Enhance the Beauty of Your Home with Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood flooring can add warmth and style to any room. Understanding the similarities and differences between solid hardwood and engineered hardwood will help you decide which is best for your home. Both are made with genuine wood in a variety of species with various graining, colour, staining, and hardness characteristics. For example, red oak flooring features wavy, curly, lines whereas maple flooring has a straighter, more consistent grain.

Solid hardwood floors are milled from one piece of wood, while engineered wood flooring features a unique, layered construction. This means you can refinish solid wood flooring many times over its lifespan vs. being limited by the thickness of the top layer. However, solid hardwood is more likely to expand and contract with changing humidity, so it should not be installed in bathrooms, kitchens, or basements. Engineered hardwood is more resistant to moisture and water so it can be installed in your kitchen, though you still need to wipe up any spills right away. Comfort-wise, engineered hardwood is softer underfoot, but it doesn’t absorb sound as well. From a cost perspective, solid wood flooring is more expensive, but it will also last longer.