Complete flooring information and inspections

I'm truly glad you're reading this, and hopefully before you have decided and/or installed some kind of flooring.  There are basically three different types of wood flooring: laminates, engineered and solid.  These labels are referring to their types of construction.  There are also styles such as narrow-strip, planks (most common) and tiles (primarily found in laminates).

Laminates:  These are a wood core that is the same kind of idea as particle board although much denser, typically with a layer of wood backing, and a surface.  The surface is paper with some type of wood pattern printed on it, overlaid with an extremely hard clear surface, usually made of melamine.  Almost all laminates now use a "click" type of tongue and groove for connecting together, while the older laminates were often glued together.  The laminates pros are: not as sensitive to moisture "issues" as the engineered and solid, easy to install, easy to clean, and the most resistant to scratches/dents.  Gapping (spaces between adjacent boards) is not acceptable on laminates at any time-as contrasted with solids.  They are approved for installation in "wet" areas such as bathrooms, kitchens and "below grade" which is like in basements.  The cons are: shows seams on dark or light patterns as the edge of the decor paper tends to contrast with dark or light surface patterns, more fragile than solid hardwood, can tend to sound "clicky" when walking on, and if it does get scratched/dented, it is not repairable except by replacing the plank/s affected.

Engineered:  This type of flooring is technically a "laminate" also, as it has several (usually between 3 and 7) different layers of wood laminated together.  The main difference is that the surface is also wood, and is usually a hardened surface.  These typically have "click" tongue and groove systems like laminates, but can be "nail-down" as well.  These also range in thickness from the thickness of a laminate up to 1/2" or more.  Pros: If it is scratched/dented - it can be refinished, is typically considered a higher end product than laminates, and is also fairly easy for self-installing.  It is less prone to dimensional changes with environmental changes compared to solid wood.  Cons: It is difficult to refinish as the surface is hard, and can only be done a few times before wearing through the wear layer.

Solid Hardwood: Each of the planks/strips in this style are one solid piece of wood.  (The only exception are what are called vertically-laminated solid hardwood which is essentially an engineered wood but is actually different boards laid side-by-side and glued together, these are still sold as "solid" however).  These are considered the standard for wood flooring, and of course the first wood floors were solid hardwood.  I'm sure you've seen old houses (and ones today as well) with the narrow strip boards.  You can still get narrow strip (less than 3" or so) but more common are the planks as with the other wood flooring which are over 3" and usually between 5" and 7" in width.  Solid wood is always either a nail/staple down or glue down, and as far as I know is never approved for basements, etc.  On any of these of course, the manufacturer's specific guidelines must be followed.  Pros: It feels and sounds like a "real wood floor" when walking on, is easier than engineered wood to refinish and is more insulative (I made up that word) as far as thermal and sound.  Cons: It is the most sensitive to moisture and humidity issues as far as dimensional changes, is the most easily scratched/dented of the three, and may have more variety of appearance between planks as it is from trees.  This last item some people find as a plus, instead of the monotonous regularity of especially the laminate patterns.

Bamboo:  Yes, I can count, but I had to include this as it is an ever-growing (double-meaning) share of the flooring market.  Bamboo's main appeal is its "green" value as it comes from plants harvested every 7 years or so.  This is actually considered a "grass" and not wood at all, but it is often referred to along with the woods so as not to be confusing.  After all, who wants to install DEAD GRASS on their floor?  Anyway, the bamboo is cut into strips, and the strips are either arranged vertically or horizontally and then laminated together with glue.  A newer style is where the bamboo is processed into strands and dried out, then pressed together with a binder.  All of these would be basically considered a "solid" plank.  There are also engineered  versions with real wood in the bottom layers and a layer of bamboo on top.  Pros: Because of the process of harvesting and manufacturing, these appeal to the "earth-friendly" crowd.  They also are not affected in the same way as solids with dimensional changes with changes in humidity and moisture, but will still be affected negatively if the changes are excessive.  Cons: The earlier versions would dent VERY EASILY as well as scratching.  The stranded, and especially carbonized stranded type, is much more difficult to dent/scratch.

Some of the main manufacturers of laminate flooring are Pergo, Wilsonart, Award, Home Legend, Shaw, Mohawk, Quickstep, Tarkett, Faus, Kronotex, Mannington, Bruce, Balterio, Columia and Witex

Some of the main manufacturers of hardwood flooring are, Columbia, Bruce, Award, Shaw, Mohawk, Century, Tarkett, Armstrong, Mannington, Robbins, USA, Ridgefield, Kahrs, and Nordstar to name a few