Which floor is best for you?

Having a good knowledge of wood flooring and the different forms it comes in is essential prior to making any purchase. Knowing the difference between solid, semi- solid, multiply and laminate flooring will empower you the customer by promoting a better understanding of the different wood flooring products and so enabling you to make more informed choices. You may be able to eliminate a type of flooring as not meeting your needs, before a viewing. Or a type of flooring previously disregarded may generate a renewed interest. Below is a description of each type of flooring, their positive and negative points and hopefully we can separate some of the fact from the fiction.

Solid hardwood flooring

Solid wood flooring is exactly that, a solid piece of timber. It is supplied in various widths from a narrow strip to a wide board and it can be of fixed length or random. It comes pre-finished. It is normally between 15mm and 25mm thick and it is a completely natural product. Solid wood flooring is the original flooring, from which all others derive. Because wood is a natural product it is not without its problems as a flooring material. Wood expands and contracts with changes in humidity and wood flooring in its solid state is the most sensitive to these changes. The wider the board the more noticeable any changes in moisture content will be. Gaps can appear in the floor during times of low humidity i.e. (winter) through shrinkage of the boards. Stresses can build up resulting in glue or nail failure during times of high humidity i.e. (summer) through expansion of the boards. When you are viewing samples of solid flooring in showrooms look for gaps in the samples, boards of different widths. You might think the sample was just assembled poorly but this is not the case. The boards fitted perfectly when assembled, but as the boards acclimatised to suit their new surroundings some shrank. This will be especially noticeable in wide board form if the boards were poorly conditioned. If the sample has large gaps, expect more of the same in your floor. When it comes to the fitting of a solid hard wood floor especially a wide board solid, it is the most difficult to get right. Moisture meters, the species of wood, method of installation, the sub floor and experience all play their part. A poorly fitted floor will normally take a few months to show and it will be gradual. Some of the more obvious signs are, loosening of some boards, the floor creaks a lot more, a lifting of the floor in some areas, doors rubbing off the floor that were OK on installation etc. Also, some customers can be of the impression that a solid floor can be sanded and refinished until there is nothing left, a presumption that can sometimes be exploited by suppliers. A solid floor can only be sanded down to the top of the Tung or groove, beyond this point the integrity of the board is lost and the rest is waste. An indication of the usable wear layer in relation to the overall thickness of a solid is shown above.

Semi-solid hardwood flooring

Semi-solid wood flooring or engineered wood flooring as it is also known is the industries effort to improve on natures design and make it more stable and therefore better as a flooring material. It comes pre-finished. It comprises of a top layer of hard wood, a centre core of either soft or hard wood fixed at right angles to the top layer and a balancing layer on the back. Although semi-solid wood flooring has been very successful it has not replaced solid wood flooring. The manufacturers of semi-solid have given the customer a product that is more stable and better fit for purpose. but the thickness of the hard wood top wear layer can vary from different manufacturers .The bulk of semi-solid flooring supplied by manufacturers will have between 2mm and 3.5mm of a top wear layer , with most offering around 3mm. This is the most important factor when it comes to refinishing the floor and although it may not seem like a lot, a 3mm wear layer can be sanded more times than a 2mm wear layer and even if it were only possible to achieve one more sanding the difference between the life span of the two floors could be as much as ten years. Another point to remember is that most wood floors are sanded because of damage from furniture and from heels etc. so it makes logical sense to go for a semi-solid with a reasonable wear layer. Some manufacturers get around offering thin wear layers by promoting their hard wearing finishes with long warrantees. But no matter what finish is on the floor it will not make it any harder or less likely to be damaged. A semi-solid floor with a reasonable wear layer can be expected to have a long service life, but not as long as a solid floor, based on the simple fact that a solid floor can be refinished more times than a semi-solid. So although semi-solid is better than solid in some ways, it is not in others. In its favour semi-solid hardwood flooring is quick to install, can be floated, better able to withstand humidity fluctuations, economical, and just as aesthetically pleasing as solid hardwood flooring.

Multiply hardwood flooring with heavy wear layer

Multiply hardwood flooring with heavy wear layer is the next generation of wood flooring and the result of manufacturers of wood flooring responding to customer’s demands. It is available pre finished as well as unfinished. It comprises of a 5 or 6mm top layer bonded to between 12mm and 15mm of quality plywood, made up of many layers. Manufacturers have taken all the positive aspects associated with semisolid and solid wood flooring and brought them together in the development of multiply. It is more stable than a semi-solid and it can be floated, nailed or fully bonded making it more versatile than a semi-solid. With the 6mm wear layer top it has a similar lifespan to that of a solid floor ( it can be sanded and refinished a similar number of times) and in wide board format will look better than its solid counterpart ( more resistant to gaping, cupping, crowning and the problems associated with solid flooring and changes in humidity). It is suitable for most installations including over under floor heating. It is a superior product to both semi-solid flooring and solid flooring and it will in time replace both. It’s hard to see how it could be improved on. Because the word engineered can be used to describe this product and semi-solid flooring by suppliers, it is important to be aware of the difference. Multiply is made up of many thin layers as seen above with a heavy wear layer of hardwood on the top and semi-solid is normally made up of only three layers, with the middle making up the bulk of the product.

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is wood effect flooring. It comprises of high density fibre board normally between 6 and 12 mm thick and about 1200 mm long with a print or photograph of a board on top sealed in by a transparent protective layer. It also has a balancing layer on the back. Early laminates were cheap with poor quality prints and a flat finish and although these laminates are still sold today they do not reflect the advances made by quality laminate floor manufactures with the product. They come with a click locking method of fitting. They are now more realistic looking and offer all the finishes associated with real wood. They come with a brushed finish, hand scraped finish and textured or embossed finish. They also have a micro bevel or v groove on the sides and ends to more reflect the real thing. Normally between 1200mm and 1300mm long they are now available up to 1800mm long to better imitate the long wide plank wood flooring. Laminate flooring is harder than real wood and has better scratch resistance. It is low maintenance and it is also a very stable product. Manufacturers wear warranties of between ten and twenty years are now common. There is no wear layer on a laminate floor that can be refinished as the surface is not wood. There is no correlation between the thickness of laminate flooring and its durability, an assumption often made by customers and sometimes exploited by suppliers. An 8mm thick laminate floor will often be more durable than a 12mm floor and the best guide for any customer to discover the durability of any product is the European AC RATINGS

The laminate flooring industry has its roots in Europe. The rest of the world looks to Europe for design trends and product innovations. The European producers of laminate flooring have also devised a standard known as the AC RATINGS. This is now accepted as the industry standard. These ratings are afforded to a product based on how it responds to a series of tests. It is in the customer’s interest to understand what these ratings mean as they are a reliable guide to the quality of the product unlike the individual guarantees manufacturers supply that can be misleading and very limited. The purpose of the European standard AC RATINGS is to inform the customer beyond the aesthetics of the product. The rating afforded to a product will be on the packaging or labelling accompanying the product. If the product has no AC RATING it probably means it failed to meet any of these accepted industry standards.

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