Romero : Wood look-alikes hold up better than real thing
by Rosie Romero on Sep. 12, 2008, under Uncategorized
Most Arizona contractors choose engineered floors because they can lay them on concrete slabs. Engineered floors are made in criss-crossed layers so they don't expand and contract when it's humid the way solid hardwood does.
There’s nothing as beautiful on the floor of a home as warm, solid hardwood.
There are a couple of products that come awfully close.
One is engineered wood. The other is wood-look laminate.
Engineered wood is a favorite in Arizona because, unlike solid hardwood, it’s OK to lay it directly on a concrete slab.
It’s a product made from three to five thin layers of wood, stacked in a cross-grain pattern and laminated together to form one plank. The top layer – the one that you see – is made from 1/4- to 1/32-inch sections of the high-quality wood of your choice.
Side by side with solid hardwood, which is made from 3/4-inch strips of solid woods, including oak, ash or maple, it’s hard to tell which one is the real deal.
Because its layers are stacked in opposite directions, engineered planks don’t expand and contract as much on humid days as solid hardwood floors.
The price of an engineered wood floor is about the same as solid hardwood and varies widely depending on the species of the wood and the finish. You can pay anywhere from $2 to $6 per square foot for either, not including installation.
Laminate floors – especially the newest versions – look like wood, but they’re not, so they cost quite a bit less than solid wood – from less than $1 a square foot to more than $4, not including installation. Laminates also come in patterns that look like stone or tile.
Laminated floor planks are made from ground-up wood chips that are mixed with resins to make them moisture resistant. That mixture is pressed into a board, which is overlayed with paper that bears the likeness of the wood, slate or tile that the product intends to mimic. The paper is impregnated with melamine for structural stability, then overlaid with a wear layer that resists scratches, dents and everyday wear and tear.
Laminate floors are stain resistant, won’t fade when exposed to sunlight the way wood does and won’t burn, even if you drop a cigarette on one. Plus, laminate floors are a cinch for a handy do-it-yourselfer to install. You don’t have to nail them to the subfloor; they’re glued or they “float.”
All three types of flooring are fairly easy to maintain with a dust mop and an occasional spray of whichever water-based wood floor cleaner the manufacturer recommends. Just keep water from pooling on any of them – wood and water don’t mix well.
Rosie Romero has been in the Arizona home-building and remodeling industry for 35 years. He has a radio program from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KNST-AM (790). For more do-it-yourself tips, go to rosieonthehouse.com. On the House appears the second and fourth Fridays of the month.
