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Difference Between Unfinished, Prefinished & Engineered Flooring

Difference Between Unfinished, Prefinished & Engineered FlooringPhoto from Unsplash

Originally Posted On: https://rusticwoodfloorsupply.com/knowledge/difference-between-unfinished-prefinished-engineered-flooring/

 

At our warehouse and showroom (Boise & Spokane), we regularly discuss with our customers and their clients the various options available for hardwood flooring. We’ve noticed that many people come to our store without having the correct information about the products they’re interested in, and many stores that only sell a limited range of options may not have a full understanding of each product they offer. Through these conversations, we’ve gained a firm understanding of what other people might tell you or what you might learn that is simply false, semi-untrue, or just straight-up selling nonsense.

We hope that this guide will help you make an informed decision when choosing between solid unfinished hardwood flooring, solid prefinished flooring, and engineered hardwood flooring.

Flooring terms you need to know for hardwood flooring:

  • Sandable: Refers to the ability of flooring to be sanded at a later time to remove dents and scratches or to change the color and sheen.
  • Wear layer: The thickness of the hardwood veneer on top of engineered hardwood flooring. A wear layer over 4mm is sandable if smooth, while anything under that depends on the texture of the flooring.
  • Square edge: A flooring edge that has no visible seam or bevel, resulting in a seamless look once installed.
  • Beveled edge: Refers to the slight angle on the flooring’s edges. This is required because the floor is not sanded and variations in the subfloor can create height differences. The bevel allows your foot to move smoothly over the flooring without getting caught on any unevenness.
  • Glue assist: Refers to putting down an “s” pattern or strips of glue to prevent the wood from moving or lifting at the back. This is necessary for flooring over 5″ in width and for lower-thickness woods where nails do not set correctly.
  • Full spread: Applying glue to 100% of the flooring area during installation.

Let’s start by going over the different Flooring options available:

  1. Solid Unfinished Wood Flooring – This is the oldest form of hardwood flooring available and is made from solid hardwood that is cut from a tree. The planks have a tongue and groove and a square edge, which means there are no cracks or seams like other wood flooring types. The wood is dried in kilns to 6-9% moisture, making it the most environmentally friendly option as it requires fewer steps to create. This type of wood flooring can be sanded 4-5 times and can last for decades if not centuries. If you ever get tired of the look of this flooring, you can wirebrush it, stain it, or change the sheen to give it a fresh look without having to replace the entire floor.
  2. Solid Prefinished Wood Flooring – This is a solid piece of wood that has been stained and prefinished in a factory in the USA or Canada. It resembles unfinished solid wood, but it doesn’t require sanding. You may notice that the planks have bevels, which differentiate each plank. This type of wood flooring is less environmentally friendly than solid wood as it comes in boxes and requires additional steps to create. However, it can be sanded 3-4 times, just like solid unfinished wood, and is a long-lasting floor that can be modified in the future via stains.
  3. Engineered Hardwood Flooring – This type of flooring is typically found in strip mall flooring stores and is usually produced overseas. Engineered hardwood is made up of multiple layers of plywood and a veneer on top. The layers of plywood are glued and pressed together, and the floor is generally unsandable as the wear layer has too big of a bevel, a small wear layer, and has been wirebrushed too deeply. This option is made from US wood that is sent to China for production and then sent back to the US, resulting in a high carbon footprint. If you need to change this floor, you’ll have to rip it out and start over, which can be problematic if you need to glue the subfloor.

This is the baseline knowledge of the flooring options you have in the market today.

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