Hardwood Flooring

One of the largest impacts you can create in a house is the flooring that you put in. The three main options are carpet, tile and wood, but in each category there are a tremendous number of options. This comparison will focus on the four main groups of hardwood flooring: unfinished, prefinished, engineered and laminate.

Unfinshed hardwood is a solid piece of wood that is stapled or glued to the subfloor. It has to be finished after it has been installed. Prefinished is solid wood also but has already been finished in a factory. Engineered is similar to plywood and each plank is made from multiple 'plys' of wood glued together with the top 'ply' being actual hardwood. It is prefinished in a factory as well. Laminate is a synthetic material that is created to (sometimes well, sometimes poorly) imitate wood.

To compare them I'll use the characteristics Price, Finished Look, Feel, Durability and Installation. Note that Engineered and Laminate floors were created as a lower cost option to imitate solid wood, so comparisons of Look and Feel are in Unfinished and Prefinished's favor.

• Price: Prefinished and unfinished are the most expensive. There is a lot of variation by wood species with the oaks usually the most economical and the international woods costing the most. Unfinished may cost less at a store but when you add in the extra finishing costs, in many cases the costs come out to the same or even more than prefinished. It is my preference to go with Prefinished or Engineered when budget allows to avoid the mess of the finishing process.
  
  Prices are from $6/sf to $20/sf. The average is about $8 to $12/sf. Engineereds run from $4/sf to $12/sf and laminates are $3/sf to $8/sf. Prices include labor.

• Finished Look: Unfinished (after it is finished of course), Prefinished and Engineered wood provide the most premium look and are what people usually think of when they think hardwood. You really can't tell the difference between a Prefinished and Engineered floor if they are both 3/4" thick. Unfinished wood gets sanded down so removes any of the seams between the boards, seams that show up in Prefinished floors.
  Laminate can look really close to real wood if you choose from the higher end options. However in most cases each 'plank' or piece is the width of 3 to 5 "boards" so the end seams look like three boards all end in the same place.

• Feel: With the exception of the seams between boards Unfinished and Prefinished feel very good and about the same. When walking on them the floor is solid with no movement. If using a 3/4" or similar thickness Engineered floor the feel will also be the same. Dropping to a thinner plank and/or not gluing the floor down (called "floating") will cause more movement when walking. Laminate does not feel like wood, but if installed properly can feel pretty solid. In many cases the laminates I've seen that are floating have too much movement, so I'm a strong supporter of gluing it down.

• Durability: Finally a category where Laminate can be on top! Being a synthetic material Laminate is very scratch resistant when compared to wood. I'm not saying you can't scratch it, but it holds up well to walking traffic and pets much better than real wood. The other materials will hold up about the same, although Prefinished and Engineered claim to have a harder finish than wood finished on site. I haven't seen any evidence of this in houses I've been through.
  
  I'll say too that although Laminate is more scratch resistant over time the joints and seams weaken more than solid wood, so it's not as permanent of a floor.

• Installation: Laminate again wins here as most are snap-and-click, where you just put to pieces together and then snap together. Plus each plank is the equivalent width of 3 to 5 boards so you're laying it 3 to 5 times faster based just on this.
  
  Some Engineered wood is snap-and-click, others are tongue and groove (T&G) like solid wood is. Engineered snap-and-click installs just like Laminate, but again takes more time as each plank is only one board width. Engineered T&G installs just like solid wood. Depending on whether the subfloor is concrete (most homes built after the 1950s) or wood (2nd floors and homes build 1950s or before) will dictate how you install it. If you are on wood you can staple it straight to the subfloor. If concrete you can usually glue it down.

As you can see there are a lot of differences and a lot of similarities too. If I were deciding on what type for a project of my own, I'd first think about what would look good in the house and what would be appropriate for the house given the other homes in the neighborhood. Then I'd look at HomeDepot/Lowes or a flooring store and see what fit into my budget. I'd get some samples and bring them home to see how I liked them.

I couldn't cover everything in this entry so if you have any questions please let me know. billconover@america-lending.com

Bill Conover
America Lending