I agree their can be a lot of confusion between laminate and engineerd wood. The following is from fastfloors.com explaining the difference in flooring types.
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Real Wood, or Laminate Flooring? I'm lost.

This is an article that discusses the differences between real wood flooring and plastic laminate flooring.

First, it's important that you understand the difference between real wood flooring, be it engineered or solid, and plastic laminate flooring. It can be very confusing because prior the introduction of plastic laminate flooring into the U.S., a lot of flooring dealers referred to engineered wood flooring as a wood "laminate" flooring. First let me tell you about wood flooring. There are a few different types of wood flooring available to you. The first and perhaps the oldest in existence is the "solid wood floor". These floors are generally 3/4" thick and can be purchased raw or pre-finished. The other style of wood flooring which is actually now becoming much more popular is the "engineered wood floor". Engineered wood flooring is the type of floor that is most commonly confused with plastic laminate flooring. This is a wood floor which has a top wear layer, usually 1/8" thick on better products, and than has one or more layers or "plies". The top layer is generally made out of oak, maple, cherry, etc. These engineered wood floors are gaining in popularity because in a lot of applications they will be more stable than the solid wood floor, cost less than the solid wood floor, and can be refinished like a solid wood floor. Engineered wood floors are also able to be installed using methods not available with solid wood floors. They come in styles that can be glued down, free floated, or stapled.

Now we'll talk about what is now referred to as "laminate" flooring. These days when we say laminate flooring, we're talking about "plastic laminate" flooring. A lot of consumers don't even refer to it this way, they simply say "Pergo" flooring. The reason for this is that Pergo, a brand name, was one of the first to introduce their product in the U.S. We have a page dedicated to Pergo in our manufacturers' section. We've heard that as of about six months ago there are now close to one hundred different brands of laminate flooring on the market worldwide. The easiest way to describe laminate flooring would be to say that it is similar to your mica countertop only much stronger. The surface is actually a plastic type composition applied to the core using heat and pressure, the core is usually made of high density fiber or particle board, and the backing can be a paper or another layer of laminate. Plastic laminate floors are extremely durable however they cannot ever be refinished or recoated once they are scratched or worn. That is generally the main difference between plastic laminate floors and real wood floors. Another down side to the laminate flooring is that the pattern is printed and many of the boards, in some cases all of the boards are identical in appearance.

We used a real wood laminate by Award a few years back. There was a thin veneer of real maple on top, coated with some heavy duty ceramic that was used on the space shuttle LOL! Our strips were more like 38" long (currently offered at 89" long). It was easy enough to install, we just needed a carbon-tipped blade and some patience. The tongue & groove/click-lock system was easy to master.

I must say though, that the ceramic coating wasn't so great. Our desk chair made scratches in the floor, and anything remotely heavy left a ding. But it was real maple, and it was beautiful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Award real wood laminate

Well, this floor had repeats. Engineered wood doesn't have repeats does it? That is why I thought it was laminate. So laminate is a kind of plastic? It's funny; they dentist was saying he didn't like vinyl faux wood floors because they are "plastic."

Unless you have a reason to investigate these different manufactured flooring types, I'm guessing you might not know their precise definitions and differences. I didn't until I read the article above--I had a good, general idea by the context in which I'd seen or heard about them, but I didn't know the specifics. I knew some flooring was 'engineered' with a thin veneer of wood over other materials, but I wasn't really sure what 'laminate' really referred to.

From Wikipedia:
Laminate - A laminate is a material constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together. The materials used in laminates can be the same or different. An example of the type of laminate using different materials would be the application of a layer of plastic film the "laminate"  on either side of a sheet of glass  the laminated subject. Plywood is a common example of a laminate using the same material in each layer. Formica is an example of a plastic laminate.

The average person isn't as observant as people around here when it comes to home decor. :)

When I rented where I live (it later converted to condos and I bought), I did everything by internet/phone because I was moving so far away. The girl in the leasing office explained that only first floor units had wood floors. Having lived in pre-war buildings all my life, this seemed like a requirement, so I let go of the idea of a view and took the ground floor.

Imagine my surprise at finding laminate (two visible "planks" per real plank) throughout. Oh well. Now that I have a dog, it's fine, but I was pretty sore for a while.

The article says engineered hardwoodd can be refinished just like regular hardwoods, but when I was looking at some recently they looked like they had a plastic coating on top similar to the Pergo floors. Do they?

Laurie

The article says they have a "top wear layer" so I think they are sealed.

msrose: I think prairiegirlz5 is correct. When I noticed them they all had this glossy sheen--looked like several layers of a high sheen poly to me. Perhaps they do that for longevity--since it sounds like they can only be refinished a few times, depending on the thickness of the top layer.

As for laminent, I can always tell. Not only does it look plasticy, but it has no depth or grain (the little grooves)to it. It's a photograph laminated on to it.

Well, he's right and he's wrong.

Laminate flooring is not vinyl. There ARE vinyl "wood" planks, but laminate is something totally different.

What laminate IS is basically a digital picture of wood, laminated onto a layered wood underlayment. (With a clear coat over the image for protection) The layered wood underlayment is the same as what you find under engineered wood planks, except instead of a digital picture laminated onto that, it's a thin layer of wood. So in laminate, what you see is a digital image. In engineered wood, what you see is real wood, but underneath, it's the same thing (layered wood underlayment with locking tongue and groove connectors).

Hope that makes sense!

snookums - Thanks for the explanation. I have Pergo floors right now and after seeing all the beautiful wood floors on here, I'm dying to switch. It sounds like the engineered hardwoods have the protective layer on top, similar to the Pergo. I'm just worried that the protective layer will give it a "Pergo" look. Can you really tell the difference in Pergo and engineered?

Laurie

In my experience of looking for wood floors, I did see many engineered wood floors that were beautiful. Really, you wouldn't know they were engineered wood. The have real wood on top. Most prefinished wood floors (engineered or solid) have a finish on them that is baked on at the factory. Some are more glossy than others - there's a wide range. They can look a little plasticy (but not always), but are supposed to be very durable. By looking around in the stores you will be able to find some you like and some you don't. Engineered wood has some good benefits - more stable - meaning it doesn't expand and contract as much so better for climates where the humidity changes a lot. Also, they say you can go with wider board widths with engineered because of the stability. Many of the wider width floors you see out there are engineered wood for this reason. Some engineered woods have a thicker wear layer than others. Depending on the thickness, they should be able to be refinished at least 1 time. Some will say that you shouldn't have to totally refinish any prefinished floors because of the strong factory finish that is on them. Most likely you will just need to screen (rough them up) and recoat them without having to sand down to bare wood anyway. This is what I was told, but I can't say for sure. Laminate is exactly as described above, a picture of wood and can definitley not be refinished or recoated.

I hope this makes some sense. I did a lot of research when I was planning for my floors last year. I ended up going with solid wood, sanded and finished in the house. I really didn't want any bevels between the boards and love the look of site finished. But there are a lot a great options in the prefinshed solid and engineered woods that look beautiful.

Top photos are of our flooring right after DH installed it. He built the railing. He also built that sofa table for me years ago. (The house was all torn up then, nothing in it's place. Sofa table doesn't belong there, I set it there for the photo, to see how table and railing compared against the flooring.)

Railing is solid oak.
Sofa table is solid oak.
Flooring is engineered oak.

Closer:

Closer again. He wasn't quite done trimming out the railing area and had not put in the solid oak stair treads yet:

Photo below is not my house. It's one of our rental properties during a remodel. It shows the kitchen floor, which is Pergo brand laminate that prior tenant installed (he had it leftover from a remodel job he did).

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Slightly OT, but it drives me crazy when people refer to vinyl floors as linoleum. Most people know that real linoleum can actually be considered a high end flooring option and is NOT the same as vinyl flooring.

I have laminate that has the grooves in it. It looks more woodish. Not the same as the smooth plastic look ones.

I'm another who finds it kind of crazy that people say they just put wood floors throughout their house, and when you ask what kind of wood, or about the brand, it turns out they mean laminate. My son installed laminate for a couple of years and it is NOT wood. It can be absolutely beautiful and also be the very best choice for many applications, but it is not wood. A woman wouldn't say she bought a pair of leather shoes if the shoes are vinyl or some other material made to look like leather. I just don't get the slang as applied to wood flooring,
Engineered hardwood is a wood floor. I read hundreds of posts from all sorts of people, from the installers to the salespeople to the contractors to the buying public, on the Flooring forum here at GW, back when we were choosing floors in 2004-5. People are used to solid wood. That's the only thing that's been available for centurys. Because the engineered is not a solid all the way through product, many want to dismiss it as not good enough, or not the real deal. It's kind of like any other thing that has been tweaked and teched through the last few decades. The new product may even be a better choice. Just because a Flat-screen T.V. doesn't have the tube that my t.v. did when I was 5, doesn't mean it's not a real t.v., and it doesn't mean it wouldn't be better.
Solid wood floors are a wonderful choice and the right choice for some homes, some lifestyles, and some applications.
Engineered wood floors are a wonderful choice for other homes, many lifestyles, and other applications.
Laminate, vinyl, marmoleum, linoleum, tile, travertine, and many other man-made products are wonderful choices for many people.

My bath and kitchen and entry have tile. My other spaces have engineered wood. It's just matching form with function.

Red

I've had engineered flooring and it looks nothing like Pergo, which is a laminate wood-LOOK flooring. Engineered wood IS wood, in several thin layer, and usually finished off with 10 layers of poly and given a 5-10 year guarantee. It wears the same as wood and can be scratched, something that is harder to do with vinyl, unless a nail is taken to it. It can also be re-finished, something you cannot do with vinyl. Having had a few dings after almost 5 years, I would use one of those staining pens to cover it over. With vinyl, you can see the actual vinyl below the top surface if scratched.

Vinyl 'wood', Pergo is the only one that comes to mind, and engineered flooring, Mannington, Shaw, Bruce ARE two different species.

I'm laying down expensive engineered maple in our lower level which will be ontop of concrete. This is a perfect application for engineered wood - dealing with potential moisture. My flooring has a thick layer of maple which can be sanded a couple of times and is covered with a thick layer of matte finish aluminum oxide. As Polkadots mentioned, I shouldn't have to sand the wood, just screen the protective finish and recoat. There are several types of engineered wood products, obviously at different price points and one of the areas affected is the thickness of the wood and the method in which the wood veneer layer is cut as well as the quality and amount of protective coats - the most expensive is obviously thicker and cut in the same manner that traditional wood is prepared. The cheapest is a much thinner wood layer and I don't know how to explain it, but it's cut quite different and looks different from traditional wood. Upstairs in the bedrooms we're having traditional maple floors laid and while these are also top of the line, I'm actually paying more for the engineered wood. The fact that engineered is glued to plywood actually is a more expensive product - shocked me because I always thought engineered wood floors were not as "fancy or quality" as tradtional. Both the engineered floor in the lower level, the maple floors I put in when I built my home 10 years ago in the main level and the new flooring going in the bedrooms will all look the same.

As for laminate, I'm sure there are many levels of quality of the product as well as installation techniques. I know my DD#1 has it in her apartment and while it is wearing very well and has a very pleasing oak picture - walking on it is a very different story - you can feel it bounce. I have also looked for the repeats and don't really see any - maybe cheaper laminate has less variation of pattern than a better grade?

Bruce now has Park Avenue laminate that looks just like hardwood floor. That's the one I found on my latest shopping expedition. It's just like the Grand Illusions that is sold under the Armstrong name. I chose the Bruce because they had a color that I liked better than the Grand Illusions line. Both have satin finishes like hardwood.

Laminating is a process of layering materials. Engineered wood floors are "laminated." We are getting our thinking from back in the day when the only laminate was an easy "noun", oil/plastic material, but laminate is a "verb," meaning to layer into thin layers. That process can be used for any material. Check with Webster if there are any doubts.

Patricia43, yes, but engineered floors don't repeats. I could see the same "wood" patterns many different places in the room. So I know it wasn't engineered or solid wood but the dentist and his employees seemed to believe it was.

happyladi maybe your dentist was confused - maybe he doesn't realize he has a plastic laminate floor. Maybe he thought because there was a plywood base under the picture of wood, that it's a real wood floor compared to a vinyl floor that imitates wood? Are you going to say anything to them? Are you going to point out the repeats of the pattern?

Frankly, after seeing Oceanna's and Teeda's pictures of their novalis wood vinyl floors, I think I'd prefer that over a poor quality plastic laminate.

And having researched wood floors and pricing them, I now realize that a quality engineered wood floor is a thing of beauty and function - and is more expensive than a plain wood floor. LOL Who knew?

Sky

I didn't tell him he was wrong, I just let it go. People usually don't like being told they are wrong.

I do have a vinyl faux wood floor and I think it looks more like real wood then his laminate does.

sorry, but I'm confused again. Oceanna and Teeda have wood vinyl floors? Is that engineered, laminate (like Pergo) or something different?

Laurie

Laurie:
If you look at this thread you'll see Oceanna's floor. I thought there was another photo here somewhere of right after she put it in (with an oak table sitting on it, for comparison). Can't find it tho.

...OK, I found it. Over in flooring. Check out this thread for the other photo I was referring to.

Novalis plank is neither engineered nor laminate. It's vinyl.
From Novalis web site:

Our Timber Series offers you the chance to truly create the look of hardwood floor in a matter of hours. Because it is also made with peel-and-stick backing, the Timber Series vinyl planks are much easier to install than hardwood floor and laminate floor. The Timber Series 4"x36" vinyl planks come with natural wood texture. You will have to touch it and feel it to see how realistic these vinyl planks are.