Solid Hardwood or Engineered Hardwood? How to Choose the Right Wood Floor for Your Home

If you are shopping for a wood floor, you will run into this question quickly: solid hardwood or engineered hardwood? Many homeowners assume one is the real thing and the other is a lesser version. That is not really the case. Both are genuine wood with a genuine wood surface. The difference is in how each one is built underneath, and that difference decides where the floor can go, how long it lasts, and how many times it can be refinished.

Here is what to know before you choose.

What Each One Actually Is

Solid hardwood is exactly what it sounds like: one solid piece of wood from top to bottom, usually about 3/4 inch thick. The surface you walk on is the same wood all the way through.

Engineered hardwood has a real hardwood layer on top, bonded to a core made of plywood or high-density fiberboard. The top layer is the same species and finish you would get with solid wood. Underneath, the core is built in layers that run in alternating directions.

That layered core is the whole point. It is a real engineering advantage, not a shortcut to save money.

The Real Difference: How Wood Handles Moisture

Wood moves. It absorbs moisture from the air and swells, then dries out and shrinks, and it keeps doing this with the seasons for as long as the floor is in your home.

Solid hardwood moves across the width of each board. In a dry winter you may notice small gaps opening between boards. In a humid summer those gaps close, and if the floor was installed too tightly, boards can cup or buckle. This is normal for solid wood and is not a defect. It is also why solid hardwood needs an expansion gap at every wall and a home that stays within a reasonable humidity range.

Engineered hardwood moves much less, because each layer of the core holds the layers next to it in place. That stability is what allows engineered wood to go in places where solid wood should not:

• Over a concrete slab. Solid hardwood cannot be nailed to concrete and is a poor choice over a slab. Engineered hardwood can be glued directly down.
• Below grade. Basements have moisture conditions that solid hardwood will not tolerate. Engineered hardwood will, as long as a proper moisture barrier is installed.
• Over radiant heat. A floor heated from below goes through constant expansion cycles. Engineered hardwood handles this well. Solid hardwood generally does not.
• Wide planks. The wider the board, the more it moves across its width. For anything much wider than five inches, engineered is the smarter choice.

Refinishing: Where Solid Hardwood Has the Advantage

Solid hardwood can be sanded and refinished many times over its life. Six to ten refinishes is realistic, and a solid wood floor can last a century. This is why you still see hundred-year-old hardwood floors in older homes.

Engineered hardwood can also be refinished, but only as many times as its top layer allows. That top layer is called the wear layer, and its thickness is the single most important number to look at when comparing engineered products. It is also the number that gets overlooked most often.

As a general guide:

• Under 2 mm: not realistically refinishable. You can screen and recoat the surface, but not sand it down.
• 2 mm to 3 mm: one light refinish, done carefully.
• 4 mm to 6 mm: two or three refinishes. This is where good engineered flooring lives.

A 6 mm wear layer on a stable core will outlast a thin solid floor in a difficult location. A 1.5 mm wear layer is really a different product wearing the same name, and the price usually tells you which one you are looking at.

When you compare engineered floors, compare the wear layers, not just the price per square foot. It is the most useful number on the spec sheet.

How to Choose

Choose solid hardwood if the room is above grade, over a wood subfloor, in a home with stable humidity, and you want a floor that can be brought back again and again over the decades.

Choose engineered hardwood for concrete slabs, basements, radiant heat, wide planks, kitchens, or any climate with big swings between seasons. Then buy the thickest wear layer your budget allows.

One thing that does not separate them is appearance. A quality engineered floor and a solid floor in the same species and finish look and feel the same underfoot. If someone tells you they can spot the difference in a finished room, they are looking at the transitions, not the wood.

If sustainability is part of your decision, it is also worth reading about why bamboo flooring is one of the most responsible choices you can make before you settle on a species.

Before You Order

Confirm your subfloor and whether the room is above, on, or below grade. That alone rules out one option in many homes. Check the wear layer in millimeters. Confirm which installation methods the manufacturer allows, because nail-down, glue-down, and floating floors are not interchangeable. And plan your stair treads and transitions at the same time, because matching them later can be difficult and sometimes impossible.

Order about 10 percent extra for cuts and waste, and buy everything in a single order. Wood is milled and finished in batches, and the color can vary noticeably from one batch to the next.

Browse our hardwood and engineered wood flooring, compare it with luxury vinyl if moisture is your main concern, and see the stair parts and transitions that finish the job. If you would like a second opinion on which construction fits your subfloor, ask a pro. A real person answers, usually within a business day. You can also start with free design help and we will factor the flooring into your whole plan.

Not sure where flooring fits in your project? Our flooring guide walks through the decision in the same order a showroom would.