Engineered wood flooring questions

[sublauxation]

It's come time to do something about my Douglas Fir flooring, I'm sick of the dents anytime something falls. I was thinking about just screwing down the few chronic squeaky spots and going over it with engineered wood. Whatever I put over the top will probably be a floating floor to avoid future squeaks and because it's easier. Any thoughts on that?

The engineered stuff either has a high density fiberboard or a ply core. Since this will be in my kitchen and entranceways I have some concerns with fiberboard, but manufactures claim it's pretty waterproof. Most of the fibercores seem to be click lock which would be nice for installation but it seems to me that glueing the plycore stuff together as a floating floor would be better at preventing water from sneaking through. They all seem to require a moisture barrier underneath but since it's on a first floor application with a basement underneath it seems logical that a vapor barrier would just trap water in and under the flooring.

Anybody have any experience with either type?
Thanks
Chad

 

[bigdee]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

Of the 2 types laminate is the more durable and water resistant. I worked in this industry for a while both in Germany and the U.S. The backing is high density fiberboard compressed and held together with water resistant UF glue. The laminate layer is UV cured melamine (formica). In lab tests the laminates surpassed the veneer plywood products.

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

In front of the dishwasher there is issues

 

[The_Kid]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

I've got Pergo everywhere in the house except the bedrooms. The older glue together style is in the kitchen and the snap together is in the rest of the house. I couldn't pass up the deal. The kitchen material was free, and the rest of the house was at dealer cost, plus installation was free. I was wondering how waterproof it was so I took a piece of the newer snap style and submerged it in water for 24 hours. I didn't see any swelling at all.

Also my brother in law is a certified installer and trainer. He had a customer the had a broken water pipe that flooded a Pergo floor. All that was done was to raise one end of the laminate an setup several heavy duty blowers to dry out any water under the flooring. It looked as good as it did the day it was installed when everything was dry.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

In front of the dishwasher there is issues

This holds true for ANY wood floor. By the way, laminate is made from real wood fiber and the urea-formaldydye thay holds it all together is the same glue that mother nature uses to hold natural wood cells together! The top surface of laminate is 100% waterproof and the seams are so tight that spills will not penetrate the mdf/hdf if cleaned up in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[Pony]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

I put laminate in my basement when I remodeled it. The floor took less than a day to put in. It is installed on top of concrete with an underlayment that is designed for that.

I put laminate in my parents kitchen and bathroom as well. The bathroom we glued, the kitchen (and my basement) is floating. ZERO issues whatsover and they have held up really well. My parents have had it for 5 years now....my basement is a little over a year now. We used something at my parents called "whisper floor" for the underlayment. It worked really well.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

I can see why you get dents in your Douglas Fir Floor

I just put Brazilian Cherry engineered floor in my house. Its a beautiful floor. Solid wood was not an option because mine was glued onto concrete. Solid wood was actually cheaper than the engineered that I used.

I am not a fan of laminates but they are inexpensive. They remind me too much of formica countertops with the fake wood grain.

Even with my neutral feelings for laminates, I have put some laminate flooring in some small rental homes that I own. Very easy to install. Will see how they hold up.

I personally would never put a wood floor in a kitchen.

 

[BlueLightSpecial]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

I installed Pergo "Exotic Woods" series in my living room, about 2 years ago. Its the snap together with the padding already attached. It looks very nice, HOWEVER, I spilled a pitcher of water on it, about 6 mos after install. Cleaned it up immediately, making sure to dry out the joints the best I could. The next day, it began to delaminate at every joint that was in contact with water. I contacted Pergo, and they could do nothing, because the "Exotic Woods" series had been discontinued, and the floor wasn't installed by a certified installer. Than why do they give you instructions inside every box? Their answer? To help the "certified" installer. What a joke. I should have spent the extra $$ and installed hardwood, right at the beginning.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

Engineered floor in the kitchen/den area. Was unfinished red oak, stained and sealed and varnished to match the "real" red oak flooring in the rest of the house. No problems in the last 10 years....

 

[MrBigStuff]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

I installed the engineered ply (Bruce) in my dining room over particle board that had been covered with carpet. Click lock works great. What I would have done different is I used the Armstrong padding/floating floor installation. The padding ends up making the whole thing seem cheesy in an otherwise beautiful appearing floor. It's soft to walk on and deflects slightly as you walk on it.

I don't like the look of laminate. Solid flooring was too thick and created issues with transitions I did not want to deal with. The Bruce stuff is a fairly thick top layer that can be sanded if necessary to refinish.

If I had to do over, I would have glued or stapled it down to have a more solid feel underfoot.

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Engineered wood flooring questions

I installed the engineered ply (Bruce) in my dining room over particle board that had been covered with carpet. Click lock works great. What I would have done different is I used the Armstrong padding/floating floor installation. The padding ends up making the whole thing seem cheesy in an otherwise beautiful appearing floor. It's soft to walk on and deflects slightly as you walk on it.

I don't like the look of laminate. Solid flooring was too thick and created issues with transitions I did not want to deal with. The Bruce stuff is a fairly thick top layer that can be sanded if necessary to refinish.

If I had to do over, I would have glued or stapled it down to have a more solid feel underfoot.

I know you need some underlayment, and they push the spendy stuff. I'm guessing that's what the Armstrong stuff was you used? Instead would you just use the cheap stuff with less cushion?

I know if I nail down they recommend a 3/8 layer of plywood which will start to give me height issues. I don't see why 1/8 luan wouldn't work instead.

How long have you had yours in? The click lock concerns me a bit. The wood I'm looking at comes either as click lock or tongue and groove that can be glued together as a floating floor. I'm torn about which way to go. The pieces don't come any longer than 3 ft because the trees tend to be pretty short. That's a lot of gluing.

As for the fir, it's pretty darned soft (660 Janka) but it holds a nail like glue. It looks nice when freshly done but it's no match for 3 kids. What's funny is that the stuff is pretty expensive to buy now.