Quote:
Originally Posted by David70
Recently did a bonus room (3rd floor attic) with solid prefinished hardwood over engineered hardwood. Prefer prefinished as everything I have read says it has a more durable finish so at that point I see it as hardwood with a prefinished top coating or engineered with a prefinished coating on a thin layer of hardwood on the top.
Engineered is more stable which is a benefit if going in a humid or wide range of temperatures, thinner which can be helpful depending on the project, and also can be less expensive.
What I like about solid is it can be refinished multiple times without worrying about getting to the "plywood" part of the assembly.
With labor costs being close to the same and the overall cost being close I didn't see any real benefits to going with engineered on my last project. I might use it eventually to add over existing flooring in on our 1st floor but this would mainly be because of the thickness.
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We have had engineered in our master bedroom and my office for 16+ years and replaced the guest room carpet (last room with carpet!) with engineered wood a year ago. I agree that you are restricted in terms of refinishing engineered (likely only once), but also note we have had no need to refinish the engineered wood after 16+ years so it is unlikely it will ever need to be refinished more than once, if ever. It has held up really well and no one has ever thought they were anything but hardwood (of course maybe they were just being kind). When we got the engineered my biggest concern was not being able to refinish as often but it has worked out well thus far.
At the time we went with engineered, there was a meaningful price differential. That may be because we were comparing apples to oranges as hardwoods can (at least at that time) fall within a pretty wide price range. Additionally, we live in humid South Florida and have some friends who went through a nightmare with expensive hardwood that warped shortly after install in their new house. So our decision was mostly price mixed with a little bit of concern based in their experience.
That’s not to say I think hardwood is a bad choice. To the contrary I think it’s really great and has much character over many years. But I also think engineered wood is an excellent substitute for many and I’d prefer either over tile, vinyl or other choices in most rooms other than bathrooms.