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Engineered Flooring vs. Laminate Flooring

July 7, 2009

There is occasionally some confusion as to whether engineered flooring is real wood flooring or not. For the record, engineered flooring is real wood flooring, a composite of plywood and the veneer species. To recap, the plywood plies are stacked perpendicularly to one another and attached to the underside of the veneer species. This construction compensates for swelling and contraction of wood, and also allows engineered flooring to be installed more places and also so it can be installed utilizing the floating method.

So as we’ve established that it is indeed real wood, let’s talk about the differences between engineered hardwood flooring and laminate flooring. Laminate flooring was invented in 1977 by Pergo, a Swedish company. It can resemble a wide variety of materials, including hardwood and marble, to name a few. It is generally easier to maintain, less susceptible to moisture damage, more dent resistant than hardwood, and can also be floated.

For more information on Laminate flooring, you can check out the Wikipedia article, although, as the warning at the top of the page states, the article is fairly biased. It is obviously written by a laminate dealer or installer, particularly because while it touts all of laminates postive traits, it markedly neglects to mention that laminate is basically a photograph of wood or whatever the target material is (they refer to it as an “decorative applique”, which is oh-so-pretty and French) placed beneath an aluminum oxide finish. (To the article’s credit, there is mention of how the melamine resin that makes up the base material of the laminate can cause health problems as it is compound made with formaldahyde. Yikes.)

But the fact remains: Photoshop flooring, people. It is substantially cheaper, yes, but then, so is a print of the Mona Lisa versus the genuine article.

This is not to say laminate doesn’t make great flooring; it does, especially for those with young children and animals that put floors through quite a bit of abuse. Board replacements will be cheaper, and you will be getting a beautiful floor with many of the qualities of hardwood flooring; laminate will reflect light to create a more expansive feel for a room as well as giving it a cleaner appearance. It also has a leg up on carpet as it doesn’t retain pet dander, dust, and mold, making it a more hypoallergenic flooring option. (Providing the volatile organic compounds released from the formaldehyde binding process don’t compromise your indoor air quality. But I digress.)

So there you have it, a tidy comparison of laminate flooring and engineered flooring.

What are your thoughts about the two flooring formats?

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Engineered Flooring Species: To Stain or Not to Stain?

June 22, 2009

There are plenty of times in the engineered flooring and solid wood flooring markets alike when you will come across what one might refer to as a “hardwood purist.” These folks do not believe in staining, particularly when it comes to exotic species or species more known for their distinctive colors/grains.

For instance, Brazilian Cherry is arguably the most popular exotic hardwood flooring species on the American market. It is well known for its salmon, red, and brown coloring. So why, some might think, would anyone want to stain an already beautiful exotic flooring species that you’ve already paid good money to have imported to the United States?

Well, as you may have guessed, I am not a hardwood purist. I think that any modifications made to a product give consumers a wider range of options to choose from is always welcome. This allows homeowners to more accurately express their own individual tastes and styles, rather than being boxed in by the color palette dictated by mother nature alone.

So let’s take a look at some stained exotics. (Stained just bears a negative connotation anyway, doesn’t it? Obviously wood experts weren’t thinking marketing, or we would definitely be talking about “color enhancement”.) Here are some stained versions of Brazilian Cherry:

Here’s the natural:

Brazilian Cherry Flooring

Now here are swatches of two different stains.

Brazilian Cherry Cafe:

Jatoba Hand Scraped

And now Brazilian Cherry Caramel:

Jatoba Hand Scraped Caramel

So you can see how the stain affects the coloring of the wood. (Additionally, these swatches are “hand scraped,” meaning hand distressed and therefore have more of a “bumpy” texture for a slightly more rustic look.) As you can see, the stains often show the graining off in a different color palette, but nonetheless one can easily see that we are looking at Brazilian Cherry, just through a different color of lens. Obviously, this is what staining is all about, but I feel its important to stress that stains are not opaque (At least a good staining ought not to be.) A good stain should alter the appearance of the wood quite a bit, but not obscure the graining much. A bit of subtlety is involved, and this separates a good stain from a bad one.

What do you think of staining? Abomination or blessing of artistic license?

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Engineered Flooring vs. Thin Solid Flooring

June 9, 2009

When it comes to the age old question of whether to use solid flooring or whether to use engineered flooring, there is the question of thin solid flooring. With solid hardwood flooring available in widths such as 3/8 of an inch, the question becomes more complicated. Solid 3/8″ flooring can be glued down, which is one benefit over usual 3/4″ solid flooring, which is pretty much nail down only. (Depending on who you talk to, naturally, but this is the safest bet.)

Additionally, these thin solids are handy when it comes to tight spaces that can come into play during a renovation. However, the solids will still undergo the same heightened expansions and contractions because it is a solid, natural product. (Expansion and contraction is usually measured by tangential shrinkage/expansion and radial shrinkage/expansion) Engineered flooring is not subject to as a result of its construction of perpendicular plies.

Despite the smaller width, the same balance of pros and cons still applies to these formats: With engineered flooring, you’re getting a wear layer that is probably thinner than the total width of the solid flooring, and therefore cannot be sanded and refinished as many times. However, the engineered flooring will be more dimensionally stable than its prefinished counterpart, and while the smaller width may lesson the effects a bit, the solid flooring will still move in service.

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The Lacey Act – What Does it Mean for Hardwood Consumers?

May 5, 2009

On May 22, 2008, the United States congress passed the Lacey Act, amending the existing statute that had previously been used primarily for fighting wildlife crime. Now, the act serves to ban illegally sourced plants and products, promoting a new standard of environmental responsibility for U.S. importers of natural products from abroad. Many companies are already devoted to the use of sustainable harvesting practices, and are therefore already in full compliance with the Lacey Act amendment. Certified vendors of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified products and consumers alike should be happy to see United States policy makers taking steps to ensure the health and well-being of forests and plant species around the world.

What does this mean for the engineered flooring world? As aforementioned, very little for those companies who were already abiding by the rules of healthy business and global ethics. But naturally, the reality is that more bureaucracy means more time, more documentation, and more labor/cost for import/export companies and mills. Therefore, prices for imported hardwoods have to rise proportionally to accommodate this. FSC certification, which establishes a “chain of custody” from the harvest source to the end consumer, also creates this price increase to accommodate for its intensive documentation fees.

For example, engineered Brazilian Cherry flooring coming out of Brazil has to pass through customs in order to make it into the United States, this much you already knew. However, this is a one time fee, with taxes and tarriffs paid at the border. With FSC certification, for example, the wood must be documented each time it changes hands. This means that a representative of the FSC or an agent working on their behalf (Such as SCS, Scientific Certification Systems) must approve each of these transactions and/or documentation must be filled out and filed, requiring extra time and labor. In effect, it’s like going through customs every time the wood changes hands. The Lacey Act is similar in that it requires more documentation than was previously required in order to import goods. Filling out this documentation requires time on the part of the mills, and the added cost trickles down through the supply chain thereafter. Additionally, the fact that engineered flooring features a wear layer of the exotic specie, and therefore not as much of the wood as a solid hardwood, does not lessen the cost of these certifications. Even if one board in the sub-bundle had a Brazilian Cherry wear layer and the rest were bare plywood, in order to be certified, that board must be tracked along the chain of custody in order to be FSC certified. What raises the cost is certifying multiple locations, such as if a distributor had multiple storage locations. For this reason, it is important to realize that if some hardwood dealers are slow to adopt FSC certification, it is not necessarily because they are illegally harvesting or conducting unethical business practices; the fact is, FSC certification can be a very expensive and complicated process.

However, though these certification processes and newly instated laws do raise costs slightly to the end consumer and create more bureaucratic red tape and cost for every member of the supply chain, they are great advancements towards promoting sustainable harvesting practices and punishing those who would otherwise seek to profit from harming the planet through the poaching of natural products.

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Engineered Hand Scraped Woods

April 8, 2009

One of the great aspects of engineered flooring veneers is that they are very versatile and come in a variety of styles beyond the standard smooth texture.  You can also find it in other styles, such as handscraped and French bleed.

What is handscraped engineered flooring? Basically, it is flooring that is handscraped by the manufacturer in order to give the wood an older look, as if it has been worn over time. This style of texturing wood would be particularly appropriate in a house built in an older architectural era, where installing a brand new smooth hardwood floor might clash with the overall tone of the home’s more classic style. The upside of using handscraped flooring is that you get this older look while simultaneously getting new, structurally sound wood that, though the surface is scraped, sports brand new engineered ply layers. Here is a beautiful example of engineered hand distressed black walnut.

French bleed refers to wood with stained edges, with the color of the stain being typically black. Again, this look often provides a more classic tone to a home, and is often combined with hand-distressed or scraping, although not in every case. Both handscraping and French bleed create a tone of warmth and welcome.

The beauty of both of these styles is that you get the classic appeal of and older style appearance of floor while enjoying the structural superiority of modern engineered flooring. If you’re going for a rustic or “Old World” style look for your home, hand distressed engineered flooring or hand scraped engineered flooring are great candidates.

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Domestic Engineered Wood Flooring Species

March 20, 2009

Of the many types of engineered flooring products available, some of the most beautiful and traditionally elegant examples are the American domestic species. These are trees you probably see in your every day life, lining your street, sprouting up along highways and country roads, even in your backyard. Some well known American domestic species include Cherry, White Oak, Red Oak, and Maple, to name just a few. The interesting thing about American domestic species is that they tend to fall within the brown to yellow/white color spectrum, with some red tones here and there, but there isn’t a whole lot of deviation from this general spectrum. White Oak and Maple tend to be in the lighter category, Red Oak brings, naturally, some redness into that white equation, with Cherry bringing in a more orange-red tonal quality.

American domestics also tend to be fairly soft in comparison to other hardwood species from elsewhere in the world. Here are some technical specs for each of these species:

Maple

Maple

Maple

Modulus of Rupture:   10,700

Modulus of Elasticity: 1,450

Janka Hardness:  1450 lbs.

White Oak

White Oak

White Oak:

Modulus of Rupture:   15,200

Modulus of Elasticity: 1,780

Janka Hardness:  1360 lbs.

Cherry

Cherry

Cherry:

Modulus of Rupture:   12,330

Modulus of Elasticity: 1,490

Janka Hardness:  950 lbs.

Red Oak

Red Oak

Red Oak:

Modulus of Rupture:   14,300

Modulus of Elasticity: 1,820

Janka Hardness:  1,290 lbs.

These types of engineered hardwood flooring as well as engineered products with exotic specie wear layers are becoming increasingly popular due to their dimensional stability and very reasonable price tag. Well worth revisiting some traditional hardwood standards, or even giving an exotic a try.

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Leather Engineered Flooring: A Beautiful Alternative to Standard Engineered Hardwood Floors.

February 22, 2009

Torlys is a manufacturer of flooring based in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada. In October, they announced that they would soon be releasing their engineered leather flooring in North America, starting in Canada and moving into the United States thereafter. It has since hit the show rooms of American flooring retailers nationwide, and it is an amazing product.

There are some great selling points for the leather product: It’s made from environmentally responsible leather, uses cork backing to eliminate the need for underlayment, both of which provide a soft feel to those walking on it. The leather itself is comprised of scrap leather which is chopped up into fine bits, put into a slurry with other polymers and resins, and once it is hardened, it is imprinted with leather patterning.
This product is designed to appeal to those looking for comfort and luxury. Pricewise, there is a bit of a divide: MSRP for the leather flooring is approximately $12.95/sf, compared to engineered hardwood flooring’s MSRP range starting around $3. However, the product is gorgeous, unique, and well made, so the higher price seems only natural. Additionally, leather flooring in the past has been prohibitively expensive, so Torlys‘ pricing is quite reasonable by comparison.

Overall, kudos are due to Torlys for manufacturing this green flooring in a way that reuses scrap leather to creates a beautiful new product. These elegant engineered leather floors bring a very unique and luxurious product into the price range of more consumers than leather flooring products in the past, all the while adding sustainability and environmental friendliness to the overall product.

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To float or not to float?

February 13, 2009

Floating an engineered hardwood floor is a manner of flooring installation that many opt for. Boards are glued or snapped together at the sides and installed over a layer of underlayment. Underlayments come in a variety of different styles, with higher quality underlayment eliminating more of the acoustical by-products of a floating floor. This is one of the most noticeable down-sides of a floated engineered floor: there can be a somewhat “hollow” sound when it is walked on, a result of the space between the floor and the subfloor created by the underlayment. Nailed or glued down flooring can feel more “solid” underfoot as a result of each board being secured individually and vertically to the sub-floor itself. Also, engineered hardwood flooring that is floated can create “cracking” noises soon after it is installed, which is the result of the glue settling and acclimating to foot traffic.

A floating engineered floor is also unforgiving when it comes to certain installation oversights. If there is a low area in a sub floor that isn’t leveled or corrected, this will create a spot where your foot will sink, as the floor is horizontally suspended over the indentation. With a nail or glue down floor, this imperfection would more likely not go undetected, as the nails and glue must reach the subfloor, which would indicate to the installer that something was amiss.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of the pros and cons of engineered hardwood flooring, these are some important considerations derived from experience and the experiences of others that I think will help you to make the best decision as to which installation method best suits your needs.

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Will a down economy convert frugal consumers into engineered flooring advocates?

January 30, 2009

With economic times as they are, engineered flooring is becoming a more and more viable option, and for good reason. First of all, and perhaps most obvious, an engineered floor is a cheaper option than a solid hardwood floor, making it a much more viable option for those looking to pinch a few pennies. The reason that engineered flooring is ultimately cheaper than solid hardwood is because the expensive specie that makes up the wear layer is only a thin layer in the overall structure of the board. The rest of the board is comprised of plywood that costs less to acquire and mill for manufacturers. I’m interested to see if this newfound frugality in America creates a bigger demand for engineered flooring, and if, subsequently, once consumers realize that engineered flooring is far more dimensionally stable than solid hardwood flooring, if they will become devoted to engineered products thereafter. There are some advantages of solid flooring, such as a general acoustic quality, meaning that it gives off a different sound than an engineered floor. This is particularly true when an engineered floor is floated. Some say that this creates a “hollow” sound. Then there is the additional benefit that solid hardwood can be sanded and refinished more often than engineered flooring. Naturally, a thicker wear layer on an engineered floor means more opportunities for sanding and refinishing. But I’m interested to see if we see more people advocating engineered products and to see if those who were traditionally proponents of solid hardwood floor come over to the engineered side because of being forced to consider engineered as an option for economic reasons.

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Considerations When Purchasing an Engineered Hardwood Floor

January 21, 2009

Engineered flooring comes in many different specie-flavors, sizes, veneer types, etc. Add to that the different gloss levels of the finish on the product and it becomes abundantly clear: One size does not fit all when it comes to engineered flooring. When shopping for engineered hardwood, it is important to take into consideration this myriad of different structural and finish characteristics rather than finding a specie you like and pulling the trigger. Shopping for hardwood flooring means that you, fair consumer, must become somewhat of a junior architect. As with any product, the more you know about it before you buy, the better the product you will ultimately select. Additionally, you will be more satisfied with that product, as you will know exactly how it stacks up next to the other products you could have chosen, not just how the color and appearance of the veneer specie compares to others.

Here are some factors to take into consideration that come down to your taste as a potential engineered flooring buyer:

1. What is the finish comprised of? What brand is it?

Prefinished wood products in addition to engineered flooring all come prefinished by the factory, but what brand of finish did they use for the prefinishing? Is that finish manufacturer reputable, or is it comprised of a guy in the back of a VW bus with a chemistry set and no trace of eyebrows? This is one of the easiest factors to take for granted when making your flooring decision. Put your retailer on the spot; he may not know off the top of his head, but should be easily able to find out for you.

2. What is the gloss level?

This is a matter of preference for some. Some prefer a very glossy finish to catch light, while others feel that a high gloss finish obscures the wood’s natural beauty with glare. Personally, I tend to lean towards the latter: I’ve got enough reflective surfaces installed in my house to admire myself in, I don’t need my floor serving as a surrogate mirror. Gloss is calculated in degrees. For instance, a 40 gloss is called a “medium” or “semi-gloss,” whereas 25 gloss is a more subdued gloss level. 85 gloss is sometimes called a “glass” or a very shiny gloss, like that of gym floors. 100 gloss is like walking on the translucent ceiling of heaven, pure light. Actually, I’ve never seen 100 gloss, I just made that up.

Don’t forget to take these factors into consideration, as they are the easily overlooked but very important factors that can make the difference between an engineered hardwood floor that you love and one that’s just not quite right.

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