of the wear layer. Generally a good engineered floor can be refinished 5 to 6 times. A solid hardwood floor in comparison can be refinished upto 12 times. Since the engineered floor cannot be refinished as often as a solid floor, a penetrating finish is highly advisable for an engineered wood floor.

What is an Engineered Floor?

• An engineered floor is made of a base of plywood, a core made of layers of wood and a top layer of a premium wood like maple, ash, hickory etc.
• All the layers are bonded together at high temperature and pressure and behave as a single block of wood as far as strength is concerned.
• An engineered floor has a cross ply construction i.e., the grain of the wood in successive layers is oriented in opposite directions. This makes an engineered floor much more dimensionally stable than a solid wood floor.

Why Choose Engineered Wood Flooring

• Engineered wood flooring can be selected for the appeal of wood, ease of installation and maintenance and possibility of refinishing if it is damaged.
• Engineered wood floors resist moisture. In the first place, the floor is made from woods that tolerate moisture well. Secondly, when wood does expand, the opposite orientation of the grain ensures that the expansion of the floor is six times less compared to solid hardwood floors of the same species.
• Since engineered floors do not show excessive expansion on exposure to moisture, they can be installed as a floating floor directly over a vapor barrier without the need to glue or staple the floor in place. Another advantage is that better moisture handling capability and dimensional stability makes an engineered floor suitable for installation below grade. Solid hardwood floors by contrast cannot be installed in areas like the basement where they are likely to be damaged by higher moisture level.

Refinishable Engineered wood flooring can be easily installed, and is easy to maintain. You can choose refinishable engineered wood flooring in narrow or wide planks and strips. The choice of species is almost endless. The only caveat when choosing an engineered wood floor is to buy a floor from a reputable flooring store. In these days of image editing software you would not like to trust your hard-earned money to beautiful pictures alone! Buyers who installed engineered flooring sourced from fly by night operators have harrowing tales of floors delaminating and the topmost layer wearing out in a matter of a few months.

Visit our Los Angeles Flooring showrooms for more information about Flooring.