Engineered vs Solid

Solid hardwood is the traditional wood floor, constructed of a single piece of sawn lumber which is milled into a tongue and groove finished product. Solid hardwood floors most commonly are found in 3/4" thickness and are suitable only for nail down installations over ply-wood, OSB, and tongue and groove decking style wood subfloors on or above-grade. Recent innovations have brought about 5/16" solid hardwood floors, which are suitable for glue-down applications over concrete.

Engineered wood flooring is composed of multiple layers which are glued together in a cross-grain lamination. Typically these floors consist of a species layer followed by a multi-ply substrate made from another species of wood such as poplar. This process makes the flooring very resistant to expansion and contraction from temperature and moisture. As a result, these floors can be installed anywhere in a home and are suitable for both wood and concrete subfloors.