Installing Engineered Hardwood floor on top of solid wood
Candri Brizu
2 years ago
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Is installing engineered wood on top of old hardwood a bad idea?
Comments (4)Is your floor flat? Does your floor squeak? In other words, if you have a solid base, you can usually install an engineered floor as a floating floor: either by using a clic-style flooring or glueing tongue and grooves together. Obviously you'll have to cut down doors etc to compensate for the approx. 1/2" you'll be adding to the floor. As always, and above all, follow manufacturer's installation instructions. I do prefer to remove existing floors completely, start from my own solid base to remove the chance of underlying deficiencies screwing things up later....See MoreHardwood floor vs. engineered hardwood?
Comments (27)Choosing the right flooring type isn't enough for your living condition. You will have to consider the types of cut: flat sawn, rift and quarter sawn, quarter sawn or live sawn. Quarter sawn and rift & quarter sawn will be best choices, because expansion and contraction is along the thickness of the wood. You will need climate control all year round. 70 degrees at 40 % relative humidity is where you want to be throughout the year. The use of a humidifier/dehumidifier will be needed year round. Although, engineered flooring is more stable than solid. Using the wrong wood specie in your living condition can run the risk of de-laminating with engineered wood. If, the top veneer is more or less stable than it's core and backing. You will experience de-laminating in extreme humidity swings. Take in account of what the engineered flooring is constructed of: mdf or plywood. The width of the flooring will account for how much expansion and contracting also. 2 1/4" strips are the most stable. As you go wider, expect to see more wider seasonal gaps. Proper acclimating is critical, should be performed with a moisture meter. For 2 1/4" strip flooring , sub-floor and flooring moisture should be within 4%. For all other widths 2% moisture differentiation is allowed or should not be exceeded. Don't forget proper expansion gaps, which is the thickness of your flooring, example: 3/4" thick = 3/4" gap. Sub-floor type and condition will affect the performance of wood floors. All this needs to be considered for the proper and successful performance of your wood floors....See Morehelp, decide between solid/engineered hardwood floors
Comments (4)Here is the BIGGEST sign that engineered hardwoods are *recommended (but not required): "We live in the midwest and have extreme changes in humidity." That's your red flag RIGHT THERE. Now that's not to say solid hardwoods are NOT allowed. They are. But an engineered product has a better CHANCE of dealing with the climate than a solid hardwood. Now on to the Pink Elephant in the room: humidity control via your heating/cooling system (aka HVAC system). Did you pay to UPGRADE your HVAC system to ALLOW hardwood in your home? Do you have BOTH A/C AS WELL AS a humidifier/dehumidifier attached to that HVAC system? I know the midwest can have HIGH summer time humidity (especially during storm/tornado season) and LOW humidity in the winters (to the point that fuzzy socks cause shocks when you touch the door nobs in your house). The HUMIDITY control is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PART of your build. No I am not kidding. Make sure you look at the specifications of your unit (you bought it...you should know what it is and how it functions). Ask the questions of the HVAC COMPANY that installed it. Now onto hardwoods. If you have the RIGHT HVAC system you can have any wood you want. Solid or engineered it won't matter. Now let's look at the quality of the products you are looking at. Shaw 1/2" hickory = thin. The WEAR LAYER is what you are looking at. A nicely made product should have 3mm wear layer or thicker. A 1/2" engineered plank is considered rather thin but can be acceptable SO LONG AS the wear layer is decent. Next is the Asian Walnut. This is a cute way of saying Acacia. Now Acacia has two concepts. One is the Acacia TREE and the other is an Acacia bush (aka 'short leaf'). Sigh. The cheaper versions will be the bush. That means SHORT PLANKS. Like 11" - 48" (less than 1 foot long up to a MAXIMUM of 4 feet). Wow. That's short. Bella Cera website is NOTORIOUS for being difficult to find a specific species. You would have to send a link of the actual product you are looking at. My next question is what is the price range/budget you have for hardwood? You might want to work with a less exotic product if you want a higher quality wood floor. I would hate for you to pay all that money only to find out you picked one of the lowest level hardwoods on the market. But first things first: check your HVAC system and it's ability to keep the house a happy healthy humidity level specifically designed for keeping hardwoods happy....See Moresolid hardwood transition /mixed engineered hardwood
Comments (4)Opting for EHW mainly for cost. And I’m told since the solid HW is thicker, the transition won’t be flat. They’ve shown me wedge-shaped transition pieces that I don’t love. Convention in my area is carpet in all the bedrooms- and comps have sold that way. Hard to believe adding hardwood would decrease value over carpet. But seems carpet is preferred in this area, esp for 2nd floor. Though some newer homes have hardwood. so I’m curious....See MoreCandri Brizu
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