What Are The Advantages Of Engineered Oak Flooring?
23rd Apr 2014 @ 10:54
Engineered oak flooring has a number of huge benefits, making it often a better option than choosing a solid oak floor. From above, engineered oak flooring will look no different than solid oak flooring. It is from the side where the key differences can be seen and where some of its advantages lie.
Solid oak flooring is a full board made up completely of solid oak, whereas engineered oak flooring boards consists of a combination of oak and plyboard. Our engineered boards are made up of a 6mm solid oak top layer, which is bonded to a strong, stable tongue and grooved plyboard base. This leaves you with a full 20mm floor board. So what are the advantages of this?
The main advantage of choosing an engineered oak board is the fact they are much less prone to movement, when compared to solid oak flooring. This movement is often caused by changes in humidity. The added stability of engineered oak flooring means it can be used in areas where you simply would not consider laying a solid oak floor.
One area in which engineered oak flooring is commonly used is a bathroom environment. A bathroom will typically experience varying changes in humidity, so the oak floor needs to be able to cope with this. As engineered boards are less susceptible to movement, they are much more suited for the job. Similar areas where an engineered oak floor may be used include a conservatory or kitchen area.
Further to the type of room, engineered oak floors also have an advantage of being able to be fitted over a number of different subfloors. Typically when laying over concrete, a traditional solid oak floor can only be glued when using thin boards. Wide solid oak boards should not be glued down. For the glueing of wider boards, engineered oak flooring can be used. When glueing any type of oak flooring to a concrete subfloor, the concrete should be checked to ensure it has a moisture level which is lower than 4%.
A more modern method of fitting floors nowadays is to use the floating floor method. This method involves glueing the tongue and grooves of each board together, without any fixing to the subfloor. We never recommend that you float a solid oak floor. If you would like to use this method, an engineered oak floor is the perfect solution.
An engineered oak floor can also be fitted using the same traditional methods of nailing or screwing.
If you would like to learn more regarding the advantages of engineered oak flooring, please give us a call on 01538 304584.
Add a comment