Timber flooring in Melbourne is one of the convenient types of flooring used in residential and commercial areas. With a wide variety of timbers available for flooring, engineered wood is highly sought-after flooring. You can even know them as a cost-friendly alternative to traditional wood flooring-–solid hardwood flooring.
The uniqueness of engineered wood flooring makes it stand above the traditional flooring options. Plywood and veneer are two of the most suitable raw materials that combine to make engineered wood floors. While plywood remains the base material, the thin veneer layer serves as the top layer of wood flooring.
With that, their appearance adds more strength even if knowing their uses is insufficient. This blog guides you to understand engineered wood flooring, its pros and cons, and how to choose this flooring. Keep reading this blog if you want better wood flooring under a tight budget.
Top Reasons to Choose Engineered Timber Flooring in Melbourne
Here are the reasons why engineered timber flooring in Melbourne is a popular choice among the residents. Let’s have a quick look at each of them.
1. Adapts Well to Moisture
The biggest benefit of having engineered timber floors in your home is their ability to withstand moisture. This is even more surprising when other wood flooring options shrink or expand in areas with excess moisture. With time, solid hardwood or other flooring can also fail to last with temperature changes.
But engineered timber flooring should be a safe choice when you live in areas that attract moisture or are thinking about wood flooring for basements, kitchens, or walkways. Not being an environmentally-conscious flooring, you can always have peace of mind with this flooring during heavy rains or winters.
2. Easier to Install
If you have ever used any other type of wood flooring, you would have indeed known of the long-tiring process of resurfacing and preparing the floors before using timber flooring. But, with engineered wood flooring, you no longer have to do that.
Use them directly over any subfloors or concrete floors, and they will stay intact. Timber flooring in Melbourne is also safe when wood species like engineered wood floors make the installation smoother.
3. Cheaper Than Other Timber Floors
Everything about engineered wood floors is cheaper— right from materials to the installation methods. These types of flooring can be nailed, pressed and glued without an issue. Even the adhesive resins used to glue these floors downward are termite resistant, adding another reason to its popularity.
As for materials, the engineered wood uses only plywood as a base material and veneer as a top thin layer. Since putting them on concrete or standalone wood flooring is easy, there is no extra spending with this option.
4. Eco-friendly Timber
Engineered timber flooring in Melbourne is a trending choice among homeowners. Thanks to its eco-friendly feature, Melbourne residents choose engineered flooring over solid wood flooring.
There is absolutely no debate regarding the sustainability of engineered timbers. Manufacturers use waste wood from old wood to scraps to wood chips and reunite them together to strengthen the base layer of engineered wood flooring.
Apart from being a suitable layer of flooring, these types of flooring cause no threat to the environment. This is when Melbourne homeowners prioritise eco-friendly wood flooring options to contribute to the environment.
5. Lightweight Flooring Option
Being lightweight, engineered wood floors are easy to move around during installation. More so when you are using them for high floors. With a combination of two materials layering over one another, the plywood and veneer layers add no weight.
That is possibly also one reason behind the growing popularity of this wood flooring in kitchens, bathrooms, and basements.
Common Issues with Engineered Wood Flooring
Every type of wood flooring has some drawbacks, too, even the premium ones that hide them beautifully. Engineered timber flooring in Melbourne has some cons, too. Let’s find out the negative impact of engineered wood floors.
1. Cannot Survive in Water
A slight dampness and moisture are okay, but when a particular area of the house becomes a home for standing water, even engineered wood will fail to survive. Gradually, the problems of swelling and shrinking will only get worse.
As a matter of fact, it is wise to ensure you use engineered wood only for areas with manageable moisture content.
2. Limited Refinishing Options
Engineered wood floors have either a thick or thin veneer layer as a top layer. Further, the thickness of thick veneers can always vary.
Thicker veneers allow for sanding and refinishing, but thinner ones limit the number of refinishing. More so when these are less than 2 millimetres thick, sanding and refinishing them is difficult. That is because these processes remove a thin layer of veneer. Refinishing thin layers of veneer can incur the risk of sanding through underlying layers.
3. Lasts Less Longer Than Other Wood Species
Engineered wood lasts 10-20 years or even longer when you consider good quality wood with thick veneers. Compared to solid hardwood timbers that last even longer than 20 years, you need to be extra careful to maintain them.
How to Choose the Best Type of Engineered Wood Flooring
Here is more information about how to pick the right engineered timber flooring in Melbourne when these have already influenced your purpose.
- Consider the thickness of engineered wood flooring. Generally, ⅜ inch to ¾ inch of thickness is sufficient for residences; high-traffic areas may require ½ inch to ⅝ inch thicker options.
- Look for thicker wood flooring when installing them over concrete floors, while thinner veneers are suitable for existing wood subfloors.
- Ensure proper sealing and finishing over the engineered wood to extend its lifespan. Following the manufacturer’s advice regarding maintenance is crucial.
- Research reputable brands and research for customer reviews before purchasing engineered wood flooring.
Takeaway
Remember, investing in timber flooring in Melbourne is safe when you know how to install them, where to use them and how to find the best manufacturers. Examining your nearby makers is necessary, and that is where Green Hill Timbers ends your search.
As well-established timber manufacturers, these are known for best-quality timber flooring, including engineered wood flooring. Contact them today as you navigate through their website.
