Engineered wood floors are made by bonding or attaching the individual boards together using a veneer – a thin layer of veneer over the natural wood surface. Engineered wood has a number of advantages over the traditional wooden flooring. The most obvious difference is that engineered wood is far more durable than traditional wood and suitable for high traffic areas and where you will want a very smooth finish. The engineered wood flooring is also low maintenance, often requiring only regular cleaning and polishing to maintain its beautiful appearance. You can find some great options from stockists such as Irwin Tiles.
It is usually engineered wood flooring that is used in conjunction with the popular bamboo laminate flooring. Laminate flooring is made from an extremely hard wood called bamboo which is in turn attached to a plastic backing which is then fitted to the top of a solid wood floor. Although you can use this type of flooring in any room, it is particularly suited to rooms that receive a lot of foot traffic, as the heavy traffic will wear down the plastic backing and the flooring will need replacing.
The advantage of using engineered wood flooring is that the top layers of wood are almost always solid wood. This means that there is a far less chance that the wood layers will break down and be exposed to moisture and dust. Bamboo floors are often placed directly on concrete floors and although these floors can be incredibly comfortable, they do not allow for the free flow of air that is required underfoot. Engineered wood floors can be installed in any room where you wish to install a floor without the need for any base boards. If you wish to have a finished floor, you simply need to apply a clear veneer over the existing floor and then install your own planks. Engineered hardwood floors do not require the high amount of maintenance that other types of floors do, so if you are looking for an easy to maintain floor, this may be the ideal solution.
