- How's it going guys? It's Mitch here with
Century 21 in Peterborough. I'm here with Jeff Brown, sales rep with Floortrends. Jeff, what are we going over today? - Today we're gonna look at comparisons of wood-look flooring. - And real wood options?
- And real wood options. - And wood imitation flooring?
- And wood imitation - Yeah, awesome.
- flooring. All right guys, so first question. Solid hardwood versus engineered hardwood, what's the difference? - So the main difference between solid and an engineered hardwood is solid hardwood is true,
consistent hardwood all the way throughout. You get one solid piece of timber, milled, to give you a
tongue and groove system to be able to install your flooring. So here is a solid. As you guys can see, it is a solid piece of wood, tongue and groove system on either side to allow your installation. An engineered option, there's a couple different
types of engineered options out there nowadays, with varying levels of thickness, varying levels of the veneer finish. This option here is a true 3/4 inch, so you're getting the same
thickness as a solid hardwood. Traditionally solid hardwoods are 3/4 inch overall thickness. This engineered option as you can see is made up of plywood cores with a veneer finish on top. Again, 3/4 inch overall thickness. This thickness on engineered products do vary quite significantly. Like this a product called another engineered option, but is a click system. Little bit easier for DIYers, but it's a different system
made up of a plywood backing, high-density fiber core, and hardwood veneer on top. - Why didn't we continue on with this old, full thickness hardwood and why did this second
option need to created? - Because engineered is a little bit more resistant to the moisture sensitivity that solid hardwood is. Again, it's not bulletproof, but this was designed for basements and the areas below grade to give you a wood visual throughout those areas.
- 'Cause this traditional, like the full thickness hardwood has a lot of issues with
expansion and contraction to do with moisture right? - Very sensitive to moisture, especially in the Canadian climate when you're getting high humidity
levels in the summertime, you're getting low humidity
levels in the wintertime, so it does require a lot of maintenance. - And what it equates to if you don't follow that maintenance is? - You have problems with your floor, whether it be cupping and
swelling across the widths or you get what's called checking, which is actually cracking
on the finished layer of your hardwood
- Yep. - and it gives you an unsightly finish. - Okay, and then so how does the engineered differ in the way it reacts to moisture? - The engineered option, because it is made up of a plywood core, laid in opposite directions, so what that allows for is the wood to resist swelling. You're gonna be able to
resist higher humidity levels with an engineered product. Again, this is not 100%
bulletproof to moisture, it is just better scenario than the solid hardwood.
- Yeah, we're not talking about moisture in the sense of balk water like a big spill
- Yeah. - from your, a fridge or something, this is
- Flood situation. - Yeah this is more so day-to-day, indoor humidity moisture content
- Exactly, exactly. - expansion and contraction issues, right?
- Exactly. - Which do you sell more of and why? - Well, what we're getting more into is definitely more engineered, A, because it's a fairly newer product and maintenance is a lot lower on it. It's very, very difficult for a person to do 1,600 square feet on the main floor of their house and monitor it year round all the time, so it's a lot of management. It's a lot of maintenance.
- Yeah. So, whereas with the engineered option, the people are finding that it is a little
bit easier to maintain. One thing that's good about this, lakefront properties, places on water,
- Yeah. - you can, like where you will have a
high intensity moisture level, - Yeah.
- just coming from the lake or the river, wherever you're on, so it, solid hardwood doesn't always react to those situations. So, one of the bigger reasons too, it's moisture-sensitive,
needs maintenance, is that we're getting
wider boards nowadays. - Yeah. - So,
- For sure. - Mitch you know that everything is going bigger, whether it be tile, whether it be laminate,
- Wide plank look. - hardwood.
- Six inch, eight inch. Yeah, yeah.
- Exactly, so hardwood nowadays is getting up to seven, eight, nine inches wide boards. Solid hardwood is not
the best option for that because if you go too wide with it, a little bit of moisture will make
- Extreme cupping. - Extreme cupping and
- Yeah. - you have failures with your floor. - For sure, so you want
the wide plank look? - You want the wide plank, - You're steering towards engineered.
- Has to be engineered.
- Yeah, yeah.
- It has to be. For sure.
- Okay. Keep it brief here for everybody. Let's just talk about the DIY options, 'cause a lot of the stuff traditionally is nailed down or stapled down, very labor intensive, some specific tools and some specific skillsets.
- Yep. Yep. - What are the options for
people who want the hardwood look but the don't wanna pay for install? - A good hardwood option nowadays is another engineered
option that they made. It's called a click system. It has a plywood backing, high-density fiber core, and a true hardwood veneer on top. A lot of people mistake it for laminate, but it is, that top layer is a true hardwood veneer
- Right, so - made with maple, red oak, ash, whatever it is. - Yeah so if I see that sample, the reason people are
mistaking it for laminate is 'cause of that core - Because of that core, absolutely.
- is made in the fiber instead of the plywood? - Exactly.
- But the top is actually real hardwood - That is a true hardwood.
- and that's the defining factor that makes it
an engineered hardwood rather than a laminate?
- Absolutely, absolutely.
- Yeah. - This is the real McCoy right there, (laughs)
but what's easy about this stuff is it is a click system so you
can just click it in and go. Normally it does require an underlayment underneath it if you are going with
- Yep. - the click system,
- Yep. - or they'll be a foam core, there's a million and one different underlayments
out there nowadays, but what you can do is, yeah this'll just allow you to click over top of
your existing flooring, whereas both is 3/4 inch engineered and a solid hardwood option, both require nail down applications and yeah, a good installer. - So let's go back
quickly to wrap it up here with the last thing you mentioned is this is a floating system, the way it clicks
- Floating system. - it's floating so you can install it over an existing, say a ceramic tile floor without ripping the tile out. - Providing that your existing flooring that you're going over top of is structurally sound and secure, yes I wouldn't see the problem going over top.
- And there's, so definitely some big I guess disclaimers on that one, you really wanna take caution to understand the integrity of your tile and your subfloor below, but it is possible and
people are doing it, putting these click system and floating floors over top of existing tile flooring
- Absolutely. - or other types of flooring.
- Yeah, or you can use sheet vinyl flooring or again, something that's properly bonded, but again, with any flooring system, you're only as good as what
you go over top of, right? - Yep, yep.
- So, you gotta have something structurally sound, but as long as that
meets all the criteria, I wouldn't see a problem clicking this over top of the existing flooring. - Awesome,
- Yep. - well I think that wraps it up for our initial hardwood intro, so thanks for watching guys and keep an eye out for
the rest of our videos from this segment. Thanks Jeff. - Thank you. (laughs)
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