I can't speak about Thomasville brand in particular, but in general, engineered flooring will wear just like real wood. It must be cared for like real wood as well. It is basically like plywood with a stain-grade wood veneer on top. It is made to resist warping on slab foundations and basements. I think it could withstand a one-time water disaster, but nothing prolonged. The main drawback is that it can only be sanded and refinished once or twice.

I have engineered wood in my master bedroom and it has held up beautifully in the last two years. Even the thresholds, which usually show lots of wear, look new. The smaller kids have frequently come out of the master bath all wet and walked on the wood floor. I've even seen little dried footprints that I didn't catch right away. They wiped up fine with a damp towel.

I wouldn't buy an engineered floor on a bet. Our friends have a new $1.5 million luxury condo in NY City and the apartment is gorgeous. The engineered floors look nice but you can't walk on them: they scratch so easily that we must leave our shoes outside the door. They were sanded once during the first year and our friends were told they can't be sanded again - if they scratch, they will have to be replaced. Needless to say, they are not happy campers.

I have Mirage floors and they can be sanded 3-5 times. I have a concrete floor and to do regular wood I would have had to lay down a plywwod subfloor. Educate yourself first, there is a lot of info online of the pros and cons of both.
Donna

Here is a link that might be useful: Mirage

Engineered wood is "real" wood. It would be more accurate to ask how engineered compares to solid. And saying that you would never buy engineered is just as sweeping a generalization as saying "I wouldn't buy any solid wood because I know someone with soft pine wood floor that scratches easily."

The term "engineered" is also a general description, not a specification. Someone with a bad experience with a hotpoint gas range would be silly to say they would never buy a gas range because their hotpoint couldn't boil a pot of water. Or "my granite etches so I'm never buying granite again".

The number of times an engineered product can be refinished varies by manufacturer. Some can be refinished several times. If you buy a quality product, you shouldn't need to refinish more than once every 10-20 years anyway. But also ask yourself how often your nailed-down solid wood product can be refinished? You can only sand down to the tongue. So your 3/4" solid wood has maybe a 1/4" wear layer, not so much more than some engineered products. You would also typically do a "screen" and recoat anyway, which is a light scuff-sanding that doesn't take off much wood, unless you have serious damage.

So what's a quality product when talking about engineered? Look for an aluminum oxide finish, which is tougher than a site-finish. Look for a thick top layer. Look for many plies. Look for a long guarantee and a reputable manufacturer. Look for a tough wood species. There's pros and cons either way, but I would not say that solid wood is a slam dunk and superior in every respect.

It was suggested to us that, for our 5" maple boards, the engineered version was superior to the solid in that it would resist warping across the width. No idea if that is valid or not. Have also been given the environmental pitch for engineered over solid. Again, just a consumer and not an expert myself.

Like Organic Donna, we are using Mirage.
Good luck,
PB

ChiefNeil is right on - engineered wood should not be thought of as a laminate such as Pergo - it is natural hardwood applied to a subfloor which is then installed as one and it can be just as durable as solid wood nailed down. We used engineered wood floors in our last home because they were laid over a whole house radiant heating system and we didn't want the nail down floors over the many, many tubes.

The product we used was from Kahrs out of Sweden - both in wide plank walnut and in oak. I have 3 VERY active boys and a dog and our floors were held up beautifully so I think making generalizations about the product is a bit dangerous. We had an amazing finish on them (Silk Matte, if I remember correctly) which had some special curing process in the factory that made them darn near indestructible.

In our present home's renovation, we used solid wood BUT ONLY to maintain continuity throughout the house which was already solid throughout.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kahrs Engineered Wood Floors

Thank you all for the education. It has helped a lot. I am far from deciding, but I have more knowledge to make my decision. I have to admit, I love the look of th wood.

Like Organic Donna, we too have Mirage engineered hardwood floors. Ours is African Sepele, part of the mahogany family and are absolutely beautiful. They are so easy to clean with a damp mop or a swifter. The dog's nails can scratch the finish (not the wood) if we don't clip his nails regularly. The floors have been in for two years and look as nice today as the day they were put in. We have a condo and the traffic pattern which caused problems with carpeting is non existent with this floor. The flooring is made in Canada I believe and is rated quite high in the engineered floor ratings. The only problem is because the floors are dark they show dust an hour after they are cleaned. However, a swifter quickly takes care of the dust. When selecting engineered floors it is important to look at the ply rating for each manufacturer. There are good engineered floors and poor quality engineered floors. One should look for the thickness of the wear layer also. Not all engineered floors have equally thick wear layer. Mirage flooring has more plys than the average floor and one of the thickest wear layers in the industry. They are kind of expensive however.

JB

My current home has engineered wood throughout the living room, dining room, kitchen. The home is 15 years old, we've lived here for 8 of those 15 years. Last year we did a scuff and coat kinda thing. We scuffed up the top layer with sandpaper and recoated with a poly finish and the floors look as good as new. We didn't have any deep gouges in the floors and really only had surface scratches from scraping a chair or some piece of furniture across the floor. The house is built on a slab so to put solid hardwoods down would mean that a sub floor would have had to be put in. The engineered floor is glued directly over the slab. I personally like it and wouldn't hesitate to put in a good quality engineered wood product in a future home.

I know may people who have engineered hardwood...which is indeed real wood...only more stable...which is why it can be used on slabs...where as hardwood planks are not recommended due to moisture infiltration..

That said....a good quality wood floor (engineered or plank) with a proper finishÂÂsuch as aluminum oxide or comparable...will not require shoes to be removed to prevent scratching.

raynag...your friends definetly should demand some sort of compensation for their sub par floor....or a demand new one that does not have a defective finish.