Spreading timber floorboards around a room provides a luxurious, warm feel with a connection to nature. You may wonder whether to choose solid floorboards or engineered oak planks. Consider the following reasons why engineered flooring is an excellent option.

Stable

One of the problems with solid wood is that it expands and contracts with humidity and temperature changes. Thus, in some rooms, like kitchens, this can cause problems as floorboards create gaps or push up against one another, creating inconsistency across the floor. However, you won't have the same problems with engineered planks.

These boards consist of a plywood core that offers more resilience. Manufacturers glue thin layers of hardwood, setting the grains of each layer at right angles to the previous one. This criss-cross grain pattern makes plywood stable. The plywood core is then covered with an attractive slice of oak timber that you can see and appreciate as you walk into the room. If you want to install wood in the kitchen, engineered planks will withstand the conditions better than solid floorboards.

Beautiful Wood Pattern

Engineered oak planks spread beautiful wood grains around a room. You can choose between tan, brown, or pink tones. These planks are covered with natural hardwood, unlike laminate planks. Laminate planks feature only a photograph of wood but not an authentic slice of timber. Thus, engineered floorboards exhibit genuine beauty rather than giving a false impression of wood.

Easy to Install

Engineered oak floorboards are more convenient to install in some cases than solid timber. Solid planks need to be glued or nailed to a supporting structure underneath. They can't usually be laid directly on top of concrete.

However, engineered planks come in interlocking systems, called floating floors, that can be clicked together and placed on concrete. This process is more straightforward than nailing or gluing solid planks to a base. In any case, if you did build a structure on top of concrete for a solid wood floor, you would effectively lower the room's height as the floor would be raised. Engineered planks won't cause such complications.

Can Be Re-Sanded

With engineered oak flooring, you can re-sand it and shave off the top to make the planks look new. The number of times you can do this depends on the thickness of the oak veneer layer. While you can sand solid timber many times, with engineered planks, you can only do it as many times as the top veneer thickness will allow.