If you’re anything like me, when you first heard ‘engineered hardwood’ you probably thought of something similar to plywood with a faux wood look. Something that didn’t compare in durability and beauty to a solid hardwood. Fortunately, that isn’t true! Let’s talk about wear layers!

What is a wear layer?

Simply put, it’s the top layer of wood flooring above the tongue-and-groove. This is the part of your floor you walk on and would be refinished, although all of our engineered hardwoods have lifetime structural & wear warranties!

As you can see, there’s a similar wear layer on both the solid hardwood and the engineered hardwood!

Engineered hardwood floors are a modern variation of the traditional hardwood floor. With advancements in technology, floor manufacturers have created a versatile hardwood flooring with amazing stability, making it perfect for wide plank widths and spaces with humidity changes. Engineered hardwood flooring is made of several overlapping layers of wood, with the top layer being the same wood that a traditional solid hardwood plank would be made of. Essentially, if you walk across an engineered floor and then you walk across a solid floor, your feet have touched the same wood. Engineered floors can more easily support wider widths and tend to bow less in longer lengths because of the overlapping grains underneath the surface layer.

Cooper’s Plank Terracotta

When you’re choosing flooring, you want it to be beautiful, durable, and a good investment for the space where you’re having it installed. For spaces where the humidity might vary quite a bit, such as a basement, an engineered hardwood is a perfect option because it has extra stability from the overlapping grains. And with the thick wear layers, engineered hardwoods have years of durability (remember, lifetime structure & wear warranty for Impressions hardwood flooring!).

The moral of this post: don’t discount engineered hardwood floors because they sound like they won’t be as long-lasting as solid hardwood floors. They could be the perfect option for your space to ensure a beautiful floor for a lifetime! But rest assured, no matter what flooring you choose from Impressions will be the right choice for you, there’s satisfaction in every step.

Do you have questions about whether solid or engineered is the best option for your space? Our experts have answers to your questions, click here to get connected with them! And don’t forget that you can get 3 free samples, click here to see our engineered hardwoods, and here to learn more about our solid hardwoods!