If the flooring is on your mind and you wish you could have the wood flooring in your home at an affordable price then engineered wood could be the solution you are looking for. And now a lot of questions must be popping up in your mind. What is engineered wood flooring? What it is made up of? Will it be suitable for your home? Well, in this article, we will try to answer all your questions, so keep reading!
Engineered wood flooring is made up of a solid wood layer topped over multilayers of a plywood core. The structure is long-lasting and high-performing. The reason behind this is that each layer is oriented in the opposite direction. This design ensures that the engineered wood floorboards don’t warp and bend in moisture prone spaces.
This makes it a much better option than solid wood as it can be used in areas with moisture and temperature fluctuations. Another benefit is that it is low-maintenance and easy to clean.
A solid wood top offers an engineered flooring with the same natural wood charm as the genuine wood floor.
Construction of Engineered wood flooring
Engineered wood includes layers of plywood that criss cross each other. These layers are bonded together using glue and pressed to create a super-strong binding. On top of the plywood layers, there is a real wood layer. Engineered wood floor differs from hardwood because of the glued core board.
The tongue and groove mechanism is created after the entire board has been cut into smaller floorboards. In general, the higher the number of layers of ply a board contains, the more durable it will be.
What distinguishes it from the rest?
The sturdiness of the core board is what distinguishes engineered wood flooring. As it is constructed of many layers of ply glued together with a powerful adhesive it is more robust and durable than a block of wood of the same thickness. This results in stable flooring.
The capacity of the material to stay stable even as conditions vary is important. Kitchens and bathrooms are the places where temperature and moisture levels fluctuate. Solid wood expands and shrinks dramatically in such areas whilst engineered wood boards are stable.
What is the significance of this? Moisture changes can lead to warping and swelling of the hardwood floors and this results in an ugly look. The engineered floor, on the other hand, has a stable core that can stay strong in most situations.
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What is the process of making it?
The engineered floor’s core is formed by glueing layers upon layers of ply together, as previously stated. The top real wood layer goes on this core and adds to the aesthetics. The top layer of solid wood for engineered oak flooring can come from two different methods – sawing and rotary cutting.
Cutting across cross sections of a tree trunk produces a sliced top layer. It is called sawing. In the rotary cut, the top layer is created by cutting a sleek layer following a rotatory path around the tree trunk.
Oiled or Lacquered Engineered Flooring
One cannot overlook the finish to pick for your new floor. You can make this selection but before that, you need to be aware of your possibilities. There are two most common and highly used wood flooring finishes: lacquered and oiled.
A lacquer is put to a wood floor to protect it and give it a lustre. Lacquer rests on the wood surface rather than sinking into it as oil does. On the other hand, the oil finish offers surface protection and it also penetrates deeper to work from inside.