What is the difference between solid wood floors and engineered wood floors?
Solid wood floors are just that, solid lumber that has been milled to a uniform thickness (generally 3/4 inch thick) and cut at a variety of widths, from 2 inches up to 7 inches. Tongue-and-groove construction locks the individual boards to each other. Each board is fastened to the subfloor by nailing or stapling through the tongue. The fastener is concealed under the overlap groove of the neighboring board. Solid wood floors must be nailed down over an approved wooden subfloor. Moisture and humidity will effect solid hardwood flooring greatly. Individual hardwood boards will expand and contract as ambient conditions vary. Engineered hardwood floors are manufactured by gluing multiple, thin layers of wood together (think plywood) to form an extremely stable product with a thicker, top layer of finished hardwood. Many manufactures use hardwood that would not be suitable as a finished floor in the foundation layers. Engineered floors also employ tongue-and-groove construction. These floo
