Engineered Wood Flooring or Solid Wood Flooring?

17th January 2017
engineered wood flooring

Over the last few years the popularity of engineered wood flooring has increased, as the trend for solid wood flooring has decreased. Whereas in previous years customers felt that a solid wood floor was a ‘real’ wood floor, engineered wood is now being seen the same way.

In fact here at First Floors we have noticed a huge difference in the last 5/6 years in terms of the availability of solid wood flooring with many manufacturers favouring the supply of engineered wood flooring over solid wood. This in turn is having a knock on effect of the popularity of each type of floor.

Here are a couple of common questions that our customers ask us when choosing the right wooden floor for their home.

engineered wood flooring

How do I know whether the engineered wood flooring is good quality?

Firstly, if you are visiting our showroom we only stock high quality wood flooring, in fact all of our products are hand picked to ensure that we maintain the integrity of our products.

Many engineered wood products that come from untrusted or unverified sources such as those often found online are made with low quality plywood whereby the layers can come apart. When using plywood in smaller pieces such as wooden floorboards, it’s essential to use high-grade plywood so that it the layers don’t come apart

Next is the top layer, known as the wear layer. This can be made up of many types of wood, with oak and walnut being the most popular. It’s essential that these are of a certain width to enable you to sand the floor in the future if required. If you see low-grade material used as the base, then the finish on top of the floor is probably the same quality. We only stock flooring brands with a high quality wear layer to provide many, many years of wear.

Will an engineered floor look different to a solid wood floor?

This is probably the biggest concern to many of our customers. The simple answer is no. To anyone looking at the floor, it’s impossible to tell by either touching it, walking on it or looking at it. This is because the only part that’s different it the bottom layer, with the top layer being made of the same real wood.

Do I need to worry about moisture?

It’s well known that a solid wood floor is a living product. As such it reacts to changes in temperature and this is why it’s not a good idea to fit a solid wood floor in areas of high humidity such as a bathroom or shower room, and why you need to leave an expansion gap when it’s being fitted. It cannot be fitted over underfloor heating and you need to let the floor acclimatize in the room in which it’s been fitted for at least 48 hours.

Whereas when it comes to resilience to moisture, engineered wood flooring outperforms solid wood. It can also be fitted over underfloor heating and it can be fitted without acclimatization.

Is a wood floor difficult to maintain?

A wood floor is very easy to maintain, and there’s no difference between a solid and engineered wood floor.

If you have a lacquered floor it’s really simple to maintain and it’s beauty will last for many years to come. It consists of a hardwearing surface and all you should need to do is sweep or vacuum the floor and use a damp cloth or mop to clean it and wood-safe detergent.

For an oiled floor you just follow the same instructions but you may want to re oil the surface every few year or few years.

Talk to us in the showroom about the different types of finish on your engineered wood floor – there are now some incredible advancements in the lacquers used and increasingly popular is a matt lacquer which looks like an oiled board but with the hardwearing properties of a lacquer.

Our experts are in the showroom and always on hand to provide advice on the best type of engineered wood flooring or a solid wood floor for your home. You may even decide that a luxury vinyl or laminate in wood effect is the best floor for your home.

Get a quick quote.

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Customer Reviews

First Floors

Customer Reviews

Jim Hillier 1st June 2022

TrustPilot
Absolutely Delighted with the Conduct and Quality of Work. My Wife and I decided to replace our Bedroom Carpet and lay down wooden flooring for our Hall. We noticed that there was a possible supplier for flooring at first floors shop on Fenwick Road. We met up with David and Graham and explained that we were looking for quality products for both Items. We were shown flooring possibilities from their extensive range of designs and thicknesses and soon found a product that we were interested in. We were delighted to find out that they had carpet selections at the back of the shop which surprised us; you could not appreciate the size of the place from the shop front! We chose a carpet that we thought met our specifications and were given a reasonable sized sample to take home to see how it would look in our room taking into account of our particular lighting conditions. First Floors sent out a guy to take measurements for floor, accessory fittings and carpet.
Being very happy with the proposition given to us and estimates of work completion dates and prices we went ahead with the order. Graham kept us updated with the schedule and I am happy to say that the work was carried out on time and was completed to a very high quality with which we were both delighted with.
I would be happy to reference this company for anyone who is interested in upgrading their floors or replacing carpets.

Alastair Barrie 2nd June 2022

TrustPilot
Good selection, service and fitting.We were able to take home some samples to select the carpet that was just right for our room. There was a delay in our furniture arriving and First Floors were very accommodating in putting our fitting date back to suit. The fitting went very well indeed - couldn’t have been easier.

Olive Leitch 1st May 2022

TrustPilot
Excellent service from First Floors. All staff including fitters have been helpful and gave a friendly professional service. My new stair carpet has been fitted very well and already received many complements

Linda McBrearty 27th April 2022

TrustPilot
Excellent service with care. On our first visit to the showroom, David advised and helped us with our choice but never rushed us and gave us lots of confidence in making our final choice of engineered wooden flooring. Our new build home was delayed for a few months and during this time David and his team waited patiently with us until the flooring was able to be fitted! The fitting throughout our new house was more than excellent. The care and attention to detail was everything we could have hoped for, our thanks to the fitting team. We would have no hesitation in recommending First Floors, their professionalism and customer service was 100%.

Anna Smylie April 2021

Google
Fantastic service. David gave me great advice on which flooring would be most suitable for my business premises. Within the week Steven came to fit the flooring and, as promised, was in and out in a day. Can’t recommend this local Company enough. Anna Smylie ZuZu Giffnock.

Dawn Henry November 2021

Google
We recently purchased engineered oak flooring and carpets from First Floors. The customer service from David and team was exceptional. We had just moved home from overseas and bought a house with no floors so we did not have access to allow First Floors to measure. Theye allowed us to use our own measurements as we wanted the floors laid ASAP once we had the keys. The floor is beautiful and laid very professionally (thanks Steven). The carpets are also lovely and exactly what I wanted. The only thing I would change about the experience would be to have First Floors assess the house in advance. We have fire doors which were a problem the day the carpets were laid. This was not the issue of First Floors and it was resolved quickly. Thanks again David, we would highly recommend First Floors to anyone.

Ian and Lesley Proctor January 2022

Google
Another Great Job Done!!
Just had our third floor project in seven years completed by First Floors once again.
Great service from David and his showroom team from assisting in the selection of materials through to arranging the installation. Chris and his team worked tidily and efficiently on the hardwood flooring with great attention to detail. Gordon who fitted the stair carpet was very professional in his work and was able to resolve some problematic details to our entire satisfaction.
Would definitely recommend First Floors.

Gavin Reid 18/08/20

TrustPilot
We recently had First Floors install laminate flooring in our lounge and hallway and are absolutely delighted with the final result! It has been finished to a high standard with great attention to detail.

Having had a rough idea of what we were looking for, David helped find the perfect flooring for both rooms.

We were booked in quickly and kept informed throughout the process.

We would definitely recommend and use again.

Christine Sharp 23/08/20

TrustPilot
Wee have recently had a new laminate floor laid in our upstairs hall. We are very happy with the result and feel the level of workmanship and finishing detail was excellent

Chris Milne 30/08.20

TrustPilot
Excellent service from first point of contact. Staff took time to discuss and review options, then worked to suitable timescale based around my schedule.
Work completed on time and to a very high standard, delighted with results.
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