Personal Consumer Issues • Wood floor installation questions

I want something that is easy to maintain so I was thinking about laminate fake wood. But if I am spending good money for installation, it seems silly to use the cheapest material. My friend suggested good quality engineered wood floor. Upon checking home depot, I see that there are waterproof engineered wood floors.

It's a common misconception that real wood floors are hard to maintain. I've had them in 3 houses over the years and have done literally no regular maintenance other than sweeping and spot cleaning. Water-based polyurethane finishes nowadays are extremely tough, reliable and long-lasting (not to mention safer and less toxic during installation than the older oil-based poly). I have yet to see an engineered wood floor that looks as good as natural hardwood.

Another feature is that when the floor finally does get scratched up to the point where you want to do something about it (which will take maybe 10 years in very high traffic areas and 30 to 50 years everywhere else), you can just refinish it - have a contractor sand it, stain it whatever color you like, and apply new poly. You can't do that with engineered wood. In one house we owned for 13 years, we had a flooring contractor professionally buff the floors before putting the house on the market and they looked nearly brand new.

Also, no floors are actually "water proof" except shower floors. They are water resistant. Remember that natural hardwood is covered with a layer of polyurethane, which is basically plastic. You can't let water pool on it, but you also can't let water pool on engineered wood. And in fact, if you do let a small puddle sit for a few hours, it's not going to cause any damage in either case. All of this is based on personal experience. I love the look and feel of natural hard wood and the cost is likely to be comparable to top-end engineered floors.

Whatever you do, don't get a dark-colored natural or engineered wood floor. They show dust and scratches spectacularly well. Lighter is definitely more practical. Walnut-colored stain was all the rage a few years ago; hopefully that absurdity has dissipated.

Statistics: Posted by snic — Wed Jan 17, 2024 6:47 am — Replies 10 — Views 657

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