All You Need To Know: Engineered Wood Flooring

Engineered Wood Flooring, produced from several layers of wood (at least three layers) stacked on top of each other, is not different in appearance from Solid Wood parquets. For this reason, parquet made of engineered wood is sometimes referred to as Semi-Solid Plank.

Engineered wood parquet – Structure

Parquet made of engineered wood generally consists of two parts: a cover layer made of solid wood and a core made of cheaper wood.

• The final layer, which is visible, includes a layer of solid wood 5 to 6 mm thick.
• Sub-layers consist of at least two layers, which can be MDF, Hdf, plywood, etc. 

Parquet made of engineered wood usually has between three and ten layers (depending on the product’s type and desired features). Each of these layers is called “Ply”.

In this type of parquet, hardwood is usually used for the top layer or final layer of the parquet. In the middle layers, which are generally between 12 and 15 mm thick, cheaper woods are used, which are also resistant to moisture. These layers are bonded together by glue and under high pressure, and finally form the final product, parquet.

A critical point in placing layers or “plies” on top of each other is that to strengthen parquet and multi-layer wooden structures in general, the direction of the wood veins in the layers placed on top of each other should be perpendicular to each other.

Sometimes vinyl flooring or laminate flooring is confused with engineered parquet, but laminate flooring uses an image of wood in the final layer, and vinyl flooring is a combination of PVC that looks like wood.

Engineered wood parquet – Durability and stability

Engineered wood flooring has a better performance than solid wood flooring, and the overall stability of the wood in this method sometimes increases up to 80%.

The multi-layered structure of Engineered Wood Flooring makes this type of parquet more durable and, at the same time, more stable. Also, its multi-layer design causes a significant increase in the resistance of engineered wood parquet against shrinkage or expansion. As a result, it does not suffer from bending and swelling due to shrinkage and expansion.

Stability of wood means increasing the resistance of wood to shrinkage and expansion due to temperature and humidity fluctuations.

Engineered wood parquet – Applications

Engineered wood parquet can be used in spaces that have temperature fluctuations or humidity. The use of engineered wood flooring is recommended in public areas and spaces where solid wood flooring is impossible, such as rooms with underfloor heating systems, kitchens, or halls.

You can also use engineered wood flooring in rooms with a floating floor system.

Engineered wood parquet – Cost

Typically, engineered wood flooring and parquet are cheaper than solid wood parquet. Compared to solid wood parquet, the lower price of engineered wood is due to using cheaper woods or wood of fast-growing trees in the inner layers of this parquet. Engineered wood not only reduces the final cost of the crop but also helps preserve forests.

Engineered wood parquet – Disadvantages

Finally, it is necessary to point out one of the disadvantages and limitations of Engineered Wood Flooring.

In case of scratches on these parquets’ surface, due to the small thickness of the final layer, repairing the body surface from the surface level is not easy. Of course, this will only happen if the scratch is deep and requires sanding and polishing to be fixed.