The work
What hardwood flooring actually involves
Solid or engineered, and where each one can go
Solid hardwood is one piece of timber all the way through, which is what lets it be sanded and refinished repeatedly across decades. Engineered hardwood is a real wood veneer over a plywood core, so it looks identical once laid but can only be refinished once or twice, and sometimes not at all if the veneer is thin.
The deciding factor is usually not preference, it is where the floor is going. On a normal timber subfloor above ground either works, and solid lasts longer.
Engineered is dimensionally stable, so it goes over concrete slabs and over radiant heating, both of which solid hardwood cannot do reliably. Below grade, in a basement, engineered is the only one of the two worth considering.
Resale
It is the one flooring choice that reliably affects resale
Vinyl and laminate have closed the gap on appearance to the point where most people cannot tell at a normal viewing distance. What they have not closed is the effect on valuation.
Real hardwood still moves appraisals and buyer perception in a way that convincing imitations do not, particularly at higher price points.
That cuts both ways. In a house where the comparable sales do not have hardwood, installing it will not lift the value to match what it cost. The advantage shows up where buyers expect it and its absence would be noticed.
Failure points
Two things that go wrong
Acclimation
“How many days will the wood sit in the room before you fit it?”
Wood needs to sit in the room it will live in, for days, reaching the humidity of that space before it is fitted. Floors laid straight off the delivery truck are the ones that gap in winter or cup in summer, and the installer who wants to fit tomorrow is the one to question.
Subfloor flatness
“What flatness tolerance does the manufacturer specify, and was it checked?”
It matters more with wider boards. Wide plank over an uneven subfloor moves, creaks and shows every dip. Ask what flatness tolerance the manufacturer specifies and whether the subfloor was checked against it, because that answer separates installers who have read the instructions from those who have not.
Before you book hardwood flooring
How we rank →Six checks, in the order they save you the most. None of them takes longer than a phone call, and the first one is the reason two quotes for the same job can be a thousand apart.
Common questions about hardwood flooring
Who handles hardwood flooring?
Flooring companies, and within that a mix of firms that install with their own crews and firms that list the service and subcontract it. The first question worth asking is which of the two you are speaking to, because it decides who is answerable if the floor has to come back up.
For flooring
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