What Is the Difference Between Engineered Wood and Laminate?

Engineered Laminate wood flooring belong to the most impressive options. It looks like solid wood. However, it costs lower. Anyway, both of them are more versatile & economical than solid wood floor. To determine the best one, you need to keep reading this post.

Laminate Wood Vs Engineered Wood Floors

Laminate flooring is a man-made material consisting of some layers. It comes with a fiberboard base and an image layer on the top. Besides that, it applies a transparent wear layer for protection. You can print the image layer to resemble different materials such as wood and stone laminates. 

Meanwhile, engineered wood flooring is solid hardwood replica. This is more convincing as it comes with a genuine wood surface. If you are confused to decide which one is better for you, let’s see the following comparison!

1. Appearance

Starts from the look, laminate flooring looks like the real wood better than others. Even more, top-quality laminates come with a more realistic feel. In addition, premium 12mm laminates belong to the most favorite products for high-end home flooring.

On the other hand, engineered wood floor has a surface from the real hardwood. That’s why engineered hardwood holds over its rival. So, if you look at them closely, engineered wood certainly looks better.

Both offer various styles & colors to choose. However, when it comes to realism, engineered wood surely wins due to its genuine hardwood surface.

2. Water Resistance

In relation to resistance, laminate wood flooring is water-resistant. Even though water can damage its fiberboard core layer, its layer from plastic is water-resistant since you immediately mope up moisture.

Meanwhile, engineered wood usually comes with a waterproof finish, thanks to its tough, surface sealer. However, the plywood base layers and the surface veneer come from wood, where they are able to warp & swell if wet.

Overall, neither of them is good for a humid location. Although they come with sealed surface, cracks between boards allow moisture to penetrate. Then, they can swell.

3. Maintenance & Durability

Laminate is undoubtedly easier to maintain. For cleaning it, you should only carefully wipe its surface. In fact, it has a plastic surface. But you cannot refinish it. Even more, you have to remove/replace it when it becomes marred.

On the other hand, it is possible for you to sand engineered wood floor or refinish it. If it comes with a thick veneer layer, you can finish it more times.

To sum up, both of them are easy to maintain. However, prefinished engineered wood comes with a tough surface finish so that you can refinish it.

4. Installation

If you are looking for a flooring material that is easy to install, laminate belongs to the best options. Even more, you can install it easily without hiring a professional installer. The engineered planks have a ‘click-lock’ edge treatment where the edges interlock.

Even though it is also easy to install, you still need to hire a professional installer. The installation is similar to solid hardwood. Whatever the method of installation you choose, it is not as simple as installing laminate floor.

So, we can conclude that laminate wood floor is easier to install than engineered wood. Moreover, we can say that it is the easiest to install for DIYers. But some engineered woods are also easy to install like laminate is.

5. Cost

Talking about cost, laminate wood offers a great advantage. For your information, it belongs to the cheapest materials of flooring. You can buy it for $1 – $3 / square foot. However, some options are available at $10 – $12 / square foot.

For engineered wood, it costs from $4 / square foot. However, it is averagely $8 / square foot. Then, there’s the extra cost since it requires pro installation. So, it can cost more than $25 / square foot.

Since laminate allows DIY installation, you can save much money. So, it is clear that low cost is the best benefit of laminate flooring.

6. Durability

For the durability, people often say that laminate can last 10 – 20 years. It depends on the material’s quality. Besides that, how much wear also affects its lifespan.

Indeed, engineered hardwood floor is more durable. For your information, its lifespan may run up to 30 years. Even more, it can be much longer.

Considering its lifespan above, we can easily say that engineered wood is a better choice if you want a durable floor. Moreover, engineered hardwood allows sanding & refinishing. So, the floor will not only last longer but also look better.

7. Size

Moving to sizes, wood laminate sheets or planks commonly come in 3” – 7” wide and 48” long. On the other hand, engineered wood floor boards are available in 2,25” – 7” wide while the lengths range from 36” – 48”. Then, some engineered wood floor boards are available in random widths. It means, these products have comparable sizes.

8. Release Value

Next, let’s compare them on the release value aspect. Sometimes, laminate floor compromises the value of a home. However, high-end laminate floor is not a drawback.

Generally, hardwood flooring has the greatest value of release to a home. Therefore, we can easily say that engineered hardwood floor offers better value to buyers. Even more, it can rival solid hardwood when it comes to prestige. In this case, engineered hardwood is very superior.

9. Comfort

Both of them are comfortable underfoot. However, laminate flooring can flex a bit as it floats over the subfloor. It usually happens if the underlayment is not flat & smooth.

Meanwhile, engineered wood is thicker. Since it is usually glued down or nailed, flexing is not the problem. But it may feel harder underfoot because it doesn’t come with the foam underlayment. So, none of them offers a clear advantage.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a genuine wood flooring, engineered hardwood is clearly the best choice. However, if you consider a DIY floor installation with a lower overall cost, laminate wood should be your choice. You can buy laminate and engineered wood floors at Jati Luhur Agung at the best prices.

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