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I'm going to do a brief, quick explanation to clarify hardwood flooring for
you, so you understand what you're purchasing. You have three types of
hardwood flooring: solid, engineered, factory finish. As the name implies,
solid is just solid. Engineered is real wood stuck to plywood for the
purposes of dimensional stability. Factory finish flooring is available
either as a solid, or as an engineered. It just means they applied a
factory finish.
You often hear people confuse engineered and factory finish. Please don't
do that. Pros of solid. You have predictable behavior. We can test a piece
of wood and see what it's going to perform like. Able to be refinished. Con
of solid is that it's not always ideal for radiant heat, so if you have a
radiant project or you want to go in a basement, you need to kind of
scratch solid. Not cheap to install over concrete, which can be an issue if
you have a concrete sub-floor. Engineered flooring is great with radiant
and you can install it anywhere that you want.
The con is that it can fail, because this is a constructed material. You're
relying on the quality of construction of the plywoods, everything, and the
adhesives. That's very important, because you can have issues with
engineered for sure. It may not be refinishable. Turn your product on its
side when you're out there purchasing it, and look at that upper wood
layer. If it's really thin, when you wear through it, you might as well
throw it in a dumpster, you can't put a sander to it. The factory finish
flooring has pros. It's a durable finish, and after it's installed, you're
done. There's no need to bring in a sander and finish it, and all that.
Now, the con of factory finish is, please don't buy it because of a
warranty. That's absolutely a hoax. It's been a hoax for at least 10, 15
years since you've seen Bob Vila promising 50 year warranties that led to
nowhere. It could be tough to surface, and it also has the bevels that can
trap and collect dust.
So, these are your three types of flooring. When you're purchasing, please
understand one thing. Buy what fits your needs. Do not buy anything because
of a warranty. If you're buying a product for the long haul, ask about the
serviceability of that product. And actually, you should ask for a well-
known reputable manufacturer, and that you know the name of the product.
There's a lot of private labeling that happens to products in this
industry. What that presents as a problem is, later when you go to add on
or have to fix something with your floor if you do a remodel, that product
may not be available, OK? So you really want to make sure when you're
purchasing, you're purchasing for the long haul. If you have any questions,
feel free to email me.