Hardwood/ original VS engineered?
Are there any advantages. Price does not look to be one reason.
Answers:
once the hardwood(non-engineered) gets scratched it can't be fixed. it has to be replaced. it tends to get expensive if you have a household that gets a lot of traffic, or the color was special ordered. they generally run about the same price though the fake stuff can be a little cheaper. to my knowledge the scratch factor is the only advantage/disadvantage(depends upon which type you get). a lot of people choose to opt for the swift lock type that just snaps together.
Other answers:
There may be things in the engineered wood that help prevent scratches. I don't know because i haven't bought any, but they may be more resistant to wear and tear than normal wood.
There may be things in the engineered wood that help prevent scratches. I don't know because i haven't bought any, but they may be more resistant to wear and tear than normal wood.
I've had better luck with engineered. Easier maintenance and looks just as good.
I would say wear and tear, and where it is being put. I am from the Northeast and the winters can be bad, so maybe an eng. product is better than a wood in other parts (drier) of the country.
If you are installing over a wood sub-floor really there's no reason (besides making it just that more permanent) to go with glue down. Engineered is used more or less for going over concrete sub-floors.
I'm a flooring contractor and can give you a little insight. Solid and engineered hardwoods are totally different from "laminates". The information that I have is for hardwood flooring.
Solid wood can be sanded and refinished numerous times and is very long term. However, it requires extensive labor and installation requires more materials, such as underlayments, vapor barriers, shots and pins and staples. It also tends to "cup" which means that the edges can curl up and warp during acclimation. Most woods today are coated with a wear layer of aluminum oxide if pre-finished and will withstand alot of abuse. However, the solid, unfinished needs to be stained and coated with urethane. Urethane is just not as tough as aluminum oxide.
Engineered planks are finished with the stronger wear layers and are engineered in several layers. There are benefits to these layers, as they are sheets of wood pressed together with the grain running in alternately opposite directions. This keeps it from ever warping or "cupping" as the grains in the layers pull and resist against one another. This is the key factor in nailing or gluing. The more layers, the better the resistance to warping.
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