What Affects The Price of Engineered Wood Flooring?

Engineered wood is, hands down, one of the most popular wood flooring choices in recent years. Thanks to its sleek and modern look and great functionality that make them wood significantly less prone to moisture and other sorts of damages in comparison with traditional wood flooring types, a great number of homeowners and interior designers are showing their preference for the man-made product.

There is no doubt why so many people are choosing engineered wood for all areas of their houses (and even commercial premises), bathroom and kitchen including! This type of flooring is, without hesitation, among the most durable, sturdy, hard-wearing and long-lasting wood flooring options on the domestic and international market and it ticks most people’s boxes across the board. Do you need more advantages to make a final choice? It is easy with the engineered wood because the list of benefits can go on and on!

You can install it practically everywhere, even in areas of the home, where high traffic and a more aggressive environment is expected. You can install it above underfloor heating and all sorts of subfloors, even unlevelled concrete, thanks to the flexibility of fitting options engineered wood provides you with. You can enjoy a great variety of amazing designs and the authentic look of real wood, but for just a fraction of the price of solid wood floors. Speaking of price, today’s article is dedicated to helping you understand how engineered wood prices are formulated and what affects them the most.

When it comes to engineered wood and how much does it cost, it is important to be mentioned that the price spectrum is pretty diverse. Being a fragmented and price-sensitive industry, the market can offer a good price variety, both if you are buying the materials from the producer, or a distributor/contractor. There are a few leading manufacturer names in the industry, however, small independent brands are worth checking too. In a nutshell, the best indicator of a successful final choice is if you have managed to get a good value for your money. To ensure that, you should be aware of all costs related to having an engineered wood floor installed, the cost of the materials in the first place.

What Affects The Price Of Engineered Wood Flooring?

As easy as it is, the value of engineered wood flooring is affected by and formulated with the strip numbers and thickness in mind. For those of you who do not have a very detailed idea of what we are talking about, let us explain the exact structure of this product.

It might look like your average solid wood flooring when installed. Even for professionals, it is hard to tell any difference. However, the secret of engineered wood is hiding in its special structure. Although it is made from hardwood and lumber materials and products only, just like solid wood. This is a man-made product that is created to be significantly less prone to moisture, humidity damages, temperature changes, etc. If you have a hardwood or parquet floor installed at home, you already know that things like high traffic, heavy footfall, moisture, liquids, humidity, regular temperature changes, can be pretty damaging for your floor and lead to quicker wear and tear, as well as a number of issues that are definitely not a pleasure to deal with.

However, engineered wood is made to help you avoid and prevent situations like these. The secret is hiding in its special structure of layers that are glued and pressed together crisscrossed and this ensemble seems to be very beneficial for preventing shrinking and enlarging of the wooden boards, which is a result of moisture and humidity affecting the boards negatively. Thanks to this amazing feature, it can be installed practically everywhere and in all kinds of situations, which make it also a perfect choice for bathrooms, basements, kitchens, and even over a concrete subfloor that cannot be levelled or completely dry for some reason.

Speaking of layers, as we have already mentioned, the price of engineered wood boards is highly determined by the number of layers it is made out of, which respectively affects the thickness of the board. Another aspect of thickness in terms of engineered wood is the thickness of the top layer of the boards, which is called lamella and made from hardwood, then topped up with layers of finishing and sealing product. In many ways, the thickness of the lamella determines the market price of the whole board.

It is very simple – the thicker the top lamella layer and the broader the board – the higher the price. Respectively, a thinner top layer and more narrow boards are those which you can buy for less money. The good news is that even with a thin top layer and narrow boards, you still can enjoy very good quality and a hard-wearing and long-lasting quality. One of the many advantages of engineered wood is that you can enjoy its beauty in your home or commercial place, even if you are shopping on a budget.

In case you wonder why the price of engineered wood is determined exactly by the thickness, here is the explanation. Firstly, the thicker and broader the board is, the more material is used for creating it, which means the overall price grows higher. Furthermore, when the board is broader, this means that you will need a bigger cross-section of the tree to cover the entire width and this makes creating such engineered wood planks a more difficult, time- and material-consuming process. As you can guess by now, both of these aspects push the price up, so you can expect that a triple stripboard with a thick lamella, for example, will cost you more money than a single narrow board with a thin lamella.

You are probably already wondering – is it worth it to pay for a triple strip, thicker lamella board, when you can save some pennies and get the same good quality in narrower and thinner boards. Well, maybe you are right, but the right answer to your concerns is that it depends. After all, when it comes to engineered wood, it is not that much a question of quality, but a question of style and design.

The piece of hardwood flooring at the top of the plank is very important for one more reason. The width of this layer determines how many times the floor could be refinished. Every engineered wood floor sanding removes up to 1 millimetre of timber, which means if your flooring has a thin top layer this will reduce the times it can be refinished. This should not be underestimated, because this procedure could keep your flooring shiny and vibrant for much longer.

In a conclusion, if you are working with a tight budget, narrow floorboards with a thicker lamella are probably the best solution for you, as this will provide you with a highly long-lasting and hard-wearing flooring solution and a modern and unique design. There are great engineered wood flooring solutions we supply, that offer a narrow appearance and a very light top layer of 14 mm that start-up just £23 per square meter.