Engineered wood flooring is Green
Purchasing engineered wood flooring helps conserve expensive prized wood. For every 1 sq foot of 3/4 inch thick solid wood flooring manufactured you can manufacturer approx 4 times that amount into engineered wood flooring. Engineered wood flooring is the best flooring to provide people with to conserve our forests.

Engineered wood floors - How are they made?

The best engineered wood floors are built having multiple ply layers (see picture below) that are cross layered, glued and pressed together. The inner cores are generally either a hardwood and/or soft plywood type of material, which incorporates the tongue and groove system. The top thicker hardwood veneer wear layer is glued on top surface of the core and is available in almost any hardwood species.

Engineered wood floors are more resistant to higher moisture levels than solid wood flooring, which adds to their appeal to use in damp basements or in regions of the country that have higher relative humidity levels. Engineered flooring can be direct glued-down over (dry) concrete slabs above or below grade, or stapled down over a wood subfloor. Quality Engineered Hardwood flooring has the same resale value as 3/4 solid wood flooring if you ever decide to sell your home.

Engineered Hardwood floors range in widths from 3-7 inches wide and come in a wide variety of domestic and exotic hardwood species and some are even available in the popular hand scraped style. Some brands of engineered flooring have a thin wear layer that can only be re-coated and cannot be sanded and refinished new again once they get worn. They have an average lifespan of between 30 - 40 years depending on traffic. Other brands or styles can have a thicker 2 - 4 mil thick wear layer that can be completely sanded and refinished 2- 5 times if they ever needed to be. These thicker wear layer engineered floors can last from 40 - 100 years before having to be replaced which add to their appeal.

Engineered wood floors are manufactured two ways, one, where the top surface wear layer is Sliced/Sawn cut from the log like solid wood flooring is. Engineered hardwood flooring that has a Sliced/Sawn cut wear layer shows the truer natural look of the wood and finer graining. Sliced/Sawn cut engineered flooring also allows a thicker wear layer. Engineered wood floors can also be Rotary cut, which the veneer hardwood wear layer is peeled off the log using big lathes. This peeling method can show dramatic wilder graining.