I dont have a way to measure the thickness of the top layer but can you tell from this picture? and can this be sanded? My dogs have destroyed the surface and I'd like to refinish it when I put the house up for sale.
Plastic or pressed paper flooring cannot be satisfactorily refinished. (I have that stuff on my floor,too)
that is laminate (plastic) flooring, not hardwood and cannot be refinished
It was a mistake to buy that crap. Should have put down real 3/4 red oak flooring. You can sand it, varnish it, and it looks great after decades of use.
depends on which method you use to refinish. If you use the sanding method, maybe. however there is a less known method called the screening method, it is much less aggressive and doesn't remove any wood, just the finish itself. because of the way it removes the finish the thickness of the wood doesn't matter, you can even refinish laminate using this method.
If your floor is TRULY engineered flooring and not laminate then the other answers are incorrect. Engineered flooring has a thin layer of wood (1/4 or less) bonded to a manufactured substrate. You CAN lightly sand it at least one time to remove light wear and superficial scratches. But if it is deeply damaged you will be out of luck. It is impossible to tell from the poor photos you posted what you actually have so I would recommend that you call a professional flooring refinisher to evaluate what might be possible in your case. Don't try sanding it yourself. It looks like you have some scraps of it in the photos. Take some medium grade sandpaper and try sanding the scraps deeply and see what happens. If it is laminate the woodgrain finish will vanish with very little sanding. If it is wood you will get some fine sawdust and the grain will continue in the lower layer. Again, the job is one for a pro, not yourself. In fact, your photos look more like laminate so this may be an impossible project from the get go. Why do you believe it is an engineered floor? Did you have it installed yourself?
