PREFINISHED VS SOLID HARDWOOD FLOORING

Many people ask me the difference between prefinished engineered wood and a solid wood floor that is unfinished upon installation. Well, the big difference is convenience for the  consumer with the engineered floor.  A solid floor has to be pre- planned  in order to set the baseboards higher. You see, solid floors are 3/4 inch thick and are nailed down on top of a 3/4 inch plywood with some visqueen between them for a moisture barrier. This actually makes you floor 1 l/2 inch taller than the other existing floors you may be joining in an existing location.  The prefinished engineered floor has several coatings of urethane and aluminum oxide baked in at the factory as the solid floor is stained and coated twice with urethane on the job.  The job of installation takes much longer and many foreign objects can land in the sealer on the on-sight solid wood job. Variations in the subfloor affect the engineered floor as the solid wood underlayment can be sanded down to be flatter though some prefinished floors have bevel edges that conceal some variances in the subfloor.  The on-sight solid floor can be sanded many times as the engineered wood can be sanded two or three times over the life of the floor, though the prefinished floor is more stable than the solid floor that can warp with moisture issues in the wood. The new hammered and textured prefinished floors are more forgiving for scratches and imperfections which make them a very good choice.  All in all, it is up to the individual to  decide. Each selection can be beautiful and lasting.