Wood Flooring : Engineered or Veneer?

Wood flooring technology has advanced from the traditional solid wood flooring, to our common parquet and now to multi-layered wood flooring called engineered wood flooring.

However, some consumers today often get confused about the right term about engineered wood flooring. They often treat veneer wood as the same characteristics as engineered wood. However, both are not the same. And here are the difference in 3 simple characteristics. 

Surface Layer

To qualify as an engineered wood flooring, the surface wood layer must compliant to a certain thickness. On an industry average level, it will be a minimum 2.2mm surface layer to fit the criteria. Veneer wood flooring cannot be called engineered wood if the top surface layer goes less than 2.2mm. 

A shorter surface layer may not be cost efficient for the home owner; especially if they require re-varnishing of the flooring after a period of wear and tear, veneer floor that has a shorter surface will not able to be re-varnished to give the flooring a brand new look. Engineered wood flooring, on the other hand, is able to do so.

Less Bonded Areas

Consumer often get confused when some veneer wood products is marketed as 7 to 10 layered engineered wood flooring when each layered bonded onto the wood is 1mm or less. Good quality engineered wood flooring usually have about 3 to 4 layers of solid wood bonded strongly with eco friendly adhesive. As veneer wood has more bonded layers (7 to 10), the volume of adhesive used to bond the layers will be much more. Too much adhesive may imply that is not too friendly to the environment or health at home.

Core Layer 

The core layer of the wood flooring is important. It need to be thick and wide enough to allow the dimensional stability of the flooring to be more stable to changes in temperature. Good quality engineered wood flooring usually have good core layer that uses wood species that are suitable for the local climate. For example in tropical climatic countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, Hevea (rubberwood) is often use as the core layer of a good engineered wood flooring product. Such material can react in a more stable manner due to changes in the humid conditions. 

Arguably, some veneer wood has think core layer as well. So consumers when buying either engineered wood or veneer wood, this criteria is important to be factored in.

When Price is the motivational factor

For home owners who are renovating the home with limited budgets; veneer wood flooring will often be the less expensive choice to engineered wood flooring. However today, home owners can still enjoy the benefits of real engineered wood flooring with re-engineered wood flooring technology. 

Re-Engineered wood is a strong substitute to traditional veneer wood and parquet. Its width is slightly shorter than that of a quality engineered wood flooring but it retains the 3 simple characteristic of an engineered wood as mentioned above: At least 2.2mm surface layer, less bonded areas and a thick core layer.

The introduction of re-engineered wood flooring into the flooring market therefore gives the mass home owners more option of real wood flooring to furnish their homes.