Solid v Engineered

Which Is Best For Me – Solid or Engineered Oak?

This is a question we get asked a lot, and there isn’t a definitive answer because although the 2 products appear very similar after installation, they have some different qualities.

If we were to be asked; “Which product do you prefer to supply”, although this may surprise many people reading this, we would always answer “Engineered” because the plain truth of it is that Engineered Oak ‘behaves itself’ a lot more than Solid Oak in most situations.

That’s not to say that we don’t like Solid Oak because we do… we love it.

What we’re trying to say is that there's a place or situation where both products will ‘come into their own’ as being most suitable.

Let’s start by explaining the difference between the 2 products, the simple diagram below helping to explain that the Solid Oak is machined from 1 piece of Solid Oak and the Engineered is an ‘engineered’ or ‘constructed’ board consisting of layer of Solid Oak (the ‘face’ or ‘wear layer’) that’s bonded to a plywood base or backing.
 
 

IMPORTANT NOTE: There are also engineered boards available with softwood backing but these are not as strong as the plywood boards, and don’t provide as much strength and stability after installation. You have been warned.

The Solid Oak board has been cut and gauged from a log, dried and then machined to the section required. When you look at the end of any solid piece of wood, you’ll see the direction of the grain and this normally determines how that piece will respond when subjected to heat or moisture.
Wide solid boards are known to ‘cup’ in some situations, and this is simply the wood becoming drier (or wetter) on 1 side than the other. This is one reason we only supply solid oak up to a maximum width of 150mm.

The Engineered board experiences a few more processes than the solid, firstly by having the wear layer of oak cut, dried and machined, and then having this heat bonded under pressure to the plywood backing. This structure makes it possible for this type of produced board to be manufactured much wider than a solid board without the risk of cupping.

Why Does Engineered Oak 'Behave Itself' Better?
The face of oak, being bonded to the plywood, which has multiple layers, each running in the opposite direction to the next and heat bonded together with boil-proof glue, creates a cross-grain structure where, when the wood fibres within want to either ‘take on’ or ‘give off’ moisture and expand or contract, each layer is restrained by the other so providing incredibly strong dimensional stability.

As a result, Engineered Oak Flooring is far less likely to be affected by changes in humidity/moisture and can be installed at virtually all levels of the home as long as the correct procedures are followed and maintained.

Solid Oak Specification Details:

• Made from one piece of solid oak - with very low machining tolerances for easiler fitting

• T&G 4 sides
  
• Micro-bevelled 4 sides
  
• Available in a variety of finishes - Lacquered, Brushed & Oiled, Double Brushed & Dark Oiled or Unfinished.
  
• Available as 120mm or 150mm widths
  
• All 18mm thick
  
• Sealed underside for better moisture protection (except for the unfinished)

• Not recommended for use with UFH

Solid Oak - Fitting/Installation:
Recommended for installation by Glue Down Method with Flexible Adhesive or by Secret Nail Method. Can also be ‘stuck down’ onto Self-Adhesive Underlay.

We advise that wider boards over 150mm may require face fixing to prevent the boards from ‘cupping’.

Solid Oak - Notes:
Solid wood is a natural product and is susceptible to dimensional changes when subjected to varying levels of heat, humidity, and moisture. That’s why we only supply a maximum width of 150mm in our range of solid oak. If you want a wider board, please see our Engineered Oak, which is available up to 240mm in width and looks exactly like Solid Oak after installation but ‘behaves itself’ a lot better.

When being glued down as a method of installation, Flexible Adhesive MUST be used, so that the oak is allowed to move as and when such a natural product requires.

Wider boards over 150mm are more susceptible to ‘cupping’ unless the thickness is increased from 18mm, which obviously increases cost and requires more depth on your floor.

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Engineered Oak Specification Details:

• ‘Constructed’ by bonding a face of oak to a plywood base

• Oak wear layer of either 4mm or 6mm, with the plywood backing forming the T&G, and a balancing veneer to the underside.
  
• All our engineered flooring is plywood backed for better stability and strength after installation

• T&G 4 sides
  
• Micro-bevelled 4 sides
  
• Available in a variety of finishes - Lacquered, Brushed & Oiled, Double Brushed & Dark Oiled or Unfinished.
  
• Available as 189mm and 240mm widths (240mm as unfinished only)
  
• Available as 15mm and 21mm thickness
  
• Suitable for use with UnderFloor Heating (as long as our fitting guidelines are followed precisely)
  

Engineered Oak - Notes:
The extra stability provided by Engineered Oak Flooring over Solid Oak allows it to be fitted in situations where solid is not suitable.
When installed, the Engineered Oak looks exactly like a solid floor but requires much less dimensional movement allowance.
Can be glued down with a Rigid Adhesive when UFH is not present, which costs less than a Flexible Adhesive.

Can be successfully installed by a competent DIY’er as long as the Fitting Guidelines are followed.

Can be much faster and cheaper to fit than Solid Oak because it can be ‘edge-glued’ and floated.

Engineered Oak can be manufactured as much wider boards than solid, and as long as the correct Acclimatisation and installation procedures are followed, the risk of any ‘cupping’ is minimised without the need for Face Fixing.

When considering sustainability issues, 3 times as many Engineered Boards can be provided from one oak log when compared with Solid Oak of the same size.

Usually more expensive than Solid Oak (which may seem strange to the less experienced wood floor customer) but when the advantages and construction method are explained properly, the reasons become understandable and acceptable.

NB - Sometimes when using the floating method for installation above a subfloor that’s not perfectly flat and level, the 15mm board can ‘give’ a little when walked on, which sometimes makes the floor feel unlike an oak floor. However, this can be overcome by using the heavier structural 21mm board when floating, which because of its structural strength always feels like solid oak no matter how it’s installed.

SUMMARY
There will always be a tendency for some people to prefer Solid Oak to Engineered Oak because it is just that… Solid Oak. The words ‘Solid Oak’ portray strength and durability when you just hear them.

However, as knowledge of wood species grows and global sustainability challenges increase, we believe that the demand for Engineered Oak will increase as the general public become more aware of the advantages it offers.

Currently we see the demand as 50/50 with Solid and Engineered products, but as the popularity of UnderFloor Heating increases and when more people start to realise that Engineered Oak isn’t a laminate but a quality product designed and constructed to perform better than Solid Oak after installation, we can see the demand changing to as much as 70/30 in favour of Engineered.

Having said that, which will you choose; Solid Oak or Engineered Oak?