Engineered Wood Flooring VS Laminate Flooring

A Comprehensive Comparison Between Laminate Flooring And Engineered Wood Flooring

Introduction

Singapore is one of the few countries in the world where its residents like living in a well-furnished homes. When you visit several samples of Singapore homes, you will realize that people achieve the aesthetic value for their residents by applying different methods, some keep pets, others make their lawn amazingly beautiful, some have their home floors, furnished with good-looking tiles (most available options include laminate flooring and engineered wood flooring), and many more decorative options. Well, this article dwells more on the latter option.

Nonetheless, if you are planning to construct a new home or want to renovate an existing apartment/office, you need to know that the planned task is one of the most challenging things to do, especially for people who are professional and have busy schedules or commitments. In other words, they have limited time to make a decision on which kind of materials to use for the above planned works.

As stated in the previous section, homeowners are faced with a bunch of challenges, and when it comes to flooring, the most probable challenge is to make the right choice of flooring materials. Is laminate flooring better choice than engineered wood flooring? Well, making the right choice is one of the satisfying desires in human life, and choosing the right flooring material increases the elegance of your house as well as making it last longer. Therefore, if you know how to make the right comparison between the two common flooring options, then you are more likely that you are going to make the ultimate decision.

Nevertheless, if the above has been your concern, then worry no more as this article has good news for you; it will comprehensively unveil the comparison between the two options. In this regard, the following are some of the awesome comparisons that help homeowners and construction contractors make informed decisions as well as state-of-the-heart choices for flooring materials:

Have a clear understanding of what laminate flooring and engineered wood flooring are.

Firstly, before you make any decision on which type of flooring to choose between the two, it is very important for you to have some basic understanding of each. Engineered wood flooring is constructed from a combination of HDF (commonly referred to as High-Density Fiberboard) or plywood and a genuine hardwood. In most cases, its top layer is made of genuine hardwood while its core is made of HDF or Plywood.

Laminate flooring is quite similar to engineered wood flooring; its core is made of HDF. The only difference is that the top layer is made up of resin-infused paper. To improve its attractiveness, the top layer has an overlay of photographic image(s) of genuine hardwood.

In general, both of the two flooring materials have their individual advantages and disadvantages, which require people planning to use them to consider before making their choices. The following practical application shows how the two flooring options compare:

#1. The feel and look

One of the biggest differences between the above two options is that engineered wood flooring has the same look as well as feel, similar to that of hardwood flooring. On the hand, the overlaid photographic image(s) in the laminate makes it have an awesome look. In this regard, if your concern is to have floors with an aspect of texture, then you need to consider going for the former flooring material rather than the latter.

#2. Denting and Scratching

As stated previously, engineered wood flooring is best at mimicking the real hardwood. Nonetheless, this awesome feature makes the above flooring material more vulnerable to some flooring problems such as denting and scratching.

However, laminate flooring is not susceptible to denting and scratching. Therefore, this kind of flooring material is considered highly durable and long lasting. In this case, choose laminate flooring if you do not plan to replace your home’s flooring anytime soon.

#3. Financial Outlay

If you have limited money to finance your flooring materials, then it is advisable for you to consider choosing a kind of flooring material that you can afford. Most stores selling flooring materials offer laminate flooring at a lower price. The reason as to why this flooring type is cheaper than any other flooring material is that it is cheaper to produce.

However, engineered wood flooring is expensive. This is because its manufacturing process is quite complex; it involves the integration of multiple layers of hardwood and plywood/HDF. As a matter of fact, hardwood is quite expensive.

Therefore, for people with limited finances, they are advised to consider buying the former option; but if you have finances, then consider buying engineered wood floors.

#4. Ease to Install

In regard to installation, laminate flooring is considered better than engineered wood flooring. This is because, laminate floors are constructed with an awesome clicking mechanism that makes it quite easy to install. However, engineered wood floors come with more installations options. In most cases, engineered wood flooring can be installed either by nailing down on the floor or by installing them as floating floors.

#5. Re-sanding considerations

Office and home maintenance are one of the most important tasks that every office/homeowner has to put into consideration. Similarly, maintenance of any wooden floors involves tasks such as re-sanding.

It is easy to maintain engineered wood flooring because re-sanding is done with minimum hassle since its top layer is made of hardwood, which is treated in a similar way as any other hardwood. Nevertheless, the frequency of re-sanding is limited to a couple of times in the entire lifetime, which means you need to replace it soon after the third re-sanding.

On the other hand, laminate flooring does not require re-sanding whatsoever. This is because this flooring material(s) is highly resistant to denting and scratching, hence no need to consider re-sanding for maintenance.

#6. Radiant Heat Tolerance

If you are planning to use any radiant heat systems in your home/office, then choosing the correct type of flooring material will be of great importance. You have to understand that not all types of flooring materials allow radiant heat systems to be placed over it, and engineered wood floors fall into this category because its structural integrity is severely affected by radiated heat.

Nonetheless, laminate flooring has been specifically designed to be heat resistant. Therefore, any radiant heat system(s) can be placed over it.

Conclusion

As discussed in the introductory section, if you need to have an awesome house full aesthetic value, then you have to consider choosing the right design materials. In this respect, choosing the right flooring material is vital as well. Ultimately, the aforementioned points help any homeowner to make informed decision(s), which will make him/her choose the correct type of flooring material.