Home Improvement Interior Remodel Flooring & Stairs Hardwood

Engineered Wood vs. Hardwood Flooring Comparison Guide

Learn key similarities and differences of engineered wood vs hardwood flooring

Both solid wood flooring and engineered hardwood flooring are premium, natural wood products with a beauty unmatched by synthetic floors like laminate or luxury vinyl plank. On the surface level, the floors look the same.

The differences between engineered hardwood and solid hardwood begin just below the surface. Engineered hardwood flooring is made of veneer hardwood bonded over a substrate of high-quality plywood. Solid wood flooring is made of solid wood throughout, usually hardwood like oak, maple, or walnut. Take a close look at engineered hardwood vs. hardwood flooring, their differences, and their pros and cons.

Solid Wood vs. Engineered Wood flooring

Margot Cavin / The Spruce 

Solid Wood Flooring vs. Engineered Wood Flooring Differences

The core is the main difference between solid hardwood and engineered wood flooring. Solid hardwood's core is hardwood. Engineered hardwood's core is typically plywood. The difference in the cores affects water resistance.

With solid hardwood flooring, each plank is a single piece of wood. The core and the surface are the same thing. Tongues and grooves are milled in and stains and sealers may be applied to the surface. Unfinished areas of solid hardwood flooring fare poorly against water because the woodgrain runs in the same direction, encouraging splitting and cupping. Finished areas of solid wood flooring, though, resist moisture well.

With engineered hardwood flooring, the core is premium-quality plywood but sometimes it is high-density fiberboard (HDF). The surface is a thin layer of hardwood, a veneer bonded with adhesives to the plywood core. The plywood's cross-hatched plies improve the floor's dimensional stability. This means that the floor has less of a tendency to swell, split, or cup if it becomes wet. Engineered wood flooring typically lasts 20 to 30 years.

  Solid Hardwood Engineered Hardwood
Materials 100-percent hardwood Thin hardwood bonded to plywood core
Lifespan 30 to 100 years 20 to 30 years
Cost $3 to $12 per square foot $3 to $10 per square foot
Sanded & Refinished Can be sanded many times, including deep sanding One or two light sandings or until a veneer thickness of 3/32-inch
Stability May warp in humid, damp conditions Good resistance to moisture
Plank Thickness 3/4-inch 3/8- to 9/16-inch
Plank Width 2-1/4 to 4 inches 2 1/4 to 7 inches
Plank Length 12 to 84 inches 12 to 60 inches
Installation Method Nail down Nail down, floating, or glue-down

Appearance

Solid hardwood and engineered wood flooring look nearly identical because both are natural hardwood on the surface.

Solid Hardwood Flooring

Solid hardwood flooring generally has very tight seams between boards, and there is a greater range of colors and species than is found with engineered hardwood flooring. Solid hardwood is available in both pre-finished and unfinished boards.

Solid hardwood floor board
Margot Cavin / The Spruce

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Engineered hardwood flooring is mostly sold pre-finished, and there is a narrower range of available colors and species than solid hardwood.

Floorboards tend to be wider with engineered hardwood flooring. Some pre-finished engineered hardwood flooring has slightly beveled edges, which creates slight grooves between boards.

Engineered Hardwood Wood Types

Woods typically used for surfacing engineered hardwood flooring include hickory, pecan, birch (both yellow and sweet), maple, oak (red or white), American beech, walnut, cherry, and pine.

Engineered hardwood floor board
Margot Cavin / The Spruce

Cost

Engineered hardwood flooring is slightly less expensive than solid hardwood flooring. With either type of flooring, installation labor costs can add another $3 to $10 per square foot, depending on prevailing labor costs and the complexity of the room layout.

Solid Hardwood

Solid hardwood flooring costs $2.50 to $3 per square foot for unfinished utility-grade or cabin-grade flooring, rough hardwood suitable for cabins, workshops, or outbuildings.

The least expensive solid hardwood, starting at about $3 per square foot, tends to be unfinished red oak, white oak, or pine wood flooring, 3/4-inch thick and 3-1/4 inches wide, in varied lengths,

The most expensive solid hardwoods are Brazilian walnut, acacia, and cumaru, all sourced overseas and priced in the $9 to $12 per square foot range.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood flooring starts around $2.50 to $3 per square foot for click-lock-style planks in lower-cost wood species like oak or maple.

The typical range of engineered hardwood flooring is $3 to $10 per square foot, with most types falling in the $6 to $7 per square foot range.

Tip

Lower-cost engineered hardwood flooring may have HDF (high-density fiberboard) cores instead of premium-grade plywood.

Lifespan

Solid hardwood flooring lasts considerably longer than engineered hardwood flooring, as long as it remains dry and is well-maintained.

Solid Hardwood

Solid hardwood typically lasts at least 30 to 50 years and as much as 100 years, since it can be sanded down and refinished several times. Solid hardwood flooring does need to be kept dry, though.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood flooring generally lasts 20 to 30 years. Fine scratches can be lightly sanded out, but deep scratches that rip through the thin veneer are difficult to fix.

Sound

Solid hardwood floors are not as noisy as engineered hardwood floors. While both floors are relatively quiet, engineered hardwood floors sound more hollow than solid wood floors.

Solid Hardwood

Solid hardwood has better acoustic properties than engineered hardwood. Its density absorbs reverberation while its hardness distributes the sound evenly around the room.

Hardwood flooring is attached to the subfloor, and this keeps it stable. When first installed, hardwood floors will creak and squeak as the boards settle. If there is still creaking after a few months, an uneven subfloor might be at fault or there may have been an issue with installation.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood floors can be nailed or stapled to the subfloor or installed as a floating floor (unattached to the subfloor).

Engineered hardwood doesn’t absorb sounds as well as its solid hardwood counterpart when it is installed as a floating floor. Not only that but the plywood base is less dense than solid hardwood.

Water Resistance

Engineered hardwood flooring is more water resistant than solid hardwood flooring. Neither material is recommended for installation in wet locations like full bathrooms.

Solid Hardwood

Solid hardwood is not recommended for installation against concrete slabs, since humidity migrating through the concrete can cause solid hardwood to swell and warp.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood performs better in humid locations since its plywood construction makes it more stable and less susceptible to warping. Each layer of wood in the plywood (the plies) is arranged at a 90-degree angle to its neighboring ply.

Although engineered hardwood flooring resists water better than solid hardwood, it is by no means waterproof. Engineered hardwood flooring will begin to delaminate if exposed to water long enough.

Tip

Engineered hardwood flooring's delamination rate is tested against ANSI/HPVA standards. If the flooring delaminates and expands no more than 1/4-inch deep by 2 inches laterally after four hours in water, the floor is considered a pass.

Care and Cleaning

Both solid hardwood and engineered hardwood floors are easy to care for, requiring simple sweeping or dry mopping, along with cleaning with an approved wood cleaner. Do not steam-clean wood floors.

Solid Hardwood

Clean solid hardwood flooring by sweeping, dry-mopping, or vacuuming it. Damp mop only when necessary, and be sure to use an approved wood cleaner.

Engineered Hardwood

Clean engineered hardwood flooring by sweeping or vacuuming daily. Damp-mop engineered hardwood flooring with a barely damp mop, and do so just once a season.

Cleaning supplies for wood floor
Margot Cavin / The Spruce

Durability

Solid hardwood flooring is more durable than engineered hardwood flooring.

Solid Hardwood

Solid hardwood can be sanded down and refinished several times over its lifespan. Every wood floor is different, so it is difficult to generalize about how many times it can be sanded.

According to industry guidelines, one determiner is the amount of wood left on the floor prior to reaching the tongues and grooves. The type of sanding equipment, flatness of the floor, and the skill of the person sanding the floor are other factors.

Tip

Pre-finished hardwood or engineered wood floors are extremely durable since they receive a hard, factory-applied aluminum oxide finish. Site-finished floors are less durable.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood can be refinished only once or twice before the surface hardwood layer is exhausted. In no case should the plywood or HDF core be reached. If the engineered wood floor's top veneer is less than 3/32-inch, the floor can no longer be sanded down.

Installation

Engineered hardwood flooring is easier for DIYers to install because it comes in floating, click-lock versions, as well as in the traditional nail-down and glue-down versions.

Solid Hardwood

Solid hardwood flooring is installed with a tongue-and-groove system, in which each board is blind-nailed to the subfloor through tongues at the edges of the boards.

Engineered Hardwood

Some engineered wood flooring is installed with the same nail-down methods as are used for solid hardwood. But there are also click-lock engineered wood floors that are installed as floating floors. Engineered wood flooring can also be glued down against a concrete subfloor.

Sizes

Solid hardwood and engineered hardwood flooring share most of the same sizes. But wider planks at lower prices are available in engineered hardwood because of reduced manufacturing costs.

Solid Hardwood

Standard hardwood flooring planks are 3/4 inch thick and between 2-1/4 and 4 inches wide, and sold in various lengths from 12 to 84 inches. Most solid hardwood flooring is rarely more than 4 inches wide, though wide plank solid wood flooring is available at considerably higher prices.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood boards are often thinner, with 3/8- to 9/16-inch-thick boards common. Engineered hardwood is available in much wider boards, up to 7 inches, and the lengths typically run 12 to 60 inches.

Tip

Veneer is stripped off of logs in a continuous peel, much like peeling a potato. So, it's easier and less expensive to produce wide planks. More veneer is applied to wider strips of plywood.

Resale Value

Both solid hardwood and engineered hardwood are premium flooring materials that add excellent value to your home.

Solid Hardwood

Real estate professionals and potential home buyers often place a greater premium on a solid hardwood floor over engineered hardwood for its greater longevity and its wide range of wood types and colors.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood floors are well-regarded by real estate professionals and homebuyers.

Environmental Impact

Environmentally, solid hardwood flooring and engineered wood flooring balance out. Engineered wood flooring uses less hardwood and more waste wood byproducts in its production. But its limited longevity and end-of-life destination in landfills are negatives.

Solid Hardwood

Solid hardwood requires more trees to be harvested than its engineered counterpart. But solid hardwood can be reclaimed and reused or recycled to make other products. Also, when it needs to be discarded at the end of its lifespan, it is biodegradable.

Tip

Hardwood flooring should come from a responsible supplier. Hardwoods sourced sustainably are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Engineered Hardwood

Engineered hardwood flooring uses less of the tree per plank than solid hardwoods. It uses the byproducts and waste from other wood manufacturing processes to make its boards. Engineered wood only has a thin veneer of traditional wood on top of its plywood or HDF core.

On the other hand, composite wood flooring products like engineered hardwood use glues and resins that may off-gas or contain volatile organic compounds. Engineered hardwood is not biodegradable at the end of its life due to the adhesives, so it should be landfilled.

Which is Better: Hardwood Flooring or Engineered Hardwood Flooring?

Solid hardwood holds a slight edge in prestige and continues to be a top choice for its wide range of wood species choices and durability.

However, the lower cost and easier installation of engineered hardwood flooring give it an edge over solid hardwood. Engineered wood uses less hardwood in its production, instead making generous use of wood waste byproducts.

Solid Hardwood and Engineered Wood Flooring Brands

  • Carlisle: Carlisle specializes in wide-plank solid wood flooring, and it also sells engineered wood flooring.
  • LL Flooring: Formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, LL Flooring sells solid hardwood and engineered hardwood flooring at discount prices.
  • Bruce: A brand of AHF Products, Bruce offers a very broad selection of solid hardwood flooring (more than 190 species and colors) and engineered hardwood (more than 150 options) at moderate prices.
FAQ
  • Which is better for pets, engineered hardwood or hardwood flooring?

    Hardwood flooring is better for pets than engineered wood, as scratches can be sanded out and repaired. Light scratches in engineered hardwood flooring can be buffed out, but deep scratches that penetrate to the core cannot be sanded.

  • Which is more scratch-resistant, engineered hardwood or hardwood flooring?

    Factory-finished engineered hardwood and hardwood flooring resist scratches equally well. Severe scratches, though, may gouge through engineered hardwood flooring's top veneer. Hardwood flooring does not have this issue since it does not have a top veneer layer.

  • Is engineered hardwood real wood?

    Engineered hardwood flooring is real natural hardwood on the top. A thin veneer of real wood is bonded to a lower core of plywood or high-density fiberboard (HDF).

The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. American National Standard for Engineered Wood Flooring, ANSI/HPVA EF 2020. Hardwood, Plywood & Veneer Association

  2. Solid Hardwood vs. Engineered Hardwood. Bruce Hardwood Floors / AHF Products

  3. Wood flooring sand and finish guidelines. National Wood Flooring Association