Types of Wood

Solid Flooring: All wood flooring, regardless of width and length that is one piece of wood from top to bottom. It comes in different thicknesses, but usually ¾” thick is what should be used for flooring purposes. Typically nailed down to a plywood sub-floor.

Engineered Flooring: Wood flooring that is available from 3 to 9 plies. It is a wood flooring product that consists of wood pressed together, with the grains running in different directions making it far more dimensionally stable and resistant to moisture than solid flooring. It can be nailed down, glued down or floated.

Solid vs. Engineered Wood Flooring Plank Cross Section

Acrylic Impregnated Flooring: A process where acrylics are injected into the wood itself, creating a super hard, extremely durable floor. Acrylic Impregnated wood is available in solid parquet and engineered strip and plank. Perfect for commercial use.

Laminate Flooring: Not wood flooring at all. It is made with a substrate, usually high-density fiber board, with a photograph of a piece of wood on a sheet of plastic, covered with a clear plastic wear layer. All three layers are pressed together under high pressure with an adhesive until the layers bond together or “laminate.” To read about laminate in detail, please go to About Laminate.