if laying a new wooden floor on top of existing old floor boards, which is best, engineered wood or solid wood.
Unless the old floor is perfectly smooth and level you should lay tongue and groove plywood first, then sealed. Solid wood is much harder to lay down over engineered wood but it's all wood and not chock full of chemicals. So it depends on your concerns for indoor air quality I guess.
It all depends upon the wear layer on the engineered board. All of the wood above the tongue in T&G (tongue and grooved) flooring is the wear layer. In some engineered boards this wear layer is made up of the ply and a thin layer of the decorative wood. Engineered flooring is a better product if the wear layer is all decorative wood and is the same thickness as the solid board. Engineered flooring is much more stable in terms of expansion and contraction when compared to a solid board. Engineered flooring is comparable in price to a solid board which results in people believing that solid is much better value as there is more of the decorative wood. No way, engineered wins, as once a flooring is sanded down to the tongue or groove (after many, many years) the floor is scrap so the decorative wood from the tongue down in a solid board is there to carry the wear layer. I would only choose a single strip (some engineered boards are multi strip where more than one plank of the flooring are together on a single board) engineered where the wear layer is as thick as the comparable solid. This type of flooring is a much better product than the equivalent solid. When such a floor is fitted looks just like the solid equivalent but with much less problems regarding humidity and water. Don't let this put you off a solid board though, installed correctly and cared for it will last for just the same amount of time as engineered flooring. When laying the floor it makes no difference!
If you’re installing hardwood flooring in a lower level of your home or in an area where moisture or high (or low) humidity might be an issue, then you’re going to want to stick with engineered hardwood. On the other hand, if you are installing the new floor on an above-grade level and you want a traditional hardwood floor, then you can go ahead with solid hardwood.
If the sub floor is flat and smooth, it doesn t make a bit of difference. Best to have it very flat to start with but solid hard wood is a bit more forgiving over minor imperfections. If your doing this project yourself, engineered wood is easier to work with.. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar. GL
