What is Engineered Timber Flooring?

What is Engineered Timber Flooring? Engineered timber flooring is built with floorboards that are made up of several pieces of wood. These pieces of wood are constructed from a multi-plywood of up to 12 layers of fine cut hardwood, glued together with softwood, and stacked in multiple directions. This creates a stronger more durable floorboard.

The use of slowly growing hardwood in the past is being replaced by the use of softwood plantation woods that grow quickly to maturity. Softwood is an excellent, sustainable choice offering comparable strength. Engineered boards retain the beauty of hardwood with an attractive top layer. Advances in technology have seen a great improvement in the quality and output of engineered timber flooring.

Why not Solid Wood Floor?

Wood is an organic material that is highly sensitive to the ever changing environmental conditions. It reacts differently to varying temperature and moisture levels. If solid wood flooring is placed in an extremely wet environment, then it will absorb some of the moisture. This makes it swell and then bulge.

If the same piece of wood is placed in a dry environment, the opposite will occur. It will release moisture to the environment, thereby, cupping inwards. Engineered timber flooring is less likely to be affected by varying moisture levels than solid wooden floors. This makes engineered floors a more durable choice.

Advantages of Engineered Floors over Solid Floors

• They have an efficient application of the top-layer woods (Oaks, Teaks, and Walnuts) than the solid floors.
• They offer more strength and stability than solid floors. This minimises damage.
• Engineered floors offer a wider board surface which is easily attainable due to the inherent stability of multi-plywood timber base.
• They are more preferred in the pre-finished hard-to-achieve colour design codes.
• Engineered timber flooring has an extremely low VOC discharge once installed.
• Floors have a shorter installation time due as they are pre-finished products.
• They are easily integrated with in-slab and other sub-floor heating systems.
• They are usually thicker and better layered than solid floors.
• They can be easily installed as floating floors on a suitable subfloor. This is unlike solid boards which normally require top nailing if the solid boards are more than 130mm wide.

Why engineered timber flooring?

An engineered floor is a floor board made of multiple pieces of timber. Up to 12 cut layers of hardwood timber which are placed press adhesive fixed in different directions. It creates a stronger and more stable wood floor. When compared to solid timber floorboards, it is tough to detect the difference. However, the superior engineered wide board flooring eliminates “cupping” and warping, problems that can occur in solid timber flooring, especially in wider widths.

Engineered timber flooring technology has developed significantly over the past 25 years and has dramatically improved the quality of flooring products in that time.

Is oak flooring suitable for a kitchen?

Yes, it is very comfortable to stand on oak flooring and is easy to maintain. Place area rugs or mats in front of the kitchen appliances and sink to protect your oak floor from a lot of traffic, water spillages, dropping food, grease, and everything else that can cause premature wear of your kitchen floor. Do not drag furniture across the floor. Use felt pads on chair and furniture legs. Avoid moisture on the floor.

For maintenance, we recommend regular sweeping and damp mopping as dirt and grit can act as sandpaper and damage your finish.

Once a year or more frequently if there is a lot of traffic and the floor starts to show some signs of wear, you will want to refurbish you oak floor according to the maintenance guidelines supplied. It will reinforce the protective layer and will restore the original appearance.

Are oak floors suitable for bathrooms?

We do not recommend laying oak floorboards in bathrooms due to high risk of spillage.

Is oak flooring affected by changes in moisture and temperature?

Just like other wood products, oak floorboard is subject to the phenomenon of expansion and shrinking in response to climactic changes. Extreme environmental conditions, meaning exposure to extreme heat, moisture or dryness (40 - 60%) can cause boards to shrink. When humidity levels are higher, oak flooring can expand. With proper acclimation, installation, and maintenance, expansion and shrinkage of your oak floor will be less noticeable.

Should I be installing the Floating Floors or the glue down floors?

The shape of the subfloor is usually the deciding factor. If the subfloor is in a bad condition with many cracks, old vinyl tiles or sheet vinyl, grimy or dirty the use of floating floors would be recommended.

The use of a floating floor over weak subfloors avoids the need to prepare costly subfloors as long as the floor is reasonably level. Also, if there is any risk of moisture migration from a concrete slab than a floating floor correctly installed with a moisture barrier is also recommended.

The glue down oak floors can be used over any subfloors (wood or concrete) which are dry, clean and free of dirt, grease, wax or anything that would hinder a good bond and where cracks have been filled.

A floating floor is one that is not attached to the substrate. Each plank is secured to those adjoining so that the floor system functions as a single unit instead of as a series of individual pieces. It means that visible signs of expansion and shrinking, standard to any wood product, are severely reduced. Installation of a floating floor is easier, faster and cheaper.

Will my pets damage my oak floor?

You are the best judge of your pet’s behaviour. You know what the habits, activities, and potentially destructive actions of your pet better than anyone else. Oak floors are coated with a finish that could be scratched by the claws of cats and dogs running on the floor. Because our products are matt-finished, the surface scratches will much less apparent than higher gloss hardwood floor. Keeping your pet’s nails trimmed will help keep your floors looking beautiful.

Does oak flooring promote a healthy indoor environment?

Yes! Bacteria, dust and dirt, do not embed themselves in oak flooring as they do in other flooring options especially carpets. Simple regular maintenance, such as dust mopping, sweeping or vacuuming keeps cork floors sanitary.

Will my oak floor fade in the light?

Yes, exposure to UV light as well as sunlight will cause colour variations to oak. It is considered normal and not a manufacturing defect.

Area rugs and large furniture will block light exposure and cause uneven coloration. In ensuring the minimization of floor furnishings, floor coverings should be moved periodically. Covering large exposed windows will help as well.

How much engineered timber flooring do I need to allow for waste?

It depends on the complexity of the layout and the skills of the installer.

Measure the length and width of the individual room. Multiply the length by the width of each single room to get the total square meters/footage.

Waste and cuts depending on your skills level and the layout of the area. Diagonal layouts or floors with curved walls may require more careful calculation of the quantity required. As a rule, add 5-10% of the total square meters/footage to cover the waste factor.

How do I replace a damaged tile in my engineered timber flooring?

When using a floating installation which does not require any glue, you can just remove the damaged piece and install a new one. It is one of the many advantages of floating installation methods. When replacing glue-down flooring, it is a very different and more complicated situation.

You should contact your manufacturer or a professional installer for further instructions on installing engineered timber flooring based on your individual situation.